Tag Archives: community

Twitter has changed, but so have I

Back in November, I celebrated 12 years on Twitter and I reflected,

“I still love Twitter, and it is still my go-to place to connect and learn from others when I’m online. But, 12 years in, I miss the power of this network to engage me in deep learning filled with rich conversation. However I also recognize that my focus has changed too. I transmit more than I converse, I dabble more than I engage. If I’m honest, I probably could not have maintained the engagement I gave Twitter at that time for 12 years.“

Recently, I responded to a tweet that asked: “has anyone ever found a friend through twitter and actually met up with them?”

https://twitter.com/hashplanted/status/1260988566676668422?s=21

And I responded, “Again and again and again…”, then shared a few examples:

I genuinely miss the days when I would get onto Twitter at about 4:30, after a day of teaching, and I’d scroll my timeline all the way back to the last tweet that I read in order to ‘catch up’ on what I missed during the day. I miss conversations that would last 15+ tweets, with others joining in to the ‘conversation’, and I miss the sense of connectedness and intimacy I had with genuine friends that I had never met face to face. I miss how Twitter was connected to blogging, and conversations went from sharing a link to conversations in the blog’s comments. It was a different time, and it comes with some nostalgia.

But as much as Twitter has changed, so have I. I lurk a lot more. I move conversations to Direct Messages, or other communication tools. I transmit – meaning, when I write this Daily-Ink, or a post on Pair-a-Dimes, or on my Podcast, or YouTube, then I share a link on Twitter… sometimes my last 3 or 4 Tweets might be me sharing something I’ve done. This can seem like I’m marketing or doing self-promotion, and some people don’t like that… I look at it 2 ways: 1. I produced some content to share, and I’d actually like some attention on it for the effort. And, 2. Is it really self-promotion when I’m not selling anything?

If it really bothers someone, it’s really easy to hit the unfollow button. I also don’t read and comment on as many blogs as I used to, and so I’m not engaging the way I wishes others do. That said, I still find it funny when someone retweets a link I share (be it to my content or someone else’s) faster than it would take to read the content that was shared! I make it a rule not to share anything I haven’t taken the time to read or watch myself.

So, as much as I miss the old days of Twitter, I’m using Twitter differently and can’t expect the same experience I had before smartphones, hashtags, and less than 500 people on my timeline. Things have changed. But I still love Twitter, and 95+% of the time I see good things and ‘Angry Twitter’ doesn’t show up in my network. That’s a far better ratio than Facebook, and my community on Twitter that I engage with is still pretty awesome. It’s not what it used to be, but neither am I.

—

PS. Twitter EDU is a free eBook I wrote to help people find greater value in the tool when they get started. Share it, if you know someone that can use it.

Missed opportunities

Here is a quick look at how we are doing with this thing called remote or distance learning. While things are good, I think we should have been more prepared for maximizing this ‘opportunity’, rather than just being more prepared to cope with it.

Background: Since returning from China in 2011, I’ve been a leader in Coquitlam Open Learning, the district’s ‘Distributed Learning’ (online) school. That year my Principal, Stephen Whiffin, pitched the idea for Inquiry Hub Secondary and I got to co-found and lead this innovative, blended learning school. I’ve been directly involved with integrating technology into learning as a leader for over a decade, and this has been an integral part of my role for 9 years now.

Current State: Over the past several weeks my staff of teachers have definitely struggled far less than most teachers.

For my online teachers very little has changed other than they are working from home, and assessment practices had to change in some courses. We have always provided testing and support blocks at our schools, and supervised assessments have been key to validating authenticity of work done at home.

For Inquiry Hub, every class was already on Microsoft Teams, and/or had a class OneNote, and/or had digital resources shared in Moodle. Classes moved digital, but there are still many opportunities for students to connect online, have meetings and discussions, and continue with lessons and assessments as if we were still in the building.

So, the transition to remote learning has been smooth. Great… But what are we missing?

The online school: We are continual entry, and so my teachers, at any moment, have students starting the course, doing their final assessment, and everything in between. As a result, they almost never run synchronous lessons. So while I previously mentioned two great ‘Learning Experiences‘ my teachers did with students, these are exceptions rather than the norm. And as I mentioned above, assessment changes needed to be made, but I’d say the changes we made were not really groundbreaking or norm-changing. We are doing a good job, but we aren’t pushing any boundaries.

For Inquiry Hub: We’ve really had a smooth transition, kids are still getting a lot of support, and we have, as a staff, had daily meetings that always touch on two things: How are kids doing/who needs support? And on professional development and planning for some great integration of courses working in edu-scrums for next year. This is exciting work, and it happens in the background while teachers are working smoothly to maintain a continuity of learning for students.

So what’s missing? Where are the missed opportunities?

  • Relevance: what have we done to connect and relate the global experience to what we are learning in class?
  • Service: What could our students be doing to support their community?
  • Assessment: What a great opportunity we have to rethink our online testing and personalizing it for our online learners?
  • Community: What more could we do to build community ‘in’ our schools, both for students, and for families?
  • Well being: How could we better support the kids we know are struggling, and also identify and support the kids who are struggling that we don’t know about?
  • Course delivery: What opportunities do we have for students to learn in different ways?
  • Inquiry learning: How could we leverage support for students inquiries when there are so many homebound experts in different fields that would love to help students out?
  • Supporting colleagues: How have we shared what we know and do well with colleagues that are struggling with the transition?
  • I wonder if we wouldn’t have innovated more if the changes required were more drastic? Have we missed too many opportunities with a smooth transition? Will we be further ahead when things return to normal, or will things go further back to normal than they need to be?

    • If I were to start a school…

    This is a ‘10,000 foot view’ of something I’ve thought about for a while. It should be an essay, not a handful of bullet points, but I’ll put a few ideas down now and come back to this at a later date.

    If I were to start a school…

    • It would be K-12, with under 1,200 kids. Three classes per grade.
    • Kindergarten to grade 5 would be Reggio based, and resource and support rich. There would be a lot of intervention at these grades to ensure students who struggle are given proven strategies and structures of support.
    • Grade 6 to 9 would not be IB, but would run with a similar model to Middle IB. There would be significant focus on cross-curricular, big thematic projects, a lot of opportunity to mentor and lead younger students, and a focus on doing projects that matter in the community.
    • Grades 10-12 would be inquiry and passion based. Some students would reach out into the community to explore trades and careers, others would focus on academics and the pursuit of Arts and/or Sciences. All would have passion projects, time to pursue them, and mentors to inspire them.
    • Teachers would teach for 60-70% of the day, have 10% prep time, and the rest of the time would be to collaborate, and/or to support students working on projects that go beyond the scope of anything teachers teach in class.
    • The school would be broken into separate pods, divided by the grade groupings suggested above. Students at those different levels would be separated except for planned events… but these would happen regularly, with many student leadership opportunities.
    • Teachers would be expected to connect with teachers and/or students in at least one other level.

    That’s not earth-shatteringly different than what can exist, but it is cost prohibitive with class sizes and staffing needs. The driving forces are:

    1. Students having autonomy, choice, and support to do big projects and follow their passions.

    2. Educators having time to collaborate and work with students beyond course content and a fully ‘blocked’ and timetabled schedule.

    3. A sense of community support, student leadership, and a focus on meeting the learning needs of students.

    If you were to start a school, what would it look like?

    Sharing appreciation for their teacher

    My wife, Ann, teaches a grade 4/5 class in our community. Yesterday at 4pm, while she was still working from home, a parade of cars started honking their horns. About 20 cars, driven by the parents of her students, slowly drove by with Ann’s students waving and holding signs.

    I was given some advanced notice that this was happening and was home to make sure Ann went outside when the horns started. I shared some video live on Twitter:


    But the quality of the video was quite poor. Luckily my kids and I captured more video and shared some on Facebook.

    This was a wonderful gesture that brought tears to all of our eyes (my kids too). I actually had to tell Ann to pull herself together after they passed by because I knew they were turning around and driving by again. This allowed Ann to really enjoy the moment and thank the families as they drove by, since she was overwhelmingly surprised during the first drive-by.

    Remote learning has been really challenging for students and parents, and it has also been challenging for our teachers. This gesture was heartwarming and so special. This was a moment our whole whole family will remember and cherish.

    – – – – –

    Thanks to all the teachers out there who are giving their best, and caring for their students, as they face the challenge of teaching from a distance. I’ve seen some wonderful ways that teachers have gone above and beyond to connect with their students at this time, and they deserve to be recognized for doing such an amazing job during these challenging circumstance. Thank you teachers, principals, and support staff!

    Positive shifts

    Recently I’ve seen a lot of companies giving away resources and services for free. There has been a significant shift in thinking about how we are all in this together. This has been spurred by the now over 1.1 million people who have been struck with COVID-19, and the realization that this number is going to rise significantly before we see a slowdown in its spread.

    Community members are helping each other. Birthday wishes to strangers are spreading like crazy. People are helping elderly neighbours. There is widespread appreciation for health care workers, and custodial workers that support them, and for people working in grocery stores and jobs like delivery drivers.

    When I’m out for a walk, people are politely keeping there distance, but also looking up and acknowledging me. I’m not saying this didn’t happen before, but it’s much more obvious now.

    I think things are going to get a bit harder before they get better. I think more than ever we need to be a society that supports the most vulnerable. I think we need to invest more in social services, and find ways to make basic needs more equitable. We have a lot to do to make the world a better place.

    But maybe, just maybe, there are enough positive changes happening to shift our world to a better place, after the concerns about the virus decrease and the economy rebounds. These aren’t small things that need to happen, but I like to think that some positive shifts will eventually come from this globally unifying experience.

    Thank-You-Message-for-Lisa-B-Post

    Positive Messages Make a Difference

    My niece, Lisa Bouliane, wrote the following post on Facebook. She is a nurse in a large hospital in Vancouver, BC. I asked her to open the post up (beyond just sharing with friends) ,and if I could also share it here. It speaks for itself:

    Lisa Bouliane – March 23 at 9:14 PM

    I was biking home from work at VGH tonight and passed this message on the sidewalk. Thank you. I continued biking past down the road, before realizing I was tearing up at the message. I knew I had to circle back and take a picture to share.

    I work in a critical care area of the hospital where the workplace has been a whirlwind of emotions and preparations. We are madly implementing safety measures for both patients and staff, for the impending increase of covid positive patients that will be admitted over the next couple of weeks. Working at the hospital is a highly emotional place as it is and now tensions are even higher, with a general feeling of the calm before the storm.

    After another long and stressful 12 hour day, to come outside and see a message of appreciation touched my heart. This simple message on the sidewalk eased a sense of stress and anxiety I hadn’t realized I had been taking home with me. It immediately relaxed me and reminded me that we are all being impacted in numerous ways by this virus. It reminded me to be thankful to my amazing hard working colleagues, as we all go through this journey together. It reminded me to be thankful that I am young and healthy, and able to continue going to work to help others. It reminded me to be thankful for the people and support that I have in my life during these difficult times. I’ve had friends and family deliver food to me as the grocery store was emptied out while I was at work all week. I’ve had a bottle of wine left for me at home as a token of appreciation. I’ve had a friend loan me puzzles for something to do on my days off. I’ve had numerous messages from friends in health care and my sports team, and old friends and family members reach out online saying thank you for all I am doing. These gestures, both big and small, mean a lot to health care workers right now. We are stressed, and working in the unknown right now. The acknowledgement that we are working hard to keep you, ourselves, and our loved ones safe and healthy is warmly received.

    I’d like to thank this mystery message writer for taking time out of their day to leave a mark of positivity on the world. Such a simple gesture, a simple message, touched my heart more than I’m sure you intended to.

    Now everyone take a deep breath. We are all in this together. Please take care of yourselves and be thankful for the small things in life, like a simple chalk message on your way home. Be kind to others, wash your hands, and stay home!!

    Thank-You-Message-for-Lisa-B-Post

    Change of plans

    Starting today I was going to write a 7-day series on 7 Virtues, like I did on the 7 Sins. I totally don’t feel like doing that right now. Also, I thought I was going to give myself a social media break… but I kinda want to stay connected now, so I’m not doing that either. What I am doing is leaving my phone behind on family walks… but I’m not going dark now when Social Distancing for Coronavirus is making feel disconnected enough.

    So what now? I’m going to experiment with getting connected with people online and doing some video chats and podcasts. I might put out some quick videos. I’m going to share my #SDFitnessChallenge progress.

    What I’m not going to do is lock myself into 7 days of writing on specific topics. And while I’ll put my phone away for parts of the day, I’m not locking myself away from digital connections. This is a time to experiment, do some new things, stay connected… and learn.

    The time for regular routines will be back soon enough, for now I’ll keep things open, and try something new on a regular basis. Tonight, it will be handstand push-ups, inspired by Kelly Christopherson (@kellywchris).

    If you’ve been letting ‘Social Distancing’ isolate you, it’s time for a change of plans… reach out to someone, reach out to me… connect, learn something new, get fitter… enjoy the time you never thought you would have. Be great.

    The not-so-normal path ahead for young adults

    It’s challenging to look ahead these days and try and imagine what the new normal will be?

    My youngest daughter is in Grade 12. In a month and a half she was supposed to have a lead part in her spring musical. I don’t think that will happen as we imagined it would. Next up for her is graduation. Will the dinner/dance happen? Will she cross the stage with her peers? Will parents be invited?

    Imagine being in senior year of NCAA basketball and you are a starter. You aren’t good enough for the NBA, so this is your final season playing for huge audiences, and your season is cut short because of a virus?

    In the grand scheme of things these might seem like trifle thoughts compared to exhausted health care workers, or people on ventilators and their concerned family members. But to a young adult this is a crushing blow to their plans and aspirations.

    The new normal ahead is not one that will be kind to young adults in our community. Let’s remember this when they get restless and feel down. Let’s remember this when they are connecting with friends digitally. Let’s remember this when they join us in talking about the challenges ahead.

    Everything we do to bring normalcy to the coming weeks will still be far from normal, and not all young adults are ready to cope with that. Let’s try to be helpful and supportive of them.

    It’s about saving lives

    Chances are that you will know someone who contracts Covid-19. If you are unlucky, you will know someone that this Coronavirus kills. That’s already the case for me. My dad’s cousin, my second cousin, was just a year older than me. She went on holiday from England to Bali, arrived without symptoms, and was diagnosed 4 days later. Six days after that she passed away. She had some significant health conditions which contributed to the affects of the virus. There are many people who do.

    You probably keep hearing that we need to “flatten the curve”, what this really means is that we need to save lives.

    Here is an excellent, detailed article that goes over the numbers. The reality is that no country will escape the effects of this virus, but some will have significantly higher or lower mortality rates… and we can all do our part to decrease that number by helping slow the virus down. We can’t increase the capacity of our hospitals in a significant way. We can help them not reach that capacity in an overwhelming way.

    In this article by NPR, Drew Harris, the population health researcher at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia who created the widely shared graphic below, compares the concern about overburdening our hospitals to rush hour on a subway. We need to get everyone on the subway trains/in our hospitals when they need to be there. However, missing a train is different than not getting a respirator when you need one. Italian doctors are already doing wartime-like triage in hospitals, deciding who lives or dies because there isn’t enough equipment to save everyone.

    Do your part to flatten the curve and you will be doing your part to save lives!

    *UPDATE – These simulations show how to flatten the coronavirus growth curve – From the Washington Post

    Good people

    While you wouldn’t know it from watching the news, our world is filled with many amazing people. Some gestures are big, others small, but so many people are inherently good.

    In the last 24 hours:

    • I watched a video of a senator in the US demanding that testing for Coronavirus be free regardless of a person’s medical coverage.
    • I saw a news clip of exhausted doctors and nurses working tirelessly in hospitals in Italy, where the Coronavirus cases are growing exponentially.
    • My wife received an adorable thank you letter from a student, thanking her for ‘pushing me to my limits and above’ and for being ‘a teacher I will always remember and love’.
    • I received an update from a former student who is going into family medicine because she ‘loves the idea of getting to know patients over a long period of time… and being the ‘first line’ of care’, and thanking me for my influence.
    • A subscription-based podcaster emailed to say that if the pandemic puts anyone into financial need, they can email for a free subscription.

    We are heading into a time of uncertainty, when our social and medical services will be stretched. Some people will be scared, others desperate. I hope that the good in people shines through, and that people will come together to support those in their community who are in need.