Tag Archives: community

A community of learners

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Here are 4 quotes from student self reflections. I saved the most creative on for last. I absolutely love how the kid created a metaphor, but understood that it wasn’t a perfect analogy, so he updated the comparison to make it work. Very clever.

I need reminders like this sometimes to remember what a unique learning environment the teachers have created for our students. It lifts me up to see these kinds of comments in self reflections. It reminds me that we are not just teaching kids, we are fostering a special learning community.

These all come from the ‘Student Self-Assessment of Core Competencies’ section of our recent report card. The first and last ones are from Grade 9’s and the middle two are from a Grade 11 and then a Grade 10. As a bit of background to the first one, we use scrum project management for a lot of group work at our school.

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“The most important thing I have learned this term is with the French Revolution, we learned about the different social estates and how each estate was treated differently and unfairly by their king, which led to the third estate starting a revolution for better rights. With that knowledge, it gives an example of how a good scrum leader should act and how they shouldn’t act, they should be inclusive, fair and treat their group with respect and consider everyone’s opinions, while a bad scrum leader might choose to ignore their group’s input and be controlling over the project.

Some of my favourite things to do at school are the different group projects we have, with the group projects they’re mostly assigned groups so it gives me a chance to get to know my classmates and see who works best with what. When I work really hard at something, I have a better understanding and I will be able to get my work done.”

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“This term I am proud of my ability to take in information during lectures and lessons. I find it useful in 20th Century History, and especially Pre-calc 11. The most important thing I have learned this term is the significance in attempting to be passionate in the things you’re learning. To find interest in the things you might find boring. Some of my favourite things to do at school are talking with people and their interests and views.

When I work really hard at something, I feel accomplished and proud that I have the capacity to learn.”

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“This term I am proud of how much I’ve improved in managing my time and finishing my work on schedule. I’ve become more organized and responsible with deadlines, and I’ve learned how to plan my tasks better so I don’t feel rushed at the last minute. I’ve also noticed that I can focus longer and stay “consistent” even when the workload gets heavier. The most important thing I have learned this term is that effort and patience make a big difference. Even when something feels difficult at first, I’ve realized that I can get better if I keep trying and don’t give up too soon. I’ve learned to see mistakes as part of the process instead of something negative, and that mindset has helped me improve both academically and personally. Some of my favourite things to do at school are working on hands-on projects, doing group activities, and learning through discussions instead of just notes or lectures. I enjoy collaborating with classmates, sharing ideas, and finding creative ways to solve problems together. I like lessons that are interactive and allow me to apply what I’ve learned in real ways.

When I work really hard at something, I feel proud and motivated to keep improving. It gives me a sense of accomplishment and shows me that consistent effort pays off. It reminds me that I can do more than I thought if I stay determined and keep pushing myself, even when things get challenging. Next term I would like to try challenging myself more, especially in areas I usually find hard, such as writing and analyzing. I also want to take more initiative in group work, contribute more ideas, and help others when I can. My goal is to keep growing not only in academics but also in teamwork and confidence!”

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“During my first few months of Inquiry Hub, I’ve found that I’m quite proud of how many connections I’ve made already. At my old schools, it was difficult to find any friends, at all. In middle school, I thought I’d found them, but I was actually in a really toxic friendship. I think that was because I just wasn’t around my people. Here at iHub, I’ve found some really good friends, just in the first weeks!

During those weeks, however, I watched the higher grades, and tried to figure out what was going on. They didn’t act like the people I’d known at all. After a little bit, I figured it out:

(iHub) = (Normal School) – (Discrimination)

It’s not just another school, it’s another ecosystem entirely! A place where all predators were locked out, and instead of the ”’prey”’ destroying the environment with overpopulation, they create an actually self-functioning society.”

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Reading comments like these reminds me why I like going to work. They remind me of the awesome students we have and the incredible team of educators who bring the best out of our students. I really love our learning community.

Make the average better

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There is a saying that I love, which goes like this:

‘You are the average of the people you spend the most time with.’

I’ve seen it over and over again at school. Take a kid who’s floundering, put them in a friend group that is doing well, and suddenly that kid is also doing well. Inversely, put a smart, good kid in a friend group with kids that don’t care about school, and watch that kid’s marks (and attitude) fall.

Entire classes can be influenced this way and in a small community minded school, we’ve seen how a culture of getting work done and showing pride in caring for our school and our community has been contagious.

Going back to the quote, it’s mathematically impossible that everyone could be the average of the 5 people around them… but there is no doubt that those around you have tremendous influence regarding how you act, and what you value. And the power in the quote is as much about what you do to that average as it is what others do to that average.

Be someone who increases the average. Be someone who finds ways to make the people you surround yourself with better. This simple act will increase the average for everyone and generate a positive feedback loop. After a while, you and your friends will never be just average again.

Will AI undermine social media?

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What if AI created media completely changes our online habits? I’ve already noticed that I’m disappointed when I realize a video that caught my attention is not real… That it’s not (for example) a video catching a house cat scaring away a bear from a child, but rather an AI imagined scenario. Right now that’s about 5-10% of me feed, but what happens when that percentage is over 50%?

Am I going to pay as much attention to what I watch and read when I know more than half of my feed is artificially concocted to attract and hold that attention? Will the appeal be there?

I’m already gravitating to podcast conversations, and a smaller communities of people I actually know, as places to get new information from, will my social media stream look the same as it does today? Or will it shrink away from seeking new, but likely artificially created information, to smaller communities that I know are real?

And how will this affect younger generations and their addictions to their phones? Maybe it will just redirect their attention to seeking real connections, but they’ll still do that digitally, not changing habits as much as where their attention goes. But maybe, just maybe, AI infiltration or perhaps I should say infestation, of social media will see us all living a little further away from our screens.

Fun encounters

Got to see a band of grads from my school perform at an event this evening. A couple weeks back my wife and I took her parents to a coffee shop where we ran into a student we both taught in middle school about 20 years ago.

It’s wonderful seeing former students in our community. In fact, that’s my favourite part of living in the community where I’m an educator.

Seeing students grow up outside of school is a wonderful thing.

Community & Friendship

As I head to retirement, I’ve been thinking a bit about community and friendships.

When I think about my friendships I’ve come to the realization that of the friends I keep in contact with regularly, they all date back to my first few years of teaching (25+ years ago) and before (university and high school). It’s a little shocking to realize that I haven’t added very close friends for the second half of my life. I have great friends and am not actively looking for more, but that’s still a surprising thing to recognize.

I have friends I connect with when I go back to Toronto, one friend from university here in BC that I try to see regularly despite our very different lives and schedules, and then my friends I met in my early teaching career. And in thinking about retirement I’m very interested in fostering community among these friends.

When there isn’t a sport or a club that we are all members of, how do we make sure we connect regularly? What do we do to build community. My university buddy and I try to make sure that we have experiences and don’t just meet to reminisce. Another buddy and I do the Coquitlam Crunch weekly and try to work out at least one more time a week together. My wonder is, what else can I do with friends to ensure we build community, and grow together rather than apart?

Spring formal

Last night was our senior spring formal. Our school is small enough that we actually hold it for grades 11 & 12 combined because it would be too small for just one grade. This is only our second year running the event, and I’m convinced that we’ll do this every year. Watching our students enjoy the evening together reminded me what a wonderful community we have. Having not just every teacher but also our secretaries join us was also special.

Our students were appreciative, and enjoyed the whole evening, with many making the effort to thank us all for the event. I spent the entire evening taking photos and I am pretty sure I’ve got at least one of every kid that if they don’t love it, at least their parents will. I was reminded of my days taking wedding photos, except that I did that back in the film era and it used to take over a week to know if the pictures I took were good or not. Having instant results is so much better.

It’s wonderful to have a year-end event like this. We will still have our grad night, but for many kids getting decked out for the dinner dance will be as memorable or more memorable than walking across the stage and receiving their diploma. And so I’m glad we are able to provide this experience for our students… despite them not being in a big, more traditional high school.

Be a Good Ancestor

Be a good Ancestor with your neighbors

Neighbors become friends

Friends become communities

Communities become nations

Nations become allies

~ Be a Good Ancestor by Leona Prince and Gabrielle Prince

It has become abundantly clear that an isolationist policy is not one that will work in the 21st century. The question now isn’t about if things will get better or worse, but rather how much worse? We have a global superpower that is going to destabilize world economies, and no neighbours or allies are going to come out unscathed.

I just have to wonder what future generations will think of this era? Who will the good ancestors be? And who will be typecast cast as the villain? While I think the answer is clear, if I go south of the border there would be close to a 50-50 split in responses to these questions. And the divide between the responses would be from people who would not be too neighbourly with one another.

Be a good ancestor with your neighbours. The premise is simple. The outcome unifying and peaceful. We could use a little children’s book philosophy about now.

Design, purpose, and practice

I was having a coffee with a friend just outside of a Starbucks on a beautiful, sunny morning, when we witnessed a dog owner tie his dog to this post and head into the coffee shop..

“ATTENTION
PET OWNERS
DO NOT LEAVE PETS UNATTENDED”

A few things occurred to me:

  1. The sign (obviously) isn’t going to stop the behavior.
  2. The sign is at the wrong height… it should probably be at the height that the person would tie the dog to the post. (Which would also make tying the dog there more difficult as well as being more likely to be read.)
  3. The sign doesn’t solve the problem. Dogs can’t go into the store, and a pet owner will still leave their dog tied somewhere, so they can quickly grab a coffee.

I don’t know what the solution is? Even if the post wasn’t there, the pet owner could use the tree that’s just a few feet away… but I think it’s funny that the very post with the sign is the most convenient place for dog owners to leave their unattended pet.

I understand that this has potential to cause issues, with strangers (potentially kids) petting the dog, or other dogs passing by with their owners taking issue with the tied up dog. But is there something else that can be done? Is there a way to design a store line up that is dog friendly? Is there a way a dog owner could be queued in a line from outside the store? Could there be a location the tied up and unattached dog is less likely to be an issue?

The purpose of the dog owner is to respect the rules that dogs don’t come into the coffee shop, and so they leave the dog outside momentarily while they grab a coffee. The purpose of the sign is to stop unattended dogs from being a safety issue. This is a common practice with dog owners, and I struggle to think of a time that I’ve seen an unattended dog cause an issue.

So is this just an etiquette thing where owners of dogs that shouldn’t be left alone simply shouldn’t do so, and just forgo the sign? Do we need to have a sign to prevent stupidity? Or is this actually an important enough issue to warrant a sign? If so, what solutions can we come up with?

PS. I think it’s worth mentioning that I don’t own a dog.

Family owned businesses

I’ve worked in the same building for 12 plus years. We have a pizza place that’s a 5 minute walk away that I have gone to for a slice or two of pizza more times than I’d like to admit. The two brothers that own the place are salt of the earth kind of guys.

Yesterday a great kid from my school was there when I was picking up a slice, and I teased him a bit telling one of the brothers to watch out for this one, ‘He’s a troublemaker’. The kid got a little more embarrassed than I thought he would, and so I let him know that the pizza guy and I have known each other since he was in diapers. Ok, maybe that just added to the embarrassment, and might not have been the right approach, but the point was, I knew this guy well enough that we were both in on the joke.

I just love walking into the store and connecting with these guys. We are well past the usual customer relationship and I’d call them friends. We chat about our families, our jobs, and holiday plans… And we have a fun banter, especially when my students are there. Although, that’s rare because I’m usually popping in just before or after our student lunchtime.

Still, what I enjoy is that the pizza place is a family run business that is a an important part of our community. In an era of big box stores and fast food chains, it’s nice to have, and to support, small family run businesses. They enrich our communities and our lives.

Defining and Understanding Community

I call it the most important book I never read. It’s called “Bowling Alone”. I asked Microsoft Copilot to synthesize the message of the book for me:

“The main message of “Bowling Alone” by Robert D. Putnam is that social capital in the United States has been declining since the 1960s. Putnam argues that this erosion of community engagement and participation in civic life has led to a weaker democracy and a decline in personal well-being. He emphasizes the importance of revitalizing social networks and community bonds to strengthen society.”

I say that I didn’t read it, but I tried. It was suggested for a book club I was in 20+ years ago and while the premise is why I call it the most important book I never read, the actual text was very much like a textbook and way too boring. None of us finished it, but we had very interesting conversations about it and I’ve thought about a lot in subsequent years.

I think the message about lost community is more relevant today than 20 years ago. I have lived in the same house for over 25 years. I know my neighbours on either side of me well, but vaguely know the rest of my neighbours beyond that. I don’t live in a community as much as we cohabitate in a common local area.

Community should describe our neighbourly connections not our geographical location. Close community bonds strengthen a society. I think about this as I think about retirement. At some point my wife and I will downsize our home. Where do we move to? To me geography matters less than community. The more specific question to ask is, where do we move to in order to maximize our connections to our friends and community?

The difference between living 15-20 minutes away from a friend versus 45-60 minutes away is the difference between seeing them regularly versus making monthly plans. It’s the difference between living in a community and commuting to occasionally visit and see each other.

In the future I want to create the community that I want, in close proximity to me. I want to cohabitate with my social community, not travel from a place where I cohabitate with strangers to get to my community of friends.