Category: personal

It’s a Journey…SoL Video

Just when you think you know…

Learning is continuous, and it should be. As I am trying to create this summary of learning, blogs are being posted, I’m getting Discord notifications, leaving me to wonder, Can it really be a summary? As shown in the image above, I wasn’t in the green box, but most of the time I was in the pink and yellow (orange? Let the debate begin. Mustarrrrd!). I would feel like I was progressing toward unconscious competence, and then be humbled back by some new research or a new resource shared. Ultimately, that’s fantastic!

Throughout my blogging and learning journey, I made use of NotebookLM to help summarize and quickly search through references. I am still learning, so the jury is out on its usefulness. I leaned on Google’s Gemini for images as well as image searches on Google. Surprisingly, both ChatGPT and Gemini did not want to create my “baby and the bath water” image because it was against their policies.

Here is the video: https://youtu.be/W33zLkK5_vE

Over the 4 weeks, I have enjoyed reading blogs, adding comments to agree and posing questions to inspire reflection. I was engaged by the civil discourse, learning from others’ opinions and viewpoints. Even with common sources, each person took unique viewpoints and ideas that they shared in their blogs and comments.

Have a great summer and all the best on your learning journey!

Schools of Thought – New vs. Old

Randomized Alphabet – July 25, 2025 – Etsy.com

I fear my blog posts could blur with redundancy in the use of concepts like balance, meaningful, thoughtful or purposeful. As I was listening to the debate and then investigating sources, I started to wonder, What if the alphabet on the wall in every (Apologies here: dominant Western culture is showing) classroom was jumbled or random? Why do we learn the alphabet the way we do? What would English language acquisition, reading development and the learning of writing be like if we just completely went to a discovery model? These are probably better questions for the likes of Merriam-Webster, Oxford, Cambridge, Collins, and Longman.

When it comes to the debate statement: Schools should continue to teach skills that can be easily carried out by technology, I AGREE. Does that mean that I think time should not be devoted to modern activities like coding? It does not. One of the roles that schools have is to prepare students for the world outside of school. Integrating instruction related to technological skills is preparing them for the modern work world. It is, however, vital that technology use is purposeful and the usage is planned, not just frivolous and random screen time.

Baby, Bath Water – You know the saying. Pixlr.com AI Generated

Rote learning is often the target of the old ways. It would be irresponsible to completely banish rote learning from classrooms because of the benefits it can have on “mental training”. Spending hours a day memorizing facts would be a wasteful way to spend precious class time. Boredom aside, students who are just memorizing and regurgitating information are not developing the important skills of critical thinking. This is an area where discovery or innovative learning methods can provide a spark in our students, light the flames of curiosity and creativity.

Mrs. Howard – Abbott Elementary

I know technology, like iPads and Chromebooks, can bring benefits to our classrooms. What I also know is that kids need time away from screens. Why not bring the art back to language arts with some handwriting practice? Taking some time every day in our elementary school classes to build fine motor skills will have benefits well beyond the cursive letters themselves. Handwriting has also been linked to brain development, which links to reading skills in pre-literate children. This might create an argument that cursive can be phased out as students become more competent readers. Finally, our developing writers are supported through handwritten work.

As stated, old school methods still have a place in my classroom and should have a role in many elementary classrooms. However, ‘new school’ methods and activities are just as important in my classroom. This source highlights adaptability as a modern and important skill in the current and future workforce. I might contest that having the “old school” skills makes a student more adaptable. When the power goes out, when the subscription runs out, students need to have some skills to fall back on when the zombie apocalypse ensues.

The big question for me then is, how do we integrate the old teaching with the new teaching to best prepare our students for the world outside the classroom? 

Lame joke – Dustin Hubick

A “Day” in my Tech Life

My wrist is vibrating, vibrating, vibrating…my sleepy eyes lock in on the face of my smart watch, and I tap to end the vibrations. Sometimes I get up, sometimes I snooze. When I get up, I run through my morning routine and head to school. Over the past year, I decided to avoid looking at my smartphone until 8:30 am on work days. If I walk to school (500 m), I might check my phone for messages, depending on what I am expecting, both personal and professional.

As I set up in the gym office, I fumble through 2-step authentication. If you are unaware, there is a group of penguins in Antarctica trying to access the information housed on the Horizon servers, thus requiring 2-step authentication and frequent password changes. I open my work email, smile because as the PE teacher. I am of low importance, and the gym is not needed for another random presentation or event.

I log into Chalk, a planning service known as Planboard. I double-check my plans for the day. Once everything is confirmed in my brain, I open up a shared Google Doc and input what activity will be in the gym during my lunch supervision. As I wait for my first period, I usually start watching YouTube for different sports and games ideas. If I am teaching classes from grade 7 and up, I will have to access MySchoolSask to input attendance or enter marks if needed. The rest of the day will be spent checking sporadic emails on my phone or receiving a few random messages through different services…

Messaging and communicating go through (too) many services in my life. Professionally, email is the number one form, but I get the odd text message if it is deemed more urgent. Apparently, in the 90s and earlier, no such urgency existed. Personally, I use text, email, WhatsApp, Facebook (Messenger) and TeamLinkt. Depending on what sport, club or event is happening. These modes of communication can run my day after work and on weekends. 

As a classroom teacher, I would typically rely on Google Classroom as a means to support online work and serve as the online meeting point for my students. I still use it for my Wellness 10 class and PE 7-9, but very sparingly. The majority of communication with students is face-to-face, while my communication with parents is via e-mail, unless very pressing (like an injury), it would then be a phone call.

Overall, I am a passive user of social media. I skim through Reddit and Facebook, and if I am connecting with friends and family, it is done by text message. 

Oh yeah, I guess I should make a note of AI. In my personal life, I have not actively engaged in the usage of AI, but I am aware that it is lurking in the background. As a teacher and grad student, I have dabbled in services like ChatGPT and Gemini. I use Grammarly to support writing conventions and have used TeachMateAI to help create plans and comments for email, but not very often. At this time, AI isn’t a big part of my daily Tech life…at least that I am aware.