00:10:08.220You know, and I talk a lot about Indigenous issues.0.87
00:10:10.220I'm not Indigenous. I don't, I'm sure, look, there's lots of people like, I did genealogy.com. I am one, whatever. Look, I have no background, no familial connection, but I speak about it all the time. And the more that I speak about it, the more that I realize I need those people. I got to stop speaking.
00:10:31.320So what I've learned recently, very recently, actually, is what it means to be an actual ally, as opposed to because I love to talk. And I love to talk when people are being morons. I love to put them in their place. But what a real ally means is when you have space, which is why I want to do this. And I want to have as much diversity as I possibly can.0.99
00:10:54.960When you have space or when you have a voice, do you clear space for the people that would
00:11:00.800be quiet or silenced otherwise, right?
00:11:04.680I want to do a huge thing on transgendered athletes.1.00
00:11:24.960I'm letting control go. I can't control what they're going to say and do. And it's very hard for people, leaders, anybody to allow for that loss of control. And it shouldn't be about power and control. But that's how you perceive it. As opposed to, I don't need to teach this. I just need to facilitate the learning of this. And I'm going to facilitate the learning of this situation by having the right people in the room.
00:11:51.220and there's the right leader i know we're going to talk about politics and a whole other thing
00:11:56.220right because there's the actual leader a leader doesn't stand up and just tell you what to do
00:12:01.180a leader has listened a leader has made space a leader has you know uh i used to ask my students
00:12:07.840all the time we talk about democracy and we talk about who gets to vote and a lot of my 17 year
00:12:12.780olds are real mad that they don't get to vote they're like joanna i know so much more than my
00:12:17.760mom does. You know, she doesn't even know who's leads the green
00:12:20.100party or they call it out all the time. And I say, Yeah, it's
00:12:25.620frustrating. It's frustrating when you're the one that's
00:12:28.080getting educated. But I joke with them. I say, Listen, if you
00:12:31.480want to vote, though, you get all the big person responsibilities
00:12:34.740too. So if you do something wrong, you don't get young jail,
00:17:22.840I'm expecting you to do page one to 130 plus the unit tests,
00:17:26.940and I need it done in six months, and you have to show it to me.
00:17:31.080And so the tears, the frustration, the anger that I get from teachers
00:17:37.600about uh someone died in my class and i'm still expected to do page 79 today yeah right um i have
00:17:45.780six kids who just came from guatemala who don't speak english but they're expected to do page 76
00:17:51.360today right um this flexibility there's no room and so it breaks my heart because the best part
00:18:00.380about being a teacher is an aha moment is a teachable moment is something happens socially
00:18:06.460and we're spending the whole week on it yeah absolutely and i will integrate it and they
00:18:11.860still will get the history curriculum but they're going to get it through uh conversation and through
00:18:17.720some drama and maybe through some videos and maybe through um some mind maps but it's you're
00:18:24.420also expecting that everybody can read page 76 yeah absolutely and so that's that's some i i am
00:18:31.280very proud of the Ontario Ministry of Education's website and the resources available. It's also
00:18:38.380transparent, Joanna. So I'm a mom and I want to know what my kid's getting. I could download the
00:18:43.400grade seven history curriculum. Yeah. Here, nobody knows what it is. There's some standards
00:18:49.860and there's some expectations, but not as thorough as ours. Who comes up with the core that you said?
00:18:56.780the government the federal government it's like a huge mandate across america okay and what's in
00:19:06.960that then you said math and science yeah math and reading it's very fair math and english very
00:19:13.040basic expectations for certain ages and grades great start but again alabama says don't tell us
00:19:23.960what our grade five should be doing and alaska says don't you tell us that we should be doing
00:19:29.820what alabama's grade five students are doing oh and so the number one thing that i've noticed and
00:19:36.920i'm trying so hard to get people to just at least think about is let's just think about the kids
00:19:42.660yeah a grade five kid sitting in alabama who's what 11 is very similar to the grade five kids
00:19:50.620sitting in in in Alaska who's also 11. Sure they have different hobbies and experiences but they're
00:19:56.380still an 11 year old kid. Absolutely. And so it's I just I I often will say tell me how this is right
00:20:04.440for kids. Right. And I'm just proud of the equity access that Ontario allows. Right right. And that
00:20:13.760if you are someone who moves you're going to get the same stuff. Maybe not in the same way
00:20:19.780but the other thing here is you don't have to in ontario if a child walks into your school and
00:20:26.100they're 11 we place them by age not by parent suggestion right here you walk into a school
00:20:34.100and your parent says well they were in grade four in alabama i'd like them in grade four here
00:20:39.940and you're like but they're 11 yep but i want them in grade four
00:20:43.140and this idea of red shirting they hold their kid back for a year so they're taller stronger
00:20:51.620bigger more mature than some of the other kids don't get me wrong great idea it's awesome
00:20:57.780but is that what's right for the child in some cases yes keeping some kids back and you know
00:21:04.760we don't really keep kids back in ontario because we often look at the reasons why right there's a
00:21:11.160I want to talk about that. I want to talk about that with you specifically because the notion of failing, the notion of, and when we talk about it from an elementary, so a K through eight versus a high school experience, I don't know if we're going to come on the same page here or not because I've never taught elementary.
00:21:34.200so I've taught as young as grade six. Right. Um, but even if you think about child development,
00:21:39.200right. Even if you think about like my friend's kid learned to speak way late, way late, very
00:21:44.960near late. Right. And she was freaking out and whatever. And he might be slower on the take.
00:21:51.660And you know what? Holding him back might make sense for him. Yet it's like, we don't hold,
00:21:57.960we don't hold anybody back. Why it's going to break them. Is it going to break them? Or is our
00:22:02.980perception and our social damnation of it going to break them rather than just, you know, because
00:22:10.040there's lots of kids who just don't get math yet, who just who can't, maybe their fine motor skills
00:22:15.440aren't up to par yet. And what we're going to do is we're going to keep pushing them and pushing
00:22:18.940them through. And for me, that's an economic decision. That is not what's good for my kid
00:22:25.140decision, right? You've answered your own question. The answer is it depends. It depends on the child.
00:22:31.700a hundred percent because we have had kids with medical serious chronic illness who have not
00:22:38.480been to school for a year there it is um often that the conversation is around social that
00:22:46.480holding someone back or failing them or retain the word is retaining them in elementary
00:22:52.040is that it's going to hurt them socially right and my answer to that is it depends
00:22:58.440because there's some kids whose maturity level truly is that of younger people they have their
00:23:07.740friends are younger people their size is similar to others so i have never been part of retaining
00:23:15.140anyone that's been like that's gone through but i have been part of the conversations in ontario
00:23:21.780we sit around and it's a huge group of people it's the parents it's an advocate it's a social
00:23:27.220worker it's a psychologist it's the administration it's teachers and it is about what's best for the
00:23:33.380child um high school is different yeah totally different yeah because if you didn't do the work
00:23:40.340if you're unable to do the work if you have not done the assessments and passed them
00:23:49.540then you're not going to then it's not that you failed you don't get that credit
00:23:53.060and you need your credits to leave high school so it's about you didn't obtain the credit
00:23:57.220so elementary so in america one of the things that that i do appreciate is they have elementary
00:24:04.320middle and high so they have these sort of k to five schools these six seven and eight schools
00:24:10.160and then the nine to twelve schools and different versions of that some of them are k to three some
00:24:15.300of them are seven eight nine right so socially it they're packed together and not everybody knows
00:24:22.580what's going on in everybody else's life whereas in ontario often we stay at the same school for
00:24:27.700a long period of time and everybody knows your business so if you retain somebody everybody
00:24:33.700knows well you used to be in my class and now you're not yeah yeah yeah preserving preserving
00:24:40.580the the the respect for that child and that family and their business is a little harder right
00:24:47.460Right. Yeah, that is different math. I didn't get math till I was in grade 11. I didn't figure it
00:24:53.260out till I was in grade 11. And I, and I did not get my grade nine math credit. And I pretty well,
00:24:59.560I did not do well in grade seven. I show people my report card all the time. All my marks were
00:25:03.960below. But if they had kept me back, it would have devastated me personally. Right. Just the
00:25:09.880embarrassment, the shame to my family. And I was also this tall and this big in grade seven.
00:25:17.460like it wasn't like i fit in with the grade sixes how tall are you oh five ten oh okay
00:25:24.820yeah it's real i was a tall kid tall skinny awkward kid um it would have hurt me socially
00:25:31.220so i would have hoped that there would have you know obviously we just kept on kept me going and
00:25:34.340eventually my brain popped in the 11th grade but i didn't know i had add either there you go it
00:25:40.100wasn't talked about then none of us did right none of us knew any of that none of and and i often
00:25:46.660but i often think it is about how we frame it and how we push it because i'll tell you what every
00:25:54.980kid in my school anyways a lot of kids will talk about their ieps openly yes you know it's all
00:26:00.900confidential i think it's so the gut the guidance office gives you this folder of kids and all their
00:26:05.540ieps and they're like don't show any kids i'm like you're joking they walk into my classroom
00:26:10.020me go Joanna my IEP says you know they're they're I mean proud is a weird word but they're comfortable
00:26:16.660with it there is just who I am it's called self-advocating and I talk about this all the
00:26:23.460time on my lives and in my videos the number one thing you want as a parent is your kid to self
00:26:28.240advocate for their needs absolutely you can feel that if they're stuck on the side of the road
00:26:33.860they can do something about it if they're at school and they didn't get the technology they
00:26:37.760needed to write the test, they can ask for it. And as parents, that's the skill that you need
00:26:43.700to be developing in your child, no matter the age, no matter the situation is that they can talk to
00:26:49.420adults and advocate for their needs. Absolutely. Whether I need to go to the bathroom and get a
00:26:53.920drink of water. Yeah, no, for sure. When I see parents talking for their child drives me nuts.
00:27:01.420and as a principal they used to sit in my office and the parent would go he's bullied
00:27:07.500oh and i would turn to the child go tell me what's happening he says just a second i'm
00:27:11.580just going to ask your child for some specifics tell me about when this happened in the morning
00:27:17.660the damage that that does to people you see it as adults and so i love it when kids walk in and say
00:27:29.020my iep says that i get headphones and i get technology and i get extra time and
00:27:33.020you know you have to do an oral test with me awesome buddy let's do it yeah confidence success
00:27:38.940knowing their needs understanding the process that got them to be successful i love that there should
00:27:46.140not be any shame or embarrassment about an iep remember an iep can be because you have a hearing
00:27:51.500disability or have to be visual impairment and and i honestly believe that if we all i think
00:27:58.060we're about the same age if we were tested when we were kids if every kid tested we would all have
00:28:03.180one i should have been on an iep every student would have i think i might have been dyslexic
00:28:10.540oh my dad and i talk about that all the time i honestly believe so because i hated reading as a
00:28:15.740kid and even as a teacher like as i became a teacher kids would say joanna can you spell
00:28:21.900that word and i'd hate it my first few years i'd start to sweat i'd have to look at the word and
00:28:26.300And I swear to God, I would have to focus all my attention on looking at that word and spelling it out to that student.
00:28:50.360And not just left and right, but up and down.
00:28:53.400In the way, math must have been impossible.
00:28:55.300It was impossible. I can remember when we used to do those bubble tests growing up a couple times a year, several days of stuff. They never explained what it was like we do with EQAO now. And there was a spelling aspect. It's going to be 50 words. And the very first word was done.
00:29:15.080right i couldn't spell done for whatever reason and i didn't put any other words down
00:29:23.220and i was going done and i always rhymed done son bun and i couldn't get there zero out of 50
00:29:31.260zero out of 50 and to this day d-o-n-e i know what it is now but i'm not stupid right i gotta
00:29:39.660and i'm not saying because i have a doctorate of educational leadership that i'm brilliant
00:29:43.200because that's not what i am what i have done in my life is taken opportunities so i've taken the
00:29:50.320opportunity to get a tutor i've taken the opportunity to go and see a professor after a
00:29:55.520test i've taken the opportunity to not go out on the weekend and to do some extra work i've taken
00:30:00.800the opportunity to take an extra year to get my studies there it is no shame in that no and you
00:30:08.720And you know what? And that's to me. So like I work at an academic school. So so it's a small private school and we offer academic courses.
00:30:17.860So for those who are from the states, I don't know how it works down there, but you need to take certain courses to go to university stream, college stream or workplace.
00:30:24.500We don't offer we have some university college courses that are both, but we don't offer the other courses because we're a small school and predominantly kids are going to university from our school, which is fine.
00:30:35.660we spend a lot of time talking about accommodation versus modification, right? And I've very much
00:30:44.080said, I am all for accommodation. I hate modification. And I'm very clear about this
00:30:51.720because, so just to explain it a little bit, let's say you brought up oral testing, right?
00:30:58.660Let's say a kid to write out a test, he or she reads my test, but writing it out takes forever,
00:31:04.200or they're missing a connectivity point there and they can't get the words on paper and they fail
00:31:09.760the test. But if I were to ask them in person, they could go for about 30 minutes on a five mark
00:31:16.040question because that's how much they have in their head. That's an accommodation. And I'm good
00:31:21.780with that. I'm good with making every single accommodation I can make to ensure that I am
00:31:26.400getting the intelligence and the work and the thought process out of my student. But an
00:31:32.940accommodation would be oh it takes you a long time to do the test forget it you
00:31:37.920know what I'm just gonna give you half the questions no for me I don't see that
00:31:44.400as educating right because that kid can still do that full test and that's the
00:31:49.460curriculum that's the expectation I think when we undervalue expectations
00:31:55.380when we minimize expectations in order by the way to allow that kid to pass
00:31:59.880which is in essence what we're doing what what kind of education are they getting
00:32:04.960and then what am i preparing them for you know they don't have that kind of stuff here with
00:32:11.880i do appreciate the difference between accommodation and modification and i always
00:32:16.580say to people can the child access the grade level curriculum can the child do exactly what's
00:32:24.400expected of a grade seven history student right yes or no no then they need a modification then
00:32:29.800should be accessing the grade six curriculum or the grade five curriculum can't that's modifying
00:32:36.040you're modifying the curriculum expectations to a different grade and it could be up in some cases
00:32:41.480too we've got some students who are unbelievably gifted who need to access higher grade accommodation
00:32:47.160is what are the small things you do in your classroom to make them successful at grade level
00:32:51.000oh that's interesting do they need preferred seating yeah they need extra time do they need
00:32:56.360someone describe for them right but they're still able to do the grade level content okay with a few
00:33:03.000tricks and traits and so that's that's something that's different here they don't necessarily have
00:33:09.000a huge distinction they have ieps and they have behavior plans and very similar but i'm talking
00:33:14.440i often will say are they able to do the grade curriculum but again it goes back to our very
00:33:19.080first piece they don't have a very good curriculum they don't have any yeah so it's very difficult
00:33:26.120for someone to write and the books that they're using are difficult even for someone who could
00:33:34.420access the curriculum. Because think about it. What's the one thing as a history teacher that
00:33:39.300kids need to know to be successful in history? How to look at visual text and how to read a
00:33:45.940textbook, how to understand what something italics is, what means if a word is bolded.
00:33:51.620When you look at a photo and there's a little thing underneath it, a citation, what does that
00:33:55.280mean someone has to teach them how to do that and so if you don't have curriculum that builds upon
00:34:01.820skills from the grades before by the time they get to you they're going to struggle accessing
00:34:06.380your curriculum because they don't have the skills need and let's be honest great schools
00:34:11.880everybody teaches those skills all the time once they get to high school we shouldn't not be
00:34:16.300teaching reading right it's just a different type of reading how do you read a blog right yeah an
00:34:21.760online article um but it's that the continuum i just love this word that in ontario the curriculum
00:34:29.020is a continuum of skills this is what grade ones do and can do and should do and probably could
00:34:36.460this is what twos do here it's all over the place if i and i visit schools on fridays i go and visit
00:34:41.320two to three schools right and i often will try and go into the same classroom and it's completely
00:34:46.160different so i'm sitting here in a grade seven language classroom and they're reading some sort
00:34:50.820of novel whole class novel you know half those kids can't read it but it's a read aloud so that's
00:34:57.300lovely appreciate that and then i go to the next room and they're doing a worksheet fill in the
00:35:02.560blank mad lib kind of stuff they haven't read a book this year they read the they watch cnn 10
00:35:10.080every morning to access the news and have conversations about it okay that's tough then
00:35:14.920go to the next one and they're reading graphic texts and making their own and sharing them with
00:35:21.720younger students so which classroom's right which classroom's best you can't compare you can't
00:35:29.440compare not even so as an administrator as an administrator it's a very difficult for me to do
00:35:36.420teacher performance appraisals to know if they're actually providing for their students it just
00:35:42.160it everything begins with that curriculum piece everything begins with that curriculum piece and
00:35:48.760i really often say go to the ontario see what they're doing i'm not saying the curriculum is
00:35:54.520all right because you don't send them for help curriculum no no oh i say that all the time but
00:35:59.600but that but the essence of what a province-wide curriculum could be along with those guides
00:36:07.420right the guides for effective instruction the guides for assessment like i talk about all the
00:36:13.060time diagnostic formative and summative assessment and they go what right right right assessment for