by Donna Miller Fry (@fryed)
Wednesday, September 4, 2019 Today, my beautiful, curious, imaginative, creative, energetic, confident 4-year-old granddaughter begins her journey through the public school system. Will her teachers see her as the capable and competent child that she is? I am thinking about the words Yong Zhoa said to me in 2015. Children come into the school system […]
One of the most powerful benefits to having a strong Professional Learning Network (PLN) is how they can push you to do the work you must do, the work that makes you open and vulnerable, even when you think you don’t have time. Why we do what we do is an essential question educators must […]
We all know carbon dating has been disproven. Homosexuality is a choice. Climate change is a hoax. Hillary is a criminal. Everyone should carry a gun for protection. All of these statements have been treated as facts in the media over the past few weeks, in preparation for USA to go to the polls. And […]
I’m not sure how to share this experience because it is new, intense and raw, and writing is the way I try to sort things out. So please bear with me. How do we describe and define the intense feelings we experience when we see people we care about, colleagues in our profession, working their fingers […]
We all have time. But how much? And how will we spend it? As an educator, I struggle with doing too much. As a teacher, I packaged content endlessly, provided feedback on everything, read tirelessy, reflected on everything. It consumed me. It consumes many. Balance, alignment, living a rich life away from school – all […]
How are we preparing our students for the digital economy that is not their future, but their present? How do we create the compelling argument that this is important, that this should be a priority in our school system? ~~~~~~~~~~ Walmart is mere months away from replacing their warehouse workers with drones and robots. Automation […]
You can change a life trajectory. It is a powerful message, and it’s one I have heard often throughout the last month. Richard Wagamese, storyteller and Canada Reads Peoples’ Choice author, spoke to educators in Thunder Bay about the one person who rescued him from a desperate life path. It’s a remarkable story that began […]
“Daddy, what is that yellow stuff they are spraying on the plane?” “Daddy, what are those big white things for?” “Daddy, will we still be able to see the ground when we take off?” “Daddy, do you think it is snowing in Toronto yet? Will there be snow when we get there?” I heard all […]
Today is my dog’s 10th birthday. Technically, he isn’t really my dog. We bought him for our son 10 years ago. “Basso”, the beagle, was my son’s Christmas present in 2005. A beagle was the #2 item on my son’s wish list. Item #1 was an iPod, but everyone wanted an iPod in 2005, and all of […]
Over the past few months I have had the opportunity to present at conferences in other Canadian provinces. It makes me realize how little I actually know about education in Canada outside of Ontario. It’s silly, really. Just because we exist in different education jurisdictions doesn’t mean we can’t spend more time learning from each […]
