Education

Books for teachers to help make the world a better place

Education

Decision-making and AI

This year, I spent time teaching my students to understand and think critically about artificial intelligence. This involved teaching students about how AI works, how it is developed (with a focus on workers' rights, copyright and privacy issues), how AI affects our learning and mental health, why generative AI

Education

Artificial Intelligence, Hallucinations, and Bias

In order to make decisions about artificial intelligence, it is important that students learn how generative AI affects us and our world. Previously, I discussed teaching students about how AI affects learning and mental health, but increasingly AI is also affecting our information landscape. As some students turn to generative

Education

Artificial Intelligence, Learning and Mental Health

In Part 1 of this series, I discussed how to help students understand what generative AI is, how it works and different ethical considerations connected with its development. Building on this knowledge, students need to better understand how AI affects us, particularly how it affects mental health and learning. To

Education

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial intelligence is increasingly being sold by tech companies as a solution to many problems and a way to make life easier. This is especially true in the world of education, where teachers are encouraged to use AI to create engaging lessons, adapt for learners and involve students in this

Media Literacy

Online Media Literacy and Social Studies

Online media literacy is vital to help students assess the reliability of online information and think critically about what they see online. Being able to identify misinformation, fact check information using lateral reading and consider bias in online spaces is important. In the past, I have written about how to

Education

52 Ways to Reconcile: How to Walk with Indigenous Peoples on the Path to Healing

52 Ways to Reconcile: How to Walk with Indigenous Peoples on the Path to Healing, by David A. Robertson, is a book that offers concrete actions settlers can take on the path of reconciliation. The book offers fifty-two actions, which can be accomplished over the course of a year. While

Media Literacy

Google AI Overview and Teaching Critical Thinking

This school year, I decided to teach a unit on online search skills to my grade six class. Using a set of lessons from CTRL-F, we learned about the difference between search engines and social media, how to use search terms to effectively find content online and how algorithms work.

Courage

Books about Book Bans

Over the past few years, worrying trends of book censorship have emerged, with challenges to books in schools and libraries increasing markedly since before the pandemic. This year, the American Library Association indicated that 414 attempts were made to censor library materials from January to August 2024, while 1,128

Environment

Not the End of the World

When I first started teaching about climate change in social studies over ten years ago, my starting point was typically the evidence of climate change. My class would check out resources like NASA's Climate Time Machine to better understand the evidence that demonstrates the climate is changing. I

Media Literacy

Accountable: Supporting students in an online world

Debating whether or not to ban cell phone sidesteps a much more important discussion focused on how schools, communities and government can act to help young people engage respectfully and purposefully in their digital spaces.

Education

Students are not software

Recently I have been hearing more about teaching sprints. For those who are unfamiliar, a teaching sprint is a process where a team of teachers pick a focus, something they would like to work on improving as a team. They spend two to four weeks practicing a strategy or technique

Canadian

The Witness Blanket: Truth, Art and Reconciliation

To prepare for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, this year I chose to explore The Witness Blanket: Truth, Art and Reconciliation [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61070507-the-witness-blanket?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=36eGyJDCp5&rank=2] , by Carey Newman and Kirstie Hudson. This

Antiracism

So You Want to Talk About Race

So You Want to Talk About Race [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53249847-so-you-want-to-talk-about-race], written by Ijeoma Oluo, offers knowledge and tools to help people engage in conversations about race. Oluo teaches about racism and pushes people to view it from a systemic lens, defining it as "a prejudice

Education

Braiding Sweetgrass

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17465709-braiding-sweetgrass?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=lMNGySsZw9&rank=1] is a book that weaves together Indigenous teachings and worldviews with scientific knowledge about plants and our natural world. The

Antiracism

New Kid and Not Talking About Race

This year, I was able to teach my identity literature circle [https://teacherbees.ca/identity-literature-circle/] for the first time. Having put together the text sets before going on parental leave, I was excited to finally dive into a unit that explored identity in a variety of ways. As a final

Education

The Skin We're In/Policing Black Lives

Counter-stories are important. Counter-storytelling is defined by Solórzano and Yosso as "a method of telling the stories of those people whose experiences are not often told (i.e. those on the margins of society) and a tool for exposing, analyzing, and challenging the majoritarian stories of racial privilege."

Education

Restoring Safe Schools: A Teacher's Perspective

Is it safe to reopen schools? How do I stay safe? How do I keep my students safe? Should I wear a mask? How about my students? What if they refuse to wear one? Are face shields effective? Which masks work best? How do I keep my students two metres

Education

A Mind Spread Out on the Ground

When I write about books under the Education [https://teacherbees.ca/tag/education/] tag on my blog, I aim to recommend books I think teachers should read. Often I think these books give useful insights when it comes to teaching for social justice or sustainability. Today's recommendation has

Education

Repeating the Mistakes of Underground to Canada: Examining my own Biases

While I was in middle school, I only read one novel with Black characters for language arts class: Underground to Canada. This novel told the story of four Black people escaping from slavery using the Underground Railroad. In retrospect, it seems odd that a book written by a white author

Indigenous

Indigenous Writes

Indigneous Writes [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30181589-indigenous-writes?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=fAdqK9QRDb&rank=1] by Chelsea Vowel is a guide to First Nations, Métis and Inuit issues in Canada. The book provides a dialogue about the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and settlers

Environment

The Failings of Climate Change Fiction

Young adult and middle grade fiction are useful tools for teaching about tough issues. Problems like the refugee crisis [https://teacherbees.ca/refugee-books-for-middle-years/] or poverty are difficult and stories are important to help us better understand these issues and to give them a human face. Unfortunately, there has been scant

Education

How to Be an Antiracist

How to Be an Antiracist [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40265832-how-to-be-an-antiracist], by Ibram X. Kendi, is an essential book for people who want to better understand how racism is embedded in our society and how we can work more proactively to be antiracists. Part memoir, part guide, Ibram X.

Environment

Drawdown - Climate Crisis Solutions and the Classroom

As I write this blog entry, it is the early hours of the morning in Winnipeg and the Climate Strike is underway on the other side of the world. Early reports suggest the turn out is amazing, and I am keenly looking forward to participating in the strike here at

Environment

Don't Panic: Big Solutions to the Climate Crisis

Today's blog post is about the climate crisis and I'd like to preface everything by saying Don't Panic. It is easy to get overwhelmed, but solutions do exist that can help us address this crisis. That being said, let's dig deeper and

Education

White Fragility and the Canadian Classroom

Four months ago, I finished reading White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43708708-white-fragility], by Robin DiAngelo. Appreciating this excellent book, I opened a tab to create a blog post and immediately got stuck. The subtitle