One Teacher's Adventures

I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed that my students live in a world where news doesn’t just come from the evening broadcast or the front page of a newspaper. Instead, it comes through TikTok videos, Instagram posts, YouTube clips, and memes shared at lightning speed. And while our students are more connected than ever, that doesn’t mean they’re better at figuring out what’s real, what’s biased, and what’s flat-out fake. That’s why I make a point of teaching media literacy in my classroom. Why Media Literacy Matters We’ve all seen how quickly misinformation can spread, whether it’s a miscaptioned photo, a sensationalized headline, or a “news” story that turns out to be satire. For students, who may not yet have the critical thinking tools to question their sources, this can be overwhelming. When I introduce media literacy, I don’t frame it as “don’t believe anything you see online.” Instead, I teach students how to ask better questions : Where is this information coming fr...

Teaching systems of government has never been my favourite subject to cover in the Social Studies curriculum. It tends to be a dry topic with very little student engagement. To try and make it more engaging and interesting for our students, a colleague and I came up with a game to introduce the idea of different systems of government. Materials You'll Need: 10 pieces of paper 10 glue sticks 10 pairs of scissors government cards, downloadable here Overview: Students are arranged into 5 different groups. Each group represents a different country with a different system of government. The teacher will distribute a red government card to each group. Each card represents a different system of government. They are: anarchy, dictatorship, direct democracy, republic, and constitutional monarchy. Each group follows the rules on their card to make the longest paper chain possible with just one piece of paper. After each group has begun, there will be a coup in ...

I'm excited to share two free Core French projects that align with the new BC Curriculum for Grade 6-8! Francophone Communities Across Canada Project The first fits in with Grade 6 and Grade 7.  It is a Francophone Communities Across Canada Research Project.   Grade 6 BC Curriculum Connections: Big Idea Learning about Francophone communities helps us develop cultural awareness. Content Students are expected to know the following: There are many Francophone and Francophone Métis communities across Canada Basic information about a Francophone or Francophone Métis community in Canada Curricular Competencies Students  are expected to be able to do the following: Demonstrate awareness of Francophone and Francophone Métis communities across Canada Recognize that some Francophone communities are connected to First Peoples communities Identify and share information about a Francophone community in Canada Grad...

While my first day back to school with the kids is tomorrow, the staff had our official start day last Thursday.  In our district, we have a School Planning Day built into the calendar, usually in the second or third week of classes.  This year, it falls on September 21.  Most schools, however, decide to do the planning day before classes start - which makes a lot more sense! I'm switching schools (again) this year, and my new school decided to hold our planning day off site at a salmon enhancement centre.  Although the majority of the day was spent in grade group meetings, part of the day was dedicated to touring the facility and taking in the beauty of the surroundings.  We took a walk through some of the trails and breathtaking doesn't begin to describe the beauty.  These pictures do not do it justice! This is a salmon ladder.  It has run dry because our summer was so dry.  Hopefully, we will have more rain and the stream will connec...

I live in Victoria, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island in BC.  We have had hot, dry weather for weeks, which has caused many wild fires to blaze around the province.  Here is a map with active fires in BC. With so many fires blazing for so long, the smoke has gathered in the atmosphere and has settled over Vancouver Island.  Residents of the southern island woke up this morning to an orange haze filling the sky.  It was so bad that NASA took this picture from space showing the smoke. Here are some photos that I took today as the smoke got heavier and heavier. This is the sky when I first woke up The sun had a ring around it. There were crows circling around the park, which gave off a scary movie feel to the day. The smoke became so thick that the sun could barely shine. My sister and I took my nephew to the park and it was really creepy with the orange haze. I'm wondering if anyone in Washington State, Alaska, or in other parts of...