Author: Carrie Froese

Restorative justice practices were established by Indigenous communities thousands of years ago. The community sat in a circle. Each person had a chance to speak. Every other person was expected to actively listen. Then the problem was tackled by the community. The expectation was that a solution would be achieved. Sometimes the result led to healing and moving forward. Other times the collective good was served but an individual was harshly punished.

Our take-away in Western society was not surprising.  In a society that recognizes speed as a sign of intelligence, the most expeditious path was to skip the talk.  Look at the rules.  Apply the punishment.  Expedite.  This is how the prison system became firmly entrenched and the strap made it’s way into school practices until the early 1970’s .  The circle became a line.  The power of the process was lost.  Fear of punishment trumped understanding or learning from mistakes.

My friend, Latash, introduced me to a healing circle during an Indigenous Youth Exchange Program with middle school students in Coquitlam and Ottawa.  During part of the trip to Ottawa, rules were broken.  Safety was compromised.  I was the teacher in charge and ultimately responsible to the school district for navigating through the process.  Latash was the Indigenous support worker helping me to use Indigenous practices to facilitate the learning through an Indigenous lens.  We sat in a circle with all of the students and people facilitating the Ottawa side of the trip.  For me it was painful.  It was SO slow.  And yet, in the long game, it defined how I approach discipline with my kids and my students. 

Meaningful learning always takes place over time.  It is slow.  It is not sped up by fear of reprisal.  As a kid, I learned fear of an authority figure results in resentment.  As I parent, I learned early on that punishment frequently results in anger rather than reflection.  Energy was circumvented away from learning.   Learning is the focus of parents.  It is the mandate in the education system.  Our purpose in intervening with children’s behaviour is teaching them to understand that their actions have consequences.  It may be a safety risk.  It may be to help them adopt another perspective so they can empathize with the person or people they have hurt, either physically or emotionally.  All of the problems in history have emerged when people allow there wants to take first priority and they fail to see the humanity in other people.  The process of learning is a circle not a line. 

Restorative practices necessitate that families and schools work together.  Parents are not informed after the fact but part of the process in moving forward.  They are part of the process of teaching their child the difference between right and wrong, fair and unfair, kind and unkind.  It provides support for the student making the error in judgement to consider their motivation and decide who it is they want to be in the world and how they are going to get there. 

Restorative practices also provide a voice to the recipient of the problematic behaviour.  It is also their opportunity to decide who they want to be in the world and plot a path forward.  The opportunity to stand up straight, shoulders back, make eye contact and express their feelings and expectations.  When I was teaching Grade 5/6 one day, the class was noisy, and I was clearly looking exasperated.  James looked over at me and said,

“Want me to do it?”

My response,

“Go for it!”

“Excuse me… Do I look amused?” stated James emphatically, leaning back slightly, right toe forward, back foot at a right angle.

The class went silent.  From then on, students would beg to be chosen to work their magic.  For me, I watched as students replicated me exactly and achieved the intended result.  It became part of how I instructed students to express their truth.  Stand up straight.  Shoulders back.  Unafraid.  Unintimidated.  Lessons from my father, Dr. Peter Dyck, who was afraid of no one and listened to by all.  Opportunity is created within the healing circle for your voice to be heard.  How to project that voice so it is learned.

In any school that I have work in, the success of restorative practices has hinged on parents and school staff working together with the children involved.  Everyone must buy into the process.  Everyone must be focussed on learning rather than retribution.  This includes the police liaison officer at the school.  The voice of our police liaison officer has been instrumental in providing the instruction required in order to avoid the life altering impact of entering the criminal justice system.  The support of the counsellor has provided an avenue for the process of healing to continue.  Parents have provided the safety for their child to voice their feelings and move beyond poor choices.

Poor decisions are part of being human.  Learning from poor decisions is not guaranteed unless a process is designed.  Restorative justice practices from Indigenous cultures provide an avenue that incorporates reflection on past behaviour and learning.  The healing circle in Ottawa did not leave me as a popular entity on the trip.  However, everyone left the circle understanding the reasons for my decisions and the paramount concern and responsibility for student safety.  The process gave me a voice and provided a structure for students to take responsibility for their choices.  In schools, my goal is for student to reflect on their behaviour and navigate a path forward.  The best case scenario is to support  students making poor choices to make better choices in the future.  It is also to allow the recipient of poor choices to stand tall and say I deserve better and believe it.

One only has to tap into social media to witness the vilification of Bonnie Henry.  Once hailed as the heroic public health officer of British Columbia helping to flatten the curve in a world gone crazy.   Now the bullseye on the target for all that is wrong in the world.  The conduit of a year’s worth of anger and frustration with a global pandemic leads to her.   The go to place of humanity, find someone to blame. 

I do not like all of Bonnie Henry’s decisions. I look to Taiwan. All businesses are open. People are travelling and working in the country. They are having fun. The last case of COVID was a month ago. It is a society where people respond to clear direction and seem to agree with harsh punitive measures for individuals who don’t follow the rules. We champion human rights and trade unions and individual rights in British Columbia. All good measures of a healthy democratic society. But in the midst of a global pandemic, a belief in collective rights have allowed other countries to make decisions that do not appear to be possible in our society.

If all people went to Whistler and followed the protocols for skiing / snowboarding during COVID, then went home, the mountain would still be open.  If all restaurants showed the same kind of rigour in COVID practices as Rocky Mountain Flatbread in Kits, all restaurants could remain open for indoor dining.  If all businesses were as vigilant about limiting the number of customers at one time as Windsor Meats, we wouldn’t be worried about allowing shopping.  The reality is that not all people are following the designated COVID safety precautions with the same attention to the guidelines.

We have people in leadership positions needing to make difficult decisions.  Bonnie Henry is a bright, articulate woman who could find other ways to achieve fame and fortune if that was her modus operandi.  Squeezing her with vice grips does not allow her to serve us better.  Putting energy into consistently following COVID safety policy in this case allows for the collective rights of British Columbians to be served.  If this is not the case, she is put in the position of needing to make unpopular decisions that limit our range of activities.  Her goal is to limit the spread of COVID-19 and its variants for our safety as British Columbians. There are many variables such as travel from other provinces, compliance enforcement, and politics that are not under her control.

I do not envy Dr. Bonnie Henry for serving British Columbians in this leadership capacity.  Leadership in any capacity during COVID is extremely stressful and challenging.  I am grateful for her leadership. I hope she is feeling supported. I also hope she has some effective stress management practices in place. I suspect it is her only saving grace at this time.

No rain in the forecast yesterday and an itch to do something different. The lack of variety in my COVID life is stifling. My husband and I checked out Dave Doroghy and Graeme Menzies ‘s book 111 PLACES IN VANCOUVER THAT YOU MUST NOT MISS for options. Our choice was focused by the fact that Black History Month is coming to an end. I love holidays, commemorative days, and times like this that focus our attention on learning something new. With the destination spot chosen, Nora Hendrix’s house at 827 East Georgia, we jumped on our bikes and headed east.

The mural at Nora Hendrix Place at 258 Union Street is on the bike route by the Dunsmuir viaduct and first catches my eye.  It is now temporary modular housing that is wheelchair accessible.  It opened in 2019, in partnership with Hogan’s Alley Society to meet the needs of Black and Indigenous Communities.  As a black community organizer, Nora Hendrix, helped establish the Fountain Chapel located at Jackson Avenue and Prior Street.  It was a branch of the African Methodist Episcopal church and an important cultural resource, a centre for gospel music, and gathering space for the Hogan’s Alley black community.  In the words of artist, Ejiwa “Edge” Ebenebe:  “Motifs of music and laughter emerge throughout the stories and memories I have encountered…” 

The was actually no person named Hogan that the community was named after.  Hogan’s Alley was the name of a comic strip about an Irish ghetto in Hell’s Kitchen, New York.  The idiomatic reference was used to describe this poor neighbourhood of Italian and black people on the edge of Chinatown in Vancouver.  A few factors brought the black population to Vancouver.  Two immigrant streams, one from Oklahoma via Alberta and one from California came to escape growing racism in the United States.   Vancouver was also the end of the line for two major train companies.  Trains traditionally provided work for black people as railway porters in the United States and this tradition was continued in Canada.  It was a good position with a uniform, travel and decent pay.  Vancouver was also a major city for entertainment.  Many performers such as Louis Armstrong, Sammy Davis Junior, Duke Ellington, Lena Horne, Mitzi Gaynor to The Cave, The Palomar, Izzy’s, Granville Street and after hours to restaurants and speak-easies.  Mami’s Chicken was one of first places to provide southern comfort food and a place where everyone was welcomed.  The tradition grew as did the speak-easy’s skirting the 1917-1920 prohibition in B.C.  Vie’s Chicken and Steak House opened in 1948 with Randy Clark’s grandfather as the greeter and his grandmother, Vie doing the work.  This is where Nora Hendrix worked as a cook and allowed Jimi access to many significant performers on his regular visits to Vancouver up until 1952.

Nora Hendrix was born in Tennessee and part of a travelling vaudeville act.  When the Seattle troupe went broke, she and her husband Ross headed to Vancouver in 1911.  They raised their three boys in Vancouver in Hogan’s Alley.  Nora lived until 100 years of age and was known to be in the crowd when Jimi Hendrix performed in the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver in 1958. 

The advent of the car culture brought with it a push for people to live in the suburbs and work in the city.  Arthur Julius Burr, a building inspector of the day reference the dilapidation and social ills of the areas as a “blight that spreads like mould across the city.”  This resulted in the clear cutting of Hogan’s Alley.  Only objections from the entire city prevented the proposed 12 lane highway being built through the city.  However, the building of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts in 1972 obliterated the western end of Hogan’s Alley and marked the first and last black neighbourhood.  Much of the population dispersed through-out the rest of the city.

The Nora Hendris’s house is well taken care of and is marked with a granite Heritage House marker with historical information.  It has obviously been renovated with a suite downstairs.  While we are checking it out, three young boys migrate towards the suite.  We wonder, if they know the significance of living in this house.  An important part of the history of the city that only recently been pulled back from remote memory back into a place of pride in our collective civic consciousness.  I’m transported back to a Whistler ski trip with my friend Karen Monteith where her older sister blasted Jimi Hendrix for the whole trip.  And this was where it all started. 

Doroghy, D. and Menzies, G. 111 PLACES IN VANCOUVER THAT YOU MUST NOT MISS @EMONS

“Secret Vancouver Return to Hogan’s Alley” – YouTube

(with Randy Clark, Vie Moore’s grandson and the Crump Twins – discovered by Duke Ellington on Granville street and credited with teaching Sammy Davis Jr., to dance)

Laura Tait, now an Assistant Superintendent in the Nanaimo, British Columbia once said

 “You want to learn about Indigenous culture, make an Indigenous friend.” 

Sage advice.  With friendship comes trust that you are valued, a sense of belonging, and a willingness to give “the benefit of the doubt” to a person.   It is not always something we are able to structure.  I have many different circles of friends.  Many are based on common experiences such as interacting at the same elementary school, secondary school, university, or workplace.  Some came out of a common interest or a chance meeting that you would never be able to plan, like meeting while dancing or at parent-teacher conferences.

The mother of one of my friends in high school was an amazing chef and owned a French restaurant in Kits.  During one of our very infrequent snowstorms in Vancouver, the busses stopped running.  We have a history of being ill-equipped to deal with snow in Vancouver.  I convinced my friend, Florence, to walk many, many kilometres to my house so I could escape her mother’s bouillabaisse and seek comfort of the oh so familiar macaroni and cheese at my house.  This has become a reference point for me in contemplating how many amazing opportunities are missed in the quest for the familiar. 

Being aware of different ways of living in the world certainly create an openness to learning about different people and their lived experiences.  That’s where books come in.  Engaging in new cultural experiences and food are also good starting points.  However, it is reaching out in friendship that provides the scaffolding to avoid awkwardness and the impetus to participate in the unfamiliar.  I have been lucky to have had people reach out.  It is the reason I have been able to participate in Eid celebrations, been welcomed into homes while teaching in China, and Pow Wows in Ontario, Quebec, and North Vancouver.

I love all things Cuban and yet, I didn’t travel to Cuba until relatively recently with my husband.  The appreciation of the art and the literary tradition came much later in life.  Travellers complain about the diet of roast pork, black beans and rice.  For me, it is comfort food.  My parent’s marriage was in trouble when I was born and the relationship with my father and stepmother evolved with a healthy dose of tumultuousness.  In high school, I became friends with Armando, even though he was making fun of my name in Grade 9 Math.  We spent lots of time at his house and his family restaurant, and I was embraced by his family.  I gravitated to the warmth, multi-generational interactions, and unconditional acceptance.  I didn’t identify difference.  I hung-out.  I laughed.  I cried.  I danced.  I established enduring relationships.  Race or identification as BIPOC did not enter the conversation until this year.  On the golf course, Armando shared his conversation with his brother, ruling out Latin-X as a descriptor.  I googled it and we considered “Hispanic” was a possibility.  And yet, it didn’t seem to fit either.  If this has never been a reference point for Armando’s family, is it helpful now? 

The persistence of racism has come to the forefront during the pandemic.  “I can’t breathe” brings the horrific social media images of George Floyd’s last moments of life at the hands of the police and the palpable inequity in the great American experiment in democracy.  No freedom and justice for all to be seen.  Since I joined Amnesty International in university and started teaching in the 80’s, the problem of systemic racism has been the focus of many actions and initiatives.  Yet, here we are in 2021 with racism used as a tool to solidify political control by more than one world leader, open acts of racism, and palpable anger.  Tessa McWatt does a nice job of boiling down the purpose of race as a construct.  As she cites (p.20-21), Aristotle justifying enslavement of “barbarians” by the Greeks in 322 BC.  Queen Elizabeth’s justification for the conquest of Ireland and its’ “savages in the 1650’s.  The 17^th century manufacturing of racial difference to justify the expansion of the African slave trade into British territories in the Americas and Caribbean.  Difference was created to justify the actions of those in power at the time.  It was perpetuated for strictly economic purposes.  Sugar.  Cotton.  Tobacco.  Coffee.  Financial gain for some is so much higher if you don’t need to pay a work force.

I recently asked another of my dear friends why I talked more about her Indigenous heritage with her Dad and her youngest son.  Another warm and welcoming family who have embraced me and my family with open arms.  With her Dad at the helm, her family embraces their father’s Cherokee background with pride.  Judy has said that in academic circles, where we met, it just wasn’t a conversation that people wanted to have.  Her son taught me about the concept of “white passing “and the annoyance of having his own heritage dismissed because he doesn’t look “Indian” enough.  I was honoured to be in the room when his Grandpa presented him with an eagle feather when he graduated from university.  The significance of the ceremony is not defined by skin colour but of family and cultural tradition.

I learned more about Indigenous teachings, residential schools, and the systemic inequities in our Canadian system as a result of my cultural support worker in Coquitlam.  Latash, then known as Maurice Nahanee, asked me to sponsor an exchange with Indigenous students in the Coquitlam School District and a neighbourhood house in Ottawa.  It involved the trips to common Indigenous sites but with the family stories and experienced layered over top of the official version provided by Latash and the students with varied degrees of knowledge about their Indigenous ancestry.  I learned about Latash’s Squamish ancestors living and giving birth in Stanley Park.  I learned about the precious cedar baskets being taken to the Museum of Anthropology for safe keeping, then requests for use for ceremonial purposes being denied.  I learned about the legacy of residential schools and the long road back.  I also learned what it was to be “other”.  I was the voice of white authority.  The keeper of schedules.  The one who decided what was appropriate.  I held the power whether I wanted to or not.  I was not liked for much of the trip.  I was the other. It was not defined by the colour of my skin in our Canadian context.  Many of the students in group were “white passing’ with ancestors from many countries.   What set me apart was my white privilege.  Listening circles were an opportunity to be heard and foster empathy.  However, this very basic tenet of democracy, the right to a voice, has not shifted the power structures to one of equity.  At that time, Canadian “multi-culturalism” did not include or value our Indigenous population, and not even entered into the conversation about the systemic racism that explained why.

My friendship with Latash has opened me to many opportunities and my mind to consider other perspectives. I’ve been invited to naming ceremonies, pow-wows, and plays. The fear of making a misstep is cushioned by the friendship. My friend, Joyce Perrault, another amazing Youth and Family worker, has helped me to continue my learning journey through her work with students and the publication of her book, All Creation Represented: A Child’s Guide to the Medicine Wheel.

I got to know my good friend Kanwal, when we were engaged in a community building experience for our Faculty Associate orientation at Simon Fraser University.   I asked him if his turban was folded according to a specific region or whether it was a dress turban.  His response:

“It is the Gucci of turbans.”  The conversation started there, and it continues.

As a faculty associate team and we created our “Mind & Heart” module on a quote from the Dalai Lama.  We were invested in planning engaging interactions for our students who had completed their undergraduate degree and were completing their professional year to qualify and Kindergarten to Grade 12 teachers.  We grappled with how to frame our important professional knowledge in a context of social justice.   Of all my South Asian friends and acquaintances, I have learned most from Kanwal about what it is to be Sikh.  Conversations and participation in his daughter’s weddings, and the freedom to ask questions to have allowed me to experience the culture.  Dressing very inappropriately for the Gurdwara at his first daughter’s wedding, led to parents and colleagues at my school at the time, stepping in to help be ready for future Indian events.  I now have an Indian suit to die for and a selection of saris that require a professional dresser to wear.

I did not know my friend Sandy’s dad very well.  I knew he was an amazing Dad from Sandy’s stories about him taking her skiing and his overwhelming pride as he handed out sushi to the bagpiper, Scottish heritage in-laws, and mixed bag of friends at her wedding.  Sandy is Canadian.  We taught in the same school when I was first hired in the Abbotsford School District and became what would become life-long friends.  I got my first rice cooker after a conference to Kelowna when we stayed with her family.  Her family showed shock and dismay that I was cooking substandard rice in a pot and that my mother had used minute rice when I was growing up.  This catalyzed me into action.  It wasn’t until her Dad died that I learned the impact of the Japanese Internment policy by the Canadian government had on his life.  Japanese internment was not just a historical misstep that could be apologized away.  Sandy does not identify as BIPOC.  We can hypothesize about why that is the case.  However, if the label restricts rather than uplifts, is it helpful to her?

The death of George Floyd represents an inequity in how people are treated by police in the United States.  The high rate of incarceration and death by capital punishment in the United States needs to be questioned.  Systemic racism needs to be addressed.  The concept of white privilege needs to explore and understood.  How the conversation is navigated matters.  Who are the voices that we listen to?  How do we make sense of the anger?  How do we respect the fact that not everyone has the same understanding?  The same experience?

Ibram X Kendi has been masterful in opening up this conversation to all people.  I first listened to his audiobook, How to Be An Anti-racist, and loved being able to hear what he emphasized during the reading of his text.  However, I found that there was so much depth, I needed to read the book, to develop a deeper understanding.  It is a book that is a call to action.  He challenges us to more beyond a passive stance of “I’m not a racist” to an active stance of being an anti-racist working towards equity and justice for all human beings.

Shame on Me:  An Anatomy of Race and Belonging by Tessa McWatt opens up a whole new layer of conversation.    “I know from stories that my ancestry of Scottish, English, French, Portuguese, Indian, Amerindian, African, and Chinese forebears. And there are rumours of hidden bloodlines – that possible French Jew.” (p.17).  Her book takes us through her journey to discover who she is.  An identity that is defined by blurred lines.  She challenges us to create a “new language of belonging”.  It too is a call to action.

Joe Truss and his online sessions on Dismantling White Supremist culture have challenged my thinking.  Although I believe it is my role is to define the work I need to do, he poses many good questions.  Who do I feel affinity with?  The first session I attended with a group of colleagues.  Affinity groups were defined by skin colour.  The colleagues that I identified as my people, did not have a chance of being in my affinity group.  I had the wrong skin colour.  When I questioned it, my facilitator, Shane Safir, introduced the many difference types of affinity groups we can be part of.  I am not questioning the merit of affinity groups based on colour for creating safe spaces for people.  It has just made me question who is in my affinity group.

As I have many circles of friends, I have many affinity groups.  But the lines are blurred.  I remember being challenged by a woman in one feminist group because I was wearing red lipstick.  Apparently, my affinity group on that day was feminists who wear lipstick.  A cousin expressed surprise that I was a good mother and worked because I wanted to.  My affinity group is apparently mothers who value their career and love being a Mom.  Being a proud Canadian born in California.  A sun worshiper who loves snow sports.  A person who has been underestimated based on appearance and gender but has white privilege.  How and with whom we feel affinity is very personal and sometimes situational.

I understand that friendship does not always serve as an entry point to breaking down systemic racism.  It can define belonging in new ways.  Perhaps it is the mindset that leaves us open to empathizing with others or trying to understand a different perspective and work for meaningful change.  Perhaps it is the willingness to adopt the stance that we may not have all of the answers or the right to tell others what they need to do.  Ultimately, I am anti-racist because I believe my actions matter.  There is no either-or way of approaching the work.  There are many perspectives coming from people living with many blurred lines.  Taking the time to listen to stories from people coming from many contexts with blurred lines is what will result in the will to try to share power and form new understandings.  There is no one right answer.  There is no one path.  There is not one talker and one listener.  The work requires reciprocity.  If we really want to move beyond tolerance and beyond representation toward belonging, it will require the full participation and engagement from people crossing all kinds of affinity groups in listening, speaking out and taking action towards equity and justice. 

COVID- 19 has presented many challenges for educators.  As we have become more comfortable with Health and Safety protocols, attention has shifted to building school community.  Assemblies and whole school activities have always been a way of bringing students together to develop of sense of belonging.  enjoy performances, celebrate events and share learning.  This year we have tried to replicate this experience online.   Ms. Liang has booked performances that classes can access online for a given time frame.  Ms. Presley led the charge in sharing student learning during the Winter Show N’Share.  We have brought the students together for online assemblies on the All Students TEAM created in September.  The performance aspect has been strong but the back and forth exchange of information has been lacking.  Until today.

As a staff, we did decide to carve out the first Monday of each month at 2:15 pm for a whole school assembly.  Division 1 students shared the Indigenous acknowledgment and I talked about the importance of the place where we work, learn and play on our daily lives.   Living in a temperate rainforest impacted the lives of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people, just as it impacts ours.  Never has this been more evident at David Livingstone Elementary, as during Covid.  Everyday is an outdoor day.  Our provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, tells us it is the safest route for recess, lunch, and physical education lessons involving high cardio activity.  Students now have a greater appreciation of dressing for the weather and are expanding the possibilities for outdoor plan on rainy days.  We also have learned why cedar was so integral in culture of Coast Salish people.

The success of our assembly yesterday was in the staff and student sharing.  Students reported classroom learning including vinegar and soda explosions, financial explorations of cold coins, boxes of letters, Valentine’s Day art featuring the colour white, space stations, physical and chemical change, changes states of water and studies of stories.  Then just as it started to hail, then sleet, then snow. Div. 3 unmuted and shared the hero journey from the story Frozen.  Perfect timing!  Perfect moment!

Mr. Bring is sponsoring student council this year and shared some of the events planned for us by our student leaders.  Friday, February 19^th will be “Blast from the Past” Day.  With my big hair, the 80’s will be my pic.  It will be fun to see the clothing and hairstyles or days gone by.  It is also a way to share a common activity and admire it from afar. 

Student Council is also promoting Pink Shirt Day.  Leading up to February 24^th students will be discussing how three Canadian boys were pivotal in kicking off a movement that has helped us rethink about people’s right to be themselves, how bullying happens and our role in stopping it.  Students are encouraged to wear a pink shirt.  Teachers, SSA’s, the supervision aids, the custodians, the Office Assistants, the Spare Time Coordinator, our Director of Instruction, and I will all be wearing the CKNW shirts with “Lift Each Other Up” printed on it for Pink Shirt Day and periodically throughout the rest of the year.  Proceeds support local anti-bullying programs that teach empathy, compassion, and kindness.  We want kids to understand their shared role in defining who they want to be in the world, supporting each other across cohorts, and in the larger community. 

Shirt days have also been a positive way of facilitating group activity and stimulating conversation, largely about social justice issues that are so closely tied to social studies curriculum, and social emotional learning.  Terry Fox shirts came out en mass for the annual Terry Fox Run.  Our favourite Canadian hero had lots to teach us, even though we participated at different times of the day in cohorts.  On Orange Shirt day, students learned about residential schools, and the learning shared with us by our Indigenous people.  Black Shirt Day refocused our attention on the purpose and meaning of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and Freedoms.  February 24^th, Anti-Bullying Day is on the horizon.  Another opportunity to understand that what we say and do matters. And to “Lift each other up.”

My first effort to build student community online in March was met with marginal success.  I would video-tweet out a message to students from various places to connect with students via the Twitter feed on the school web.  I was never  satisfied that I had managed to connect with our students.  I have had more success with building community on the Ms. Froese Reads channel of YouTube.  As a lover of books, reading and sharing books is already a well established part of my life.  Literature provides the opportunity for us to walk new paths, empathize with the main characters, and learn about ourselves.  I have been sharing my favourites and many of the library purchases, carefully curated by Mr. Muress, our librarian.  The books celebrate the different faces, experiences, and possibilities. 

Emily’s Idea was the picture book read last week.  Many classes of students are using the template and colouring a paper doll chain of themselves and two family members or friends.  The paper doll chain of our students with different types and colours of hair, different colour and shapes of eyes, various shades of skin colour, and  styles of dress, all joining hands through-out the library and the hallways. 

Students are also invited to make book recommendations for their peers and Mr. Muress to provide input into library purchases. The link to the form to share books is shared on the All Students TEAM under the Book Recommendation channel.  A list will be collated with all of the student recommendations.

We continue to look for ways to include parents more in our online school community.  PAC Meetings have all been online since March.  Access to the school has been limited.  Parents do have online access to the All-Students TEAM through their child.  This was most widely accessed during the Winter Show & Share.  Some parents continue to enjoy the regular tweets about school activities and resources that are available to parents.  I am also trying to write more blog posts to provide parents with specifics around instruction and reporting.  My recent post, Reporting Student Achievement in British Columbia, provides parents with an overview of recent changes in reporting in British Columbia and what they can expect in the formal written reports being issued in January.  I’m looking for more ideas, if you have suggestions.