Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Parenting’ Category

Some Digital Parenting Thoughts for 2025

Posted in Change, Health, Parenting, Technology, tagged , , on January 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

I shared my “Word for 2025” last week, but I am still thinking about the year ahead.  I know in school-life the real new year starts in September, but January is a good time to reset and reassess. And just as we do that in school, I know it is happening in homes as well.

As we step into a new calendar year, it’s the perfect time for a refresh—a moment to reflect, reset, and renew our family routines. For parents navigating the complexities of raising children in today’s digital age, this moment feels particularly significant. And with the added layer of AI, this navigation is only getting more complex.

We live in a world where technology is seamlessly woven into the fabric of daily life. Devices offer connection, knowledge, and opportunities that previous generations could only dream of. Yet, they also pose challenges—especially for families trying to strike a balance between purposeful technology use and the very human need for physical activity, meaningful connections, and mindful living.

At school, we have been working hard to foster that balance. We’ve set limits on cell phone usage in schools across BC, not because we are anti-technology, but because we believe in purposeful use (Here is an infographic we have shared out this week in schools). What does this look like in practice? Students using computers to create digital portfolios of their work, collaborating on shared documents for group projects through Google Classroom, or using educational apps to practice math skills—all while maintaining dedicated time for physical activity, face-to-face discussions, and hands-on learning. These boundaries ensure our students’ well-being and physical literacy remain priorities. But this is not a task schools can do alone.  As I have written before, physical literacy and AI are side by side as key areas for innovation in West Vancouver.

Parents play a crucial role in shaping how their children navigate technology. As we rethink routines this January, let’s remember that our children are always watching. They notice when we set aside our phones during dinner, when we prioritize outdoor family activities, and when we engage in face-to-face conversations. Modeling thoughtful technology habits isn’t just important—it’s transformational.  At school events, it is often adults who demonstrate the poorest cell phone etiquette. 

Over the break a colleague of mine showed me an interesting iPhone feature.  Go to Settings, tap Screen Time>See All Activity. Scroll down to the area titled “pickups”.   This number is how many times you have picked up your phone that day.  It’s not just the kids who might be a little too attached to their screens.  Give it a try and be ready for a reality check!

This January reset calls for thoughtful conversations. Rather than banning or blindly embracing tech, engage your children with questions that promote intentional use: How does this app support your learning goals? What boundaries would help you balance screen time with other activities you enjoy? When do you feel most creative and focused while using technology? These conversations can help children develop critical thinking about their digital habits.

As a parent, this isn’t about perfection. It’s about progress—a commitment to staying engaged and aware as technology evolves. It’s about setting expectations that align with your family values, being open to learning from your kids, and creating a culture where tech is a tool, not a master. I know I used to HATE my kids playing video games, but now I realize they can often be a point of connection with friends out of school time.

In schools, we’ll continue to champion purposeful technology use while ensuring students’ physical and emotional development is front and centre. But as we know, what happens at home matters just as much. Together, we can guide our kids to be confident, capable, and thoughtful digital citizens.

Around our office, we have a walking club once a week at lunch and staff have started a run club to train for a race in March.  We are keenly aware that we need to model getting outside and modeling good practices with our own health. 

Here’s your January challenge: Choose one area of family technology use to reset. Maybe it’s establishing device-free dinner times, setting up a family charging station outside bedrooms, or planning weekly outdoor activities. Start small, stay consistent, and celebrate progress. This is the year to refresh, reset, and reimagine what it means to parent in the digital age.

I used both Chat GPT and Claude in the editing process and the image at the top of the post is also AI generated.

Read Full Post »

Teachers

Posted in Parenting, SD45, tagged , , on October 5, 2022| 2 Comments »

One of the best parts of my job is that I regularly hear from parents about the amazing difference individual teachers have made for their children. And all of us likely have stories about teachers that have had a significant impact in our lives. I know if it wasn’t for teachers like Mrs. Caffrey (I wrote about her HERE a few years ago) my life would be very different.

As we celebrate World Teachers’ Day today, it is a chance to reflect on the state of the profession.

Each community has its own unique circumstances.

Let me start by bragging.

West Vancouver Schools are regarded as some of the top schools in the country, known for our innovative programming, and the teachers are seen as the top in their field. Whether it is on standards assessments, or with graduation rates, or on levels of satisfaction with the school experiences, our students’ results are exceptionally impressive.

And I am in awe of how our students, supported by their teachers, are leading in areas from the climate crisis, to SOGI, to Truth and Reconciliation. Our schools are proof that citizenship and academic success are connected.

And I look at the programs that our teachers are leading its clear we are on top of ensuring relevance in all we do. From innovative business and entrepreneurship programs to a range of work experience options exposing students to new careers to the hundreds of students engaged in robotics, our staff are regularly modernizing the school experience.

But . . .

In West Vancouver, the challenge of housing affordability makes it almost impossible for teachers to live in the community. Less than 10% of our staff actually live here. So, now as competition for staff increases, and teachers can work closer to home, more than ever we need to ensure we offer a professional, rewarding, and enriching experience for staff. These teachers travel through one or more jurisdictions in which they could get a job to work with us in West Vancouver.

The reality is that if teachers choose to work closer to home, it will be challenging to replace them with someone of the same quality. This is the state of our job market.

We are doing everything we can to continue to recruit and retain the very best. It is all about culture, and we do everything we can to build and create amazing places for teachers to work, learn and grow.

Just as we have become much more focused on our students’ mental health, the same is true for our staff. And I am trying to support teachers in creating boundaries on their work, so they don’t have situations where they receive an email from a student or parent at 10 PM and a reply is expected that same night. And we are trying offer as much professional support so our teachers can remain at the front of the teaching profession.

And how can the community help?

Treat teachers well. It can sound simple, or even trite, but it matters. While none of us are perfect, and can make mistakes, all teachers I have had the chance to work with are incredibly professional. Working through scenarios, I am in awe of how teachers balance the needs of individual learners, with also what is best for the community of learners in the classroom.

When I ask teachers why they stay, they almost all speak to the great satisfaction they get from the work, and regularly highlight the support they receive from colleagues, their administrators and parents.

However, I am hearing from our schools and seeing more news stories around parents confronting teachers and staff in schools. We seem to be moving too quickly to a place of outrage, and rapidly bypassing that essential step of seeking first to understand.

I know, this is not about teaching, it has been even more pronounced in health care, and horrible treatment many doctors and other health professionals have received over the last few years. The diminishing trust for our public institutions is disappointing and alarming. I also think some of the media from the United States covering school board meetings and other events has normalized behaviour that should not be seen as OK.

And before this behaviour seeps more into our system, I think we should have this conversation.

We can do better.

Teaching is a human enterprise. It is wildly frustrating because it is impossible to bottle and replicate what makes a “great teacher.” Its strength is also its humanness. Teachers build communities, that help our students navigate the experiences they have and will have in the larger world.

I often get asked if I could do it over would I go into teaching, or would I recommend others to pursue teaching. ABSOLUTELY! It is hard, complicated work. And it is also rich, rewarding, and powerful work. We need our absolute best to see teaching as a professional option for them.

I encourage you to share stories with your children of the teachers that made a difference for you, and what it was about them that made such an impact.

And by no means do I want to shirk our responsibilities. Please continue to hold us to account. But if we want our very best to join the teaching profession and perhaps most importantly, remain in the profession, we need to treat them professionally.

I feel blessed to work in a community that values education so strongly. I am confident students are receiving this country’s best education preparing them as active citizens and supporting life beyond our schools in our communities, universities, trades programs and the work world.

To all the wonderful teachers in the various roles across West Vancouver, and those beyond, Happy World Teachers Day!

Read Full Post »

Retelling My New Year’s Story from 20 Years Ago

Posted in Health, Parenting, tagged , , , on December 31, 2021| 4 Comments »

Well before I had this blog, I had a regular column for several years at the turn of the century at the Richmond News.  The posts are no longer easily accessible on the internet, but I have all the columns cut-out in a scrapbook (truly old school).  I have been rereading some old posts over the break, and mixed in with posts about the Vancouver Grizzlies, dial-up internet, street racing and various local political issues was a  more personal post about New Year’s 2002 – 20 years ago!

And at a time we all owe great thanks to the doctors, nurses and others in our hospitals doing amazing work, here is “Caring folk make for best new year’s party in town” from Kennedy’s Corner in the Richmond News – originally published on January 9, 2002.

On New Year’s Eve and the days that followed I got to meet some of the most caring, skilled and committed people I have ever known.

It wasn’t what I had planned for New Year’s Eve, but the evening and the following morning turned out to be my best ew year’s celebration ever.

At about 11 on the morning of December 31, I was running around getting the last supplies for our small new year’s party.

I called home to check on any last-minute grocery purchases and caught my wife just as she was going to the hospital.

Apparently our first child who was due around January 10, decided that she was going to come early.

Richmond General was a hub of activity.

The doctors and nurses were so supportive and caring, each one friendlier and more willing to help than the last.

It was very apparent from everyone I met, that while there are many problems with the health care system in BC, the people on the front lines are the very best at what they do.

Dr. Robson was the most popular person in the hospital that night.  We saw her when we came in at noon on the 31st, and some 24 hours later she was still up and going.  Being paged from emergency to the operating room, to checking on all her patients in the maternity ward, she was always calm.  When someone asked how things were going, I heard her say, “Busy, but no problems.”

I doubt the new year’s eve to new year’s day shift is the most popular, but never a word of complaint.

The same shift is also probably not coveted by nurses.

It is really unfair to single any individuals out, as the 20 or so that I had some contact with were all first rate.  From Kerri who took time to explain everything to my wife and I, to Sherri who was with us through the night, to Narinder who cam on in the morning, they were all unwavering in their support for us.  After some 18 hours in the hospital, our daughter was born on the morning of January 1st, the second baby born of the new year in Richmond.

The following hours and days in the hospital saw the same caring that we had enjoyed through the labour and birth.

Nurses like Lillian and Rite and doctors Wagner and Duncan shared in our joy of the birth of our daughter and did everything they could to make things as easy as possible for us.

The list of thank-yous is really endless.

These nurses and doctors working 12-hour or sometimes longer shifts treated us always as if we were their main priority and nothing was going to stop them from helping us.

This type of support, commitment and enthusiasm is so special.

As we rest quietly at home, I know I speak for my wife and young Elizabeth when I say thanks to all the doctors and nurses at Richmond General for making our new year’s the best ever.

Thanks to Dixon Tam, then editor of the Richmond News, who gave me a chance to write for his paper.  I got $35 a column – but I would have done it for free 🙂

Read Full Post »

Tips for Post-Secondary Students

Posted in Change, Parenting, tagged , , , on August 31, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Everyone loves a cross-over episode – whether it is when Family Matters and Full House did it, or when it was Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19 or to date myself a bit, Scooby Doo and Batman.

How is that for a lead on this post?

My wife and I were talking with our 19-year-old daughter recently about her experiences last year as a first-year student at StFX University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Out of the conversation came some tips she has for other students and prospective students based on her experiences, and some thoughts for parents as well. My wife has a parenting podcast – Lazy Parenting and she has turned this conversation into her latest episode (Here is the link) and I am sharing these tips here as a part of my blog. Thus is born the first crossover between the Culture of Yes and Lazy Parenting.


So here are 8 tips that Liz has for those heading off to university:

  1. Do a pre-campus tour. Now, doing this has been a little harder during COVID, but especially if you are going away visit the school before you go.  There is no way Liz would have ended up going to StFX if she had not gone for a visit first.  She got to picture herself in the dorms and feel comfortable with the community.  You can do a lot virtually, but nothing really replaces the experience of being there. 
  2.  Look up professors not just courses.  There are lots of stories from students about easy and hard courses or interesting or boring electives.  But simply knowing the courses to take is not enough.  Research the professors.   Different instructors may have completely different approaches.  Just like in high school, where some departments teach everything in a particular course exactly the same and others don’t – the same is true at university
  3. Show up. I know, this one sounds very obvious.  Go to your classes, extra sessions and office hours. You actually have far fewer structured hours of schooling than in high school and these connections you make with professors can be important. 
  4. Make a schedule.   This is one of those items that is far more important than in high school when timelines seemed so regimented.  At university, timelines are spread out and it is easy to look and think you have lots of time but tests and assignments are really condensed at the midpoint and end of terms.  It is crucial to put everything on the calendar at the beginning of the term and then build a plan to space out the work over the entire term so you are not overwhelmed.
  5. Get involved. It is a cliché to say get involved, but it is important that school is more than just school.  For Liz, it is playing varsity basketball, but there are dozens of teams, clubs and other ways to be connected.  Since you spend far less time in class than in high school, these other connections make school “sticky” and help you be connected.  You won’t study all day so you need other things to help keep you mentally and physically healthy.
  6. Look out for you. Be an advocate for yourself. Yes, there are a lot of services available at a university but there are not the usual check-ins from counsellors or administrators as in high school.  And universities are big places.  You need to speak up, for example, if you think your marks were not calculated correctly by your professor.  They are human and can make mistakes and nobody is going to do this advocacy for you.  Don’t find yourself in situations with classes saying, “I will just leave it, this doesn’t matter that much.”
  7. Do adult things. – For many students this shift of taking more responsibility is one of the biggest changes in university.   So embrace it.  The biggest one for Liz was probably owning her finances, and doing budgets, so she could plan for this year and beyond.  But there are also lots of little things, like going to the doctor if you are not feeling well that seem obvious but are new to having to do without the help of your parents.
  8. Pick the people around you carefully.  Surround yourself with others who lift you higher, push you to be better.  Again, the decisions sounds pretty obvious but just like in high school, your friends matter.  Yes, you want to have a good time at university but if you want to be a top student and have a good time, find others who think like you.  
 
Now here are five tips we have for parents as they send their kids off to university:
  1.  Stay in touch.  Facetime is a great invention.  We would have regular family dinners through video calls that let us continue some of our rituals even though we were thousands of miles away.  
  2. Make your kids do their own stuff.  It sometimes feels it would be easier just to register for them or do their course selections so they don’t screw it up – resist the temptation.  It is time for them to sign all the forms that need to be signed and pay their own bills.  Don’t be one of those parents who calls the professor to ask about an assignment for your child.
  3. Embrace your changing role. You are now more of a cheerleader and a guide at the side.  This is great and you can redefine the relationship you have with your child and school.
  4. Be genuinely curious. You might have gone to university – but that was probably 20 or 30 years ago.  Ask questions about how things work and what is going on at university.  
  5. Care about success.  It is important to believe in the process and we should not be driven by grades, but make sure your child knows that grades do still matter and you care how they do.   You can say grades don’t matter, but in the next breath you will say you want your kids to do well at university.  Each family has to come to terms with this catch-22.  Grades are not the only indicator of success, but they are definitely one of them. 

Liz’s experience was great last year.  So good in fact, as she heads into second year she is being joined by her brother who graduated high school in June and will also be in the business program at StFX this fall. 

We will see twelve months from now if all this advice still holds true. 

Read Full Post »

Memo from Schools – Halloween is Perfect This Year!

Posted in Parenting, tagged , , on October 28, 2020| 3 Comments »

OK, I want to let you in on a little secret. We don’t really love Halloween in schools.

I know, kids love Halloween, and it can be a fun day in school.  But in our high schools, teenagers in not-always-appropriate costumes (I wrote about Halloween costumes before HERE) can be a real pain, and firecrackers are also never fun to police.  And in our elementary schools, if we make it through the excitement of the Halloween events, the day-after can be wild – the combination of children who stayed up too late the night before and had way too much candy and chocolate leads to a day where we often are counting down the hours to 3:00.

Now, I realize that everything is a little different this year with the pandemic, but that is not why I think Halloween is perfect this year.

This year, Halloween is on a Saturday.  Saturday is the perfect day for Halloween.  At schools, we can have Halloween events on the Friday, then parents can go out to their  Halloween parties on Friday night (well, not this year, but in a non-COVID year).  And then on Saturday, everyone can sleep-in and go trick-or-treating at night.  And best of all, there is no school the day after Halloween, so everyone can recover from the sugar rushes for a full-day before returning to school on Monday.

Oh, but it gets better.  Day Light Savings ends at 2:00 AM on Sunday, November 1st this year.  So on Halloween night, a night that everyone stays up late – you get an extra hour of sleep!  It is hard to imagine a better day of the year for an extra hour than Halloween night.

So, how can we do this every-year? The origin of Halloween being on October 31st seem murky.  And does anyone really like to celebrate Halloween on a Tuesday?  How can we get Halloween to be aligned on the Saturday at the end of October or beginning of November on an annual basis that aligns with the end of Day Light Savings (and yes, I know there is some moves to get rid of this annual time change). 

If not for any other reason, think of us in schools.  A Saturday night Halloween would be a great move for all of us.

Now, I am not sure of the Halloween governance structure and how a change like this could actually be made.  But if someone was running for office with this promise, I would be interested.

Oh, and once we change this – I will propose Valentine’s Day moves to the second Saturday of February.

Have a good Halloween!

Read Full Post »

Maybe Youth Sports Come Back Different

Posted in Change, Health, Parenting, tagged , on June 7, 2020| 6 Comments »

I have used this space a number of times over the last decade to think out loud about youth sports.  And I can reaffirm my bias upfront that sports in our schools and our community and the values they largely promote are important, and perhaps more significant than ever.

And now I see the opportunity, that the shutdown of the last three months could be the catalyst of something different to emerge.  Especially as the pandemic has reshaped the economy, ideas around travel and issues of safety – there are barriers and opportunities for sports in all of these.

There is a definite hope for sports to re-emerge soon.  In British Columbia Via Sport released it Return to Sport guidelines this past week.   In our rush to return to normal, there is an opportunity to consider if normal is really what we want.  Of course this is a conversation happening across society as items that have been closed begin to re-open.

So how might school and community youth sports come back different (and yes many of these are related)?

Cheaper

Youth sports have too often become games for the rich in recent years.  The professionalization of childhood sports has left many behind. So many families will emerge from the pandemic with less money to spend on activities for their kids.  There is an opportunity for cheaper options to emerge and be successful.  Linked to other changes like less travel and more volunteerism, and a refocus on play, growth and development and a lessening of competition, sports could be cheaper.  And likely sports requiring less equipment costs, and without heavy facility rentals (which may be more expensive because of additional cleaning costs) will be more popular.   I think sports like ultimate, track and field, soccer and baseball all might fall into this category.

More Local

We are all getting used to traveling less.  And until there is a COVID vaccine, it definitely seems like some travel restrictions will be in place.  In recent years we have become obsessed with traveling long distances for competition.  It does not seem like 4 or 5 kids from different families will be sharing hotel room anytime soon.   Rather than the top players being siphoned off to play on teams in other communities, structures could be built for intra-club and other localized competitions and these would have value and be important.  Leagues would be refocused on individual communities and playing through this would be culminating events rather than larger events with travel.

New Role for Parents

One of the first things I hear from coaches about the pandemic is that if parents are not allowed to watch – that might be a good thing.  Too often youth sports have not been about young people competing with other young people, but about parents competing with other parents through their kids.  If in the short-term youth sports become drop-off activities, parents could either 1) commit to be volunteers and assist with the program or 2) treat this as found time – workout, read a book, enjoy their own pursuits.  The lack of parents in attendance could really refocus youth sports.  We just might have more teenagers willing to be officials knowing there wouldn’t be anyone there to yell at them.

Less Game Focused

Even though we know better, far too many teams have more games than practices.  This will change as we have smaller, more localized leagues.  As we start back up with sports the focus will be on practices and no competition.  This will likely be a reset for many sports.  The practice to game ratio will be adjusted so there are far more practices to competition dates.   It will still be competitive but it will be done within an individual club set-up.

Volunteer Driven

When sports become local, we will hopefully see the return of the volunteer coach.  The volunteer coach has gone missing in recent years.  The professionalization of youth sports has happened alongside the reduction of volunteer coaches.  It is a bit of a chicken and egg scenario.  As youth coaches became paid coaches, the volunteer coaches began to disappear.  Of course, it could be argued that the volunteer coach disappeared so we moved to a paid coach model.  In cheaper, more local models hopefully the volunteer coach returns – the parent or other community member who is supported by local sports organizations to improve his / her skills and gives back through coaching.

Different Sports and Modified Sports

Some messages we keep hearing are more outdoor activities, smaller groups and less physical contact.  As Dr. Bonnie Henry has said “fewer faces, big spaces.” I am not sure what the complete list of sports are that will thrive but it is definitely different from many of the ones we have grown up with.  Might we see more beach volleyball and 3×3 basketball (which are both outdoor sports) than their more well known traditional indoor counterparts?  We may see sports with different rules that reduce physical contact.  It seems as though some of the more high profile sports will be slow to return as they are based on contact and often happen inside.

Sports meeting the interest of all youth

The time off has hopefully allowed us to reflect on purpose.  How can we make sports more inclusive of all youth?  It is a small example, but out of necessity we held a virtual track and field meet last week in West Vancouver Schools.  Every student could do all five events and be part of it – dozens of them (and their parents) shared these stories on social media.  Nobody got cut or not selected, everyone participated, there was something to celebrate for each student and it promoted health and fitness.  We need more of this.  We have an opportunity to look at school and community sports and ask questions about purpose and ensure that we really are serving our communities.

Conclusions

It would be a missed opportunity if we just raced to return youth sports to as they were before the pandemic.  And anywhere I wrote youth sports – you could really replace it with school sports.  Many of the same issues and opportunities exist.  We know sports are powerful for young people and so important at developing life skills but we also know our system we had was fine but not great.

There is a chance now to do better.

Read Full Post »

Our Spring Break Hawaiian Vacation

Posted in Parenting, tagged , on March 26, 2020| 5 Comments »

I am not exactly sure what to write about during this time . . . so I will take a break from the usual educational leadership posts and tell you about my family’s spring break vacation.

When I was one my parents took me to Hawaii, it was 1974.  They had gone a couple times before, and for my dad it was his favourite vacation spot.  At the time, they would tell me later, they committed to going every year.  Well, life happened.  They had two more kids, we all played sports, teaching didn’t make my parents rich, Hawaii got expensive and the next time we actually had a family trip to Hawaii was 28 years later.

My wife and I were going to be different.  Our daughter was born in January of 2002, and that summer we were in Hawaii – and we loved it.  We agreed we had to go back.  Well, life happened.  We had three more kids, they all were busy will sports, and Hawaii was definitely not getting any cheaper.  But with our oldest daughter now about to leave for university in the fall we were committed to making Hawaii happen – this might be our last spring break that we could travel as a family.  So we had all the plans made to go this spring break and then all the sudden  . . . well you know the rest of the story.

Or actually maybe you don’t.

My dad really loved Hawaii.  He talked about it all the time.   And since we couldn’t afford to go to Hawaii regularly, he would bring Hawaii to us.

So, every summer he would load up the Buick Skylark and with my mom and brothers and and we would head to downtown Vancouver on a sunny Saturday afternoon.  Our first stop would be European News on Robson Street (called Robsonstrasse by everyone at that time).  European News would import The Honolulu Advertiser News Sunday paper.  We would pick up the most recent edition available.  My brothers and I would also get to pick a magazine (I usually got The Sporting News).  Next stop would be a grocery store on Main Street that would stock freshly shipped pineapples.  So we would also pick up one of those as well as some Macadamia nuts.  Then off to home we would go and spend the rest of the weekend in the sun in the backyard, eating fresh pineapple, enjoying macadamia nuts, lounging in our Hawaiian shirts, reading the news from Honolulu and listening to Don Ho.  A true Hawaiian vacation.

So, here we are March of 2020.  I don’t really need to pick-up a newspaper, we can all look up Hawaiian news on our phones – so that part is easy.   Even with the challenging shopping restrictions we found a pineapple at Save-On-Foods and some macadamia nuts.  And it is not quite summer like when we did it growing up, but we are in the backyard enjoying our Hawaiian Vacation.  I didn’t try to talk the kids into Don Ho.

It might be our last spring break vacation as a family for a while – trying to make the most of it.

Hopefully you are all finding some joy in these challenging times.

Read Full Post »

Social Media and Technology – Related But Different

Posted in Parenting, Social Media, Technology, tagged , , on October 8, 2019| 5 Comments »

I share the seemingly global angst with social media. These spaces whether Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat are not what many would have hoped they would be even a few years ago.  And yes, while schools engage in these spaces, they are not core to the learning experiences of our students.  But when I hear that technology is a real problem in our schools and then critics go on to list the problems of social media, they are not being fair to the more broader application of modern learning tools that has come with technological change in the last decade.  We have ongoing work to do with social media and how we treat each other online, but we can say this and still champion the amazing ways technology is being used in our classrooms.

In schools this fall, I have been so impressed with how seamlessly modern tools are used in classrooms.  Whether it is students on their laptops in their Google suite of tools, doing science via Discovery Techbook,  3D printing, VR (virtual reality) goggles or a host of other tools their use to enhance learning and engage students is impressive.  Then there are entire areas, like robotics that simply don’t exist without modern tools.  I often note how less noticeable our digital use is in classrooms.  Technology use is not an event that happens in a specific place, whether in a grade 4 class or a grade 12 class, students often bounce back and forth between technologies, traditional pen and paper and collaborative work – often in unison.   I think for some students they may use technology less now than five years ago, but it is far more purposeful when the do.  No elementary classes are staring at screens in computer labs several times a week.

It has become popular to pile-on technology as a real problem.  We need to be more specific.  Social media, and its use by kids and adults, raises a lot of questions.  We had a recent threat incident in our community that spread via social media from kids and parents in minutes.  And even after the issue was dealt with, the social media continued to echo with hurtful comments and lies.  And yes, schools have ownership over some of this.  We are places where students can learn good habits and have behaviours reinforced, and the community also have great responsibility when it comes to this.  Ten years ago I would say since parents are not on social media they looked to their friends as guides.  Well, now parents are on social media and they need to be good models for their children on how to use these powerful tools.

We have to be smart enough to separate the amazing advances in our classrooms that would not be possible without technology, while still realizing all of us of all ages, are going to have to come to grips with how we treat each other and respond to events in our digital social spaces.

 

Read Full Post »

Is it Time to Ban Cell Phones in School (this is not what you think)?

Posted in Health, Parenting, Technology, tagged , , , on September 5, 2019| 10 Comments »

Over the last few weeks I have been asked a number of questions regarding the cell phone ban in Ontario schools.  Of course the ban is not really a ban.  According to  the CBC story on it , “The directive says students can only use personal mobile devices during instructional time if it is for educational purposes, for health or medical purposes, or for special needs.”  That is pretty much how things are in all the classrooms I see in BC, and to the best of my understanding the general guidelines across the country.  Technology is intended for learning.

And while the headline of banning cell phones nicely ignites people who hold views on both extremes,  the reality I am seeing in schools is that teachers and schools have put guidelines in place and worked on building culture with students that make cell phones a part of school as needed.  And this is nothing new, I was blessed to work at Riverside Secondary in Port Coquitlam more than a decade ago and even at that time they were figuring out thoughtful ways of using handheld devices in classrooms.  Saying “ban cell phones” in schools is one of those things that wins easy political points, but like “the hat rule” or “proper dress codes” or “making homework mandatory” or any other of these kind of catch phrases are actually kind of silly.  Schools, and our world, is far more grey.

So OK, if this is what I think, why do I think it is time for a ban of cell phones in schools?

Well, I am actually not talking about the students.  I find generally students have it figured out pretty well.  I have been wondering about a parent ban of cell phones in schools.  It is funny that one of the most common reasons I hear from parents around banning student cell phones is “my kid texts me in the middle of the day when they should be learning.”  I always think, well, why do you text them back.  Or often, why did you text them in the first place?

We have a generation of parents who lack presence when they are at school.  I see this at parent nights, with parents scrolling their social media as the Principal speaks, at Parent Conferences when they are texting to organize something later in their days while their child is reviewing her work, and I really see it at school sporting events and school productions.  Look up in the crowd at any elementary or secondary basketball game and you will see parents plastered to their screens, maybe looking up when their son or daughter is on the floor.  And at school productions they are using these phones and other hand-held gizmos to stand-up at the front, often blocking the audience to record the event.

Imagine if schools were a cell phone free zone for parents.  I often say that parents could learn a lot from their children regarding technology use, I also think they could learn a lot from their children about when not to use their technology.

This is a little tongue and cheek, and I don’t really want to ban parents from their devices, but I do want all of us with children in schools, who actually so rarely get to visit these schools, to better treat this time as a gift, and to be a bit more present when we do.

Read Full Post »

A Sporty TED

Posted in Change, Parenting, Social Media, Technology, tagged , , , on October 30, 2017| Leave a Comment »

 

Photo Credit: Mauricio Chandia

I wrote last month about Breaking the Gender Divide – Imagining a New Way to Organize Youth Sports where I shared the script for the recent TEDx presentation I gave with my daughter Liz.  In the spirit of TED, it is intended to be a discussion starter.  Issues of gender and sports are ones that should be given more attention.  I have had the honour of some previous TEDx Talks, but this was particularly special getting to share the stage with my oldest daughter and pursue a topic that is interesting to both of us.

The videos have just been posted, and I want to again thank Craig Cantlie and entire TEDxWestVancouverED team (there are so many great Talks on the website).  They host a first class event, and the videos from past events have, in many cases, been viewed tens of thousands of times – which is a wonderful legacy for these events.

Here is our talk:

If you are interested in other sports related TED Talks, TED has compiled a list of 31 of the most provocative.  My all-time favourite TED talk, on any topic, by John Wooden speaking about The difference between winning and succeeding, is among the recommendations.

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »