Stacie Oliver

🙏 Chris. Appreciate the tag. On a bit of a hiatus atm, but looking forward to reengaging in the Fall 😀.

This is just about a perfect collection of personal essay #MentorTexts - a *wide* variety of topics from authors who are diverse in just about every way imaginable. Great work from @theguardian.com. #EduSky www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

💯

Yes!

Sharon Creech's Love That Dog novel title on a bright yellow book background.

Ooh, gotcha. Let's try again! I ♥️ Love That Dog as a mentor text! I just did it with 3Cs last semester and they produced some pretty cool writing (not all poetry). Have also used it with 3U Enriched. Takes no time at all to read. I have a class set I can send you if you'd like :)

“How to Pronounce Knife” (the story, not the whole book) by Souvankham Thammavongsa or “Why Chicken Means so Much to Me” by Sherman Alexie? Might be longer that you’re looking for though.

Just finishing up midterm crunch time & a student in a colleague's class shared that out of her 4 classes this semester, 3 are ungraded. That was really cool!

Today 1 of my students told me that she is going to send me an email in a few years after she has become a teacher and taught her 1st #ungraded class. 😀

This was from a Grade 9 too!

S's Reflection: So far in this course, I have worked very hard to ensure that I am always putting my best work forward. I am consistently triple checking my assignments and asking for peers to give me feedback on my work. I feel that I have grown as a student from the first time I walked into room 217 compared to who I am now 66 days later. In the past I struggled to connect to stories and reading always seemed like a struggle. After reading Long Way Down however, my attitude about reading changed completely. I found this novel so captivating because I had never seen anything like it before. The way Jason Reynolds illustrated the very real idea of violence through verse is what I was fascinated by in particular. I did not really know what it meant to "grow as a learner" at the begining of this semester, but now I know exactly what that means and how to do it. Growing as a learner is being able to understand that making mistakes is part of the process. This means that mistakes can help you in your journey to becoming an outstanding student. In order to grow as a learner I needed to be able to understand when I make a wrong turn and use feedback as a tool to correct my course. As I reflect on my own learning abilities in February compared to now, I feel that I did not know what I really needed to become my a better learner, a growing learner. I now know, that being a good student does not mean being perfect every single time. It means trying your best every time and putting effort and commitment in all tasks. So far in my learning journey, I believe that I have been trying my very best to learn each day and really take in feedback in order to apply it for future assignments. I have learned how to correctly construct opinion paragraphs and what makes it a strong piece of writing or not. I would like to continue to do my best during the remainder of his class by being curious and paying close attention to details while striving to acquire new knowledge each day.

❤️

Hexagonal hive titled "1956 Hexagonal Thinking Web Reflection," featuring categories like Personal Growth, Challenges, Creativity, and Collaboration, each with descriptive text.

I introduced Gr 11s to Hexagonal Thinking (the gift that keeps on giving) last week & asked them to work together to find connections between the 'big ideas' they've found in their group novels so far. 1 student liked it so much he used the format for his post-activity reflection. Really cool!

1 of my Gr 9s has spent almost 2 months pretending to read during our daily 15mins of choice reading time. Hasn’t read a sentence.Today, we started Long Way Down as a class. At the end, he asked if he could use his 15 mins tomorrow to keep reading it. By George, I think we have a reader!!!

Yesterday in Gr 9, we were talking about if, and/or how, the film Moana 2 challenges stereotypes. 1 student raised her hand and said, "Yes it does because she is her own hero." 😍

A big challenge!

There was a very big reaction when I shared it with our Department :)

Jason, this is 🔥. Thank you, thank you, thank you. So many of us will benefit from your generosity here!

Will do!

Photo of Paul Saltman sitting on a chair in foreground between 2 tables with group of students surrounding him in front of a library bookshelf.

Today was a GREAT day. Civil Rights activist, 2-time Emmy-Award winning writer, producer, director & educator Paul Saltzman came to work with Ss to identify ways to strengthen our school's sense of belonging & community. Ss were in awe of him (so were we). Action plan tomorrow! (Photo permission ✅)

3 copies of T. Meikle's, "Assessment in Action" book sitting on brown butcher paper with horseshoe-shaped tesk and laptop in background.

Hey @theresameikle.bsky.social, look what arrived yesterday afternoon! Excited to share with colleagues. 😀

Thank you so much. It's been a game changer...for all of us.

This is fantastic. Is it open to Canadian students?

Another fantastic share from the always generous @jasonhimsl.bsky.social

1. Love it.
2. Using it.
3. Thank you for sharing it!

a blue background with yellow letters that read happy day Alt: a moving two-tone blue background with white and yellow letters that read "Happy Day"

Introducing UNgrading to 9s & all week. 1 Ss' body language has strongly suggested they are not overly impressed. As they left today, I commented that it seemed the 'struggle is real' & the response was a vehement, 'Every Day!' But then they added: 'But this is inspiring me.' I was shocked!

This is great!

Oooh, thanks for sharing. Def going to use this. A wee bit beautifully written too! 😜

🙏

I'm curious to hear more about your WH dislike. The TL and I are really intrigued to see how our (cough, cough) "more mature" eyes will read it this time around. Also very interested to see what the Ss will make of it. Going to be fun!

Gr 11 Enriched went to Library today. Librarian pulled books - contemporary, challenging, high-interest, etc. I mentioned there was talk about classics. Led to discussion about Wuthering Heights & how we might read it differently now vs when we were Ss' age. We now have a book club with us & 7 Ss 😍.