Holocaust Awareness Week

"We must continue to teach our children the lessons of history's darkest chapters. That will help them do a better job than their elders in building a world of peaceful coexistence." ~United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon


We were fortunate enough this week to hear from Carson Phillips, educator from the Holocaust Education Centre as well as Vera Schiff, Holocaust survivor, about the purpose and value of Holocaust Education in schools. Here are a few resources you can use to teach your students about the Holocaust. Included on these sites are videos, lesson plans, activities and further resources.


Azrieli Foundation
Centropa: Teacher's Area
Conversations About the Holocaust
Institute of Education: Holocaust Education Development Programme
Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research

Last Day

After a fun day with the "Physical Activity Scavenger Hunt," and Pre-Intern Farewell Party, my time at this school is over. I want to take this opportunity to thank the school, my students and especially my cooperating teacher for teaching me so much. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here and everyone has taught me so much. I wanted to close with another reminder of how thoughtful and selfless the upcoming generation is with a quote from a student that reaffirms the value of this wonderful group:

"My low for the day is that Ms. Schebel is leaving, but my high for the day is that other students will be able to enjoy her."  ~ Deleah

In response to this love, I have found a quote that I feel summarizes the way I feel about this experience:


"If you want to live more, you must master the art of appreciating the little everyday blessings of life. This is not altogether a golden world, but there are countless gleams of gold to be discovered in it." -- Henry Alfred Porter


My students and cooperating teacher are these gleams of gold in my life. I am so blessed to have been a part of this school and been allowed to be a part of their life journey. In two words -- thank you.

Lesson Ten: Your Ideas of "What Learning Looks Like" Will Differ from Those of your Students

Thursday Afternoon
Noise Level: High
Task: Finish up rich performance task related to physical activity and nutrition (write song, write story, make healthy living advertisement or research physical activity opportunities in the community)


I am running around the classroom answering questions, keeping students on task and assessing at the same time. I notice over time a student constantly cruising around the classroom. Thinking that this student was not working, I walked over and asked to see their work. Surprisingly, he handed me an almost complete project. I realized that although this student appeared to be off task, he was really just self-regulating so that he could do his work with more efficiency. Over these past few weeks I have noticed more and more that my conceptions of "learning" and what it should look like do not align with the embodied experiences of my students. When I was in school, learning meant that you were sitting quietly in your desk, complying with the teacher's expectations. In the school I am in, beautifully enhanced with diversity in culture, learning styles, life experiences, etc. I have learned that in many cases, sitting quietly in a desk is not learning. The question is, do we want our children to be experts at following directions and complying with demands, or do we want them to be critical thinkers, questioning norms and having the skills to self-direct and make a difference? I would imagine that educators today would choose the latter. It is still important to have expectations, but we need to analyse our foundational ideas about school. Do I get caught up in the fact that my student is not sitting quietly in his desk, "working" (the way I imagine working to be) or do I celebrate the students ability to self-direct and demonstrate self-regulation, self-control and responsibility for learning? Well today I celebrated and it is my goal to do so in other environments as well. Whether a student is doodling, walking around, chewing on their pencil, or sitting, students self-regulate and enhance their learning in so many ways. The challenge is for us educators to recognize that and include it in our conceptions of learning. 

"The great end of education is to discipline rather than to furnish the mind; to train it to the use of its own powers rather than to fill it with the accumulation of others" -- Tyron Edwards

~ Let's change this.

Lesson Nine: Be Careful of what you are Assessing

I was lucky today to be a part of another student-led conference. I am always really excited to sit in on these because the idea of the student led parent teacher conferences is a new idea to me although it has been around for a long time. I like that the student is able to showcase the work that they are proud of as well as taking responsibility for their learning goals. However, as I was sharing with a student’s parents about his success with the nutrition content matter, his father shared with me that the student had already taken this content as a part of his scouts program. This immediately raised the question in my head, am I truly assessing what the student has learned, or the experiences their families are able to provide for them. I am not sure yet what this means for me as a teacher or how I can change my assessment designs, but it is definitely an important component to consider when designing assessments for your students.

Happy Moment

Today was a great day of student sharing and reflection of the past two weeks of our experiences with Nutrition and Physical Activity. At the end of the day, we gathered in a talking circle and shared what we had learned. I shared with the students about how much they had taught me over the past few weeks. I am so grateful that I was placed in this school as it has influenced my identity as a teacher and who I am fundamentally. All of the stories of my students inspire me and solidify my desire to teach. Although they all shared amazing understandings that they have come to, here are a few of my favourites:

I learned that you don’t need money or to go to the gym to exercise ~ Sandy

I learned that there are lots of things and people that can influence us so we need to be careful~ Aleah

I liked all of the funny jokes you brought every day. They made health funner. ~Reanne

I learned that our food gives our brains energy and I liked watching the food digest in the stomachs we made.... it was so.... gross. We need to balance what we eat with exercise, or the other way around, to make sure that the nutrients can get us healthy. ~ Melinda

Although everyone learned something different, I was impressed that their learnings seemed to either help them develop a deep understanding of a big idea or a positive attitude towards school. Hearing their stories was important to me because as teachers, we are supposed to teach our students the prescribed curriculum. In reality, they are all going to take away something different depending on their pre-disposition to the subject matter and their background knowledge. No matter what we teach it, they will align it with their personal experiences and I am glad that they were able to share these differences with me. 

Fun Brain Break Idea!

Plates: Have kids all put a paper plate on their head. Have them move about the room (this can be done to music). If their plate falls, they are frozen and someone else has to bend down without having their plate fall off their head and put it back on their classmates head. The object is to keep everyone in the game. Not only does this activity work on balance, it is cooperative too! This will help keep all students feeling included as well as build the classroom community. 


This and many more great ideas on:
Proteacher.net - Quick Brain Breaks

Lesson Eight: Have Faith in the Upcoming Generation

So often today we hear the statements, "kids these days are so spoiled, have it so easy, have no manners, etc" in combination with a "what is the world coming to?" There is truth to the fact that today's generation is much different than the generations of the past, but I have faith that these differences are positive. Here are some quotes from my students that have inspired and gained so much respect from me:


"If I caught a leprechaun, I would take the gold and give it to all of the poor people in the world. I just feel so bad for them, it's not fair." ~ *Kaitlyn, Grade 3


The students asked us, "If you had three wishes, what would you wish for?" I answered knowledge. My co-op said she would go to Hawaii. We both asked for three more wishes.


" I would wish for world peace, and an end to hunger, and an end to homelessness" ~ *Brayten, Grade 5


"I would wish for no more racism" ~ *Jacob, Grade 5


"I would wish for no more bullying I think, I mean its so mean." ~ *Jessica, Grade 4


* Names have been changed.


Boy, did we feel awesome after that. This upcoming generation has so much potential and are also demonstrating such empathy, consideration and kindness towards others. So, what is this world coming to? I think a more caring and equitable place. We seem to be in pretty good hands.