The Unseen Classroom

Thank You

Thank You

Before school starts, I want to wish every parent and teacher a wonderful school year.

And to my 22 followers on Instagram and TikTok—thank you.  I genuinely appreciate your support. 

The fact that anyone is reading this still feels a little strange, because when I started the blog, I wasn’t sure anyone ever would.  So I went back to see what I wrote in June and July.

I’ve seen significant changes in education that concern me…   I worry for the future of Canada…   When I first had the idea for this blog, I really just needed a place to vent.  I didn’t even care if anyone read it…   Lately though, there’s a small hope that maybe someone will read it, and maybe something will come from it…   I am not even sure what that “something” is…  Maybe the “something” is just helping more people see what’s really happening in our schools.

Someone recently asked if there was a place to comment and start a discussion.  At the moment, the website doesn’t support comments.  It’s not a feature I’ve turned off; it simply doesn’t exist.

But that’s okay.  Because what we really need is for people to start these conversations with each other.  Talk to parents.  Talk to teachers.  Share a post if it gets you thinking.  The conversation doesn’t have to happen on my blog.  It just needs to happen.

It has only been two months, but both my blog and my thinking about what I want it to be have evolved.  I admit, the first draft of my first post did not look much like the end result.

What I eventually published was this:

Then came the inevitable: “What are we going to take out of the curriculum to make room for this?”  My heart sank.  Less time for students to learn the curriculum.  Again.

This is all true.  But my original draft probably looked something more like this:

Then came the inevitable: “What are we going to take out of the curriculum to make room for this?”  My first thought was, “WTF!!! How much more can we take out of the curriculum?  Does no one care that we aren’t teaching them anything anymore?!?!”

There were also rough drafts containing gems like “This is insane,” “This is ridiculous,” and “They drank the Kool-Aid.” 😬

In my post, Failure Isn’t the Enemy, I took out the following story:

I once had a Grade 9 student who was failing science but had passed math.  I went to talk to her math teacher to find out what she had been able to do in math that I wasn’t seeing in science.  The teacher explained that sometimes, when her group did a project, she got up and stood with the group while they presented.

I have a lot of stories like that.

The goal of this blog is still taking shape in my mind, and it may continue to evolve.

But at the moment, I’m glad I didn’t just fill it with WTFs and crazy classroom stories.  They might be amusing, but as I’ve been writing, I’ve realized I want to do something different.  I want to talk about the parts of education that governments, school boards, and the press aren’t talking about—the UNSEEN parts of education.  I want to play devil’s advocate—to question the prevailing narrative.  And I want to do that thoughtfully, with evidence behind what I’m saying, so that even people who disagree with me might pause and consider another perspective. 

Someone commented that they appreciated that I tried to support what I was saying with evidence.  That made me even happier with the direction I had taken.

I may be wrong sometimes, and that’s okay.  I won’t pretend to have all the answers.  I also don’t expect everyone to agree with me.  So disagree away.  Disagreement can make us question our assumptions, reconsider what we believe, and sometimes come to a better overall conclusion. 

And when you have these conversations, I hope you’ll approach them with some intellectual humility.  Maybe leave the “WTF!!!” in the first draft.  Know the difference between evidence and opinion.  When you make a factual claim, support it with evidence.  Listen to the other side.  And remember that someone disagreeing with you is not a personal attack.  Be willing to change your mind when the evidence tells you that you should. 

I cannot post every week anymore because, well, I have a job to do! 🫠 School is starting, and teaching has to come first.  And apparently, my students are going to expect me to teach them. ❤️ 

I do have several posts in rough draft, and this is what I’m planning:

There is one other topic I really want to write about: student behaviour in Canadian classrooms.  I just haven’t figured out how to write that one yet without the first draft containing a lot of WTFs. 😬

If there is something else you would like me to write about, let me know in the comments on the Instagram or TikTok post that goes with this one.  My daughter monitors those for me, because I’m not much of a social media buff. 🤷‍♀️

So, thank you so much for reading.  Whether you’re a parent, a teacher, or just someone who cares about education, I hope you have a wonderful school year—and that we keep these conversations going.

And a special thank you to my two editors—one teacher and one parent—and to my daughter for all the Instagram and TikTok posts. ❤️ My teacher editor and I also learned a new word through all of this: cathartic.  And, in all honesty, that’s exactly what this experience has been for me.

All the best to everyone,

Me