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If You’re Not Building Relationships

You’re not teaching.

I had the honour of being invited to the podcast of my colleague, Rola Tibshirani (voted one of the top five most innovative teachers in all of Canada), where we spoke about my evolving approach to teaching.

While there is much political turmoil in Ontario right now regarding the state of education, it was nice to be able to sit down with someone and focus on what matters most in this profession: the students.

Plenty of gems, plenty of ramblings and still much work to do.

It also gives a sneak preview of my upcoming book, “Teaching Outside the Curriculum,” which will be everything I need to say and want to tell people about building relationships with students.

The future of education is, and must be, evolving. I’m doing my best to jump on those currents going forward.

However, personally connecting with someone?

It’s still the most critical action we can take regardless of where we’re going.

Have a listen

Life Revelations

One thing I have to consider with these posts (and I hope my reader does as well) is they are my current observations.

What might be a revelation for me is old hat for someone else. In some instances, it’s somebody else’s revelation, or off-handed comment, that causes a chain reaction of thoughts for myself.

Side note: My wife loves when I come to a revelation long after she’s badgered me about it.

It doesn’t take away the significance for my life that someone else thought of it (the stoics already thought of everything thousands of years ago), but it puts into context what I need to learn right now.

We come across revelations all the time. Whether we listen to them is dependent on our circumstance at the moment.

And sometimes, we need some of those revelations to be repeated to us as a reminder of what we once learned.

Graceling Book Review

Author: Kristin Cashore

After leaving the fantasy genre for almost 20 years, it feels as though my love for it is flooding back.

Currently, I’m out of my depths with high fantasy, and its complexities with names and systems, which require complete concentration to work through it.

It’s nice to get a book where you can slowly dip your feet into the water… something you rarely got twenty to thirty years ago.

I would classify Graceling as a fun adventure book. The one thing you have to look past when reading is the main character, Katsa, is a complete Mary Sue.

She has special powers. As the book goes on, those special powers continue to multiply: she can kill a person instantly, she’s super fast, she can deal with extreme temperatures, she also has superhuman strength when needed, and she can also go for days without food.

The list just keeps growing.

At some point I think the author just said, oh maybe I should give her a weakness and let that be the actual conflict of the book.

Anyway, if you’re willing to look past that, then you do have a very neat adventure story to read through. This is a fantasy world that’s fun to get into and easy to envision. It allows you to enjoy the adventure without having to spend too much time figuring things out along the way.

It’ll take some time to get into, but you are rewarded for it.

Cleaning Up 2019

The start of this year has been a different one for me.

Normally, a new year is a fresh start with goals and accomplishments to set your sights towards. While I have a few things in mind, I’m still cleaning up, 2019.

The Christmas holidays was a very relaxing one. I purposefully made sure to take the time to really just enjoy the season with my family… and I did. I felt at peace for the first time in several years and appreciated each one of those days.

While there was many good intentions to tie up all loose ends during my time off, it didn’t quite happen. So I left 2019 out of sorts.

I was out of my rhythm for the beginning of 2020: work that needed marking, five book reviews to finish, tasks around the house and wrapping up finances for the year. The new year couldn’t begin (in my head) until I finished it all.

That’s when I decided January was going to be a month to end last year and transition to the next. With determination and focus in place, it’s all caught up now.

The last decade is closed for me now and the roadmap for the next one has been set.

I’m excited for what lies ahead.

My Year in Books

I guess you could say I did a bit of reading this year.

There was something different about it though–I actually felt connected to each of the books I read.

While I avidly read the previous years because it was a habit and I had an interest in my selections, I didn’t feel invested. The habit was there, but the mojo was not.

This year, my reading (as usual) was all over the map. Looking back, here’s where my thoughts stand:

Best Book I Read This Year
Rejoice: A Knife to the Heart by Steven Erikson
There were a lot of good choices, but this book is still the most memorable. I still think about it and hope Erikson produces more just like it.

Best Non-Fiction Book
Factfulness by Hans Rosling
This was a tough one, but Rosling truly puts it out there for why we’re wrong about the world and how we can not be swayed by media funnels.

Most Personal
Here is Real Magic by Nate Staniforth
I read it during a very chaotic and trying time. This book really felt like a turning point and revitalized my zeal for life once again.

Best Student Recommendation
Dry by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman
I always appreciate and read every student recommendation. This one stands out as my favourite for this year.

Just Wasn’t For Me
Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder
Recommended by my students, but didn’t hit the mark for me.

Most Fun to Read
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart
It’s fun. It’s adorable. It’s for every person who has spent time doing road trips and found a bit of themselves in the process.

Book That Will Show You What Good Writing Is
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
I’m pretty sure you can just study this book on how to write well. The story is good, but the writing is stellar.

Most Popular Book Review on this Site
Write Your Book in a Flash by Dan Janal
I still find the title too gimmicky, but there is some good advice to be had here.

Best Book I Would Recommend to Students
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
There were a few in the running this year, but Dear Martin slightly edges them out.

Which Book Should I Read?
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
If you ask me for a recommendation and I don’t know your tastes, this is the book. Although I’m told his latest (Recursion) is even better. I’ll read it and let you know.

There’s a reason to recommend almost any book I read this year and it’s staggering how little I scratched the surface of all the great literature out there. As one student told me, “I had no idea there were so many different kinds of books.”

My goal for the upcoming year is to not participate in any reading challenge.

I think my reading habits are pretty well ingrained and the added bonus of doing the reviews solidifies every “The End” I reach.

On to 2020: the year of even more reading.

What Are You Willing to Let Go?

In a world where the marker for perfect is always moving, I absolutely love this video.

The one question I have when watching is at what point did the 1980s parent turn into the 2019 parent?

I mean, I’m an 80s kid.

What is it that got me to lean more towards the parenting styles of today?

I would say a big part of that is the Internet and watching what everyone else is doing and the great ideas they have. Mix that with the fears, “benchmarks” and the endless research, or what loosely qualifies as research in, in what raises happy healthy kids–it only takes some time to realize you’re trying to live up to an ideal.

That doesn’t actually exist.

No one can really define what the parameters of this ideal are and what the benchmark for perfection is. And let’s say we actually do define it, or give it some rough estimate.

Eventually that marker will change again.

In our lives, the “ideal” has to be something we need to let go of if we want to keep some semblance of sanity.

Otherwise, all we’re doing is constantly comparing ourselves to something we can ever reach towards a finish line that is always moving.

At some point you ask, is this worth it?

Certain things just need to be let go.

New Book Release!

Ten years ago, when I was starting in the teaching field, students challenged me to write a book about a guy who gets dumped a month before prom.

I welcomed the challenge.

I thought it would be a lot of fun to take it on and to explore what High School was really all about. I went to work and thought about how much fun I could make this book, not only for myself to write, but for others to read.

In the end, what I had written was a fictional tale of my high school experience. I remember it was the most fun I had writing a book.

Then I put it in my drawer and I left it there, hoping to come back to it someday.

My good friend, Thomas Jast, insisted it was fun and I needed to release it at some point. Years later, I took it out of the drawer, read through it, and still loved everything about it.

The writing was different and I was also a different person (slightly matured). I figured I could give this book a facelift and release it.

But every time I went to write it again, I just couldn’t get into the same headspace. I just felt like I was ruining the experience by touching it.

Several times I attempted and several times I failed.

That’s when I decided I was going to give it a light edit and release it as is. After all, the worst thing a writer can do is be a purveyor of their own quality of work. That’s never for them to decide.

I’m proud to share and release this book. For those of you willing to step through the portal, you just may get a glimpse into the headspace of my high school experience.

However, if I’ve done it justice, you also might get a little time warp back into your own.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go buy some Crystal Pepsi and refresh my Dippity-do hair gel supply.

Digital Version
Paperback version available at any online retailer

Invest Your Time Like Money

Have you ever spent six hours price matching a product or a service just so you can save $3?

It sounds ridiculous, but we’re subject to that kind of behavior when we don’t recognize that our time is more valuable than the money coming from it.

For many of us, earning another $3, or getting another $3 back into our life, is pretty easy.

That six hours? We’re never going to get that back.

Quality of life isn’t so much the nice things we can have, but also about having the time to enjoy them.

Consider your time an investment.

Fewer Things, Better Book Review

Author: Angela Watson

This is the book I needed to read last year.

Actually, this is the book I needed to read when I first started teaching.

While there are many things in this book that I’ve read before in other contexts, the way Watson puts it together is formidable. This book is a stark solid, and on point, reminder that as a teacher, you can’t do it all.
Side note: This is also a great book for anybody working in a field where they feel overtaxed, never able to accomplish what they want and striving to strike a work life balance.

And the self inflicted martyrdom that comes with trying to do so only leads to burnout.

There were many parts of this book where I just had to stop, nod and say, “Yes, thank you! That’s exactly what I needed to hear right now.”

In fact, many of the things she says in this book are things that I’ve said on my website and in my 15 minutes a day book. However, I could never fully put it in the context of being a teacher.

Watson articulates the reason why I couldn’t transition my thoughts (and actions) on productivity, efficiency, and perfect being the enemy of the good: I’m stuck on the sacred cows of the teaching profession. There are many. And just like getting rid of the sacred cows of writing (see Dean Wesley Smith) will revitalize your love of writing and put you on a path to an enjoyable career, the same can be said for teaching.

I will admit, Watson certainly knows her audience. She definitely talks right to their pain points and she reframes everything in a way that makes you feel like you can handle it again. Now, considering she is a consultant and teacherpreneur, there is a bit of upsell in this book–especially towards her 40 hour a week teacher course.

I’m constantly trying to find ways to improve my craft. I’ve read countless articles and books on the subject, many of which had good ideas and gems, but not wholly applicable to what I’m trying to accomplish. In some instances, it was too theoretical. In other instances, it advocated for a “perfect” system.

This book, however, should be built as the foundation for anything else that you wish to bring into the classroom. I’ve already made a request to get copies for other teachers in my school. So thank you, Miss Watson and I look forward to applying everything you’ve written here.