Blog Posts

I have a hope that one day we will not have to celebrate Black History Month, that our society, discourse and school curricula will be redolent with the contributions and experiences of Black Canadians, that Black students in our schools will be proud of who they are, that they will see their history and culture in the ecology of their school experiences, and that they will not suffer the legacy of prejudice and racism as their previous generation had.

Happy January! Well, what a start to 2022 we have had! At this point, after a very busy week, I took a step back, and enjoyed some visits to the classroom that gave me a fresh perspective on the amazing McMillan community of staff and students. I'm so glad I took the time, and I wanted to share what I saw with you.

Over the last few years, it has been my practice to post a “Top 3” January blog related to our educational transformation efforts and ways these ideas might be manifested in the coming twelve months.

When I was recently asked to share with some of my colleagues how our school district was handling the challenges related to the recent rainstorms and flooding, I could not help but reflect on the numerous calamities we have experienced as a community over the last decade. In addition to the pandemic and disastrous flooding of the last three weeks, our community has endured more than its fair share of tragedies. We have lost more students from a range of misfortune too difficult to recount here.

On the heels of our decision to open some of our schools last week, several high school students wrote a version of this letter below to me:

Dear Dr. Godden,

On behalf of several students in the Abby school district, we would like to request that you close the school district completely for the remainder of the week as well as thank you for your prompt decision making in this unfortunate situation. 

Hello McMillan Families,

From my principal's chair in my principal's office, I have a lovely, sunshiney view, and today could feel like a very good day. But that is just the surface, and I am reminded of how everything is not always as it seems, as well as how quickly things can change.

As a way of keeping our focus on the teaching and learning in our schools, I have drawn a distinction between the “work”, our primary focus on providing for the educational needs of our students, and the “weather”, the conditions under which we do this work. In uncertain times if we are not careful, we sometimes confuse the two. While it is clearly important to ensure that we are following all the public health protocols, caution must be extended to ensure that this does not become the primary focus of our discourse and practice.

As we navigate the fourth wave of the pandemic, with an eye to post-pandemic teaching and learning, it has dawned on me that two of the lessons learned from the pandemic might be at odds with each other. With physical distancing being one of the best ways to keep ourselves and kids safe from COVID-19, we saw many classrooms migrate outdoors, at least for part of their instructional experience. This was sage advice given to us by public health, and many classroom teachers were all over it.

Wow! Here we are in the middle of October! I hope everyone had a restful and happy Thanksgiving long weekend. At the school, we have made a busy start to the year, and have already put a whole treasure chest of experiences and new memories behind us.

Greetings McMillan Families!

September is off to a great start! Students are busy in their classrooms, and teachers are working hard to get to know then all.  As we head into many fun and memorable activities, there are a few items you should be aware of.