Author Archives: karleescott

Open the door to OER

After watching this video I realized that I had almost the exact experience that the video was talking about last year! I was teaching grade three and four, online. There were so little resources available for social studies in an online environment, so I was left using the Pearson textbook. We were learning about immigration and a pie chart was on the page of immigration in 2011. (Which also did not seem that long ago to me)! Some of the students spoke up and said “oh that is the year my older brother was born”. And then it hit me! This textbook is older than the kids using it. What kind of valuable information are kids getting from this? Like.. really?

This really brings forth the value of open education. Why shouldn’t we be able to share our resources, why should teachers then be expected to spend their own money on resources just for them to go outdated or to be part of yesterday’s trend. We really are stuck in a cyclical disaster. I think back to just my first year of teaching 5 short years ago, and I bought what was the current trend and top resources, and now here I am with those resources I spent hundreds of dollars on stashed away in my cupboard as my school implements new and improved resources and ideas.

I am not sure why more people have “bought into” this free educational resource. There is so much to offer and be a part of that allows for people to take ideas and points from others in a collaborative and open environment.

My last and final ponder on this topic is how do we actually and effectively get education to be accessible for all? What could this world be and turn into if we could get everyone in our world the truly acceptable and high quality education that everyone deserves.

Ready, Set, Go!

As I enter the final week of my project, I start to reflect on the overall growth that I have had as a learner, runner and teacher. 

This goal, as I mentioned before, really aligned with goal setting that I just finished completing and assessing with my students. At the beginning of the unit I teach about the importance of connecting mind, body, spirit and emotion through some medicine wheel teachings. Quite often, students find when they work on one of the four quadrants of the medicine wheel that there is growth in other areas as well. So, I thought that I would make a visual to represent the growth that I have seen in the four quadrants myself. 

It is not “new news” that running helps, but sometimes I just need that little push. At the end of the exhausting day, I can use a run to help regulate my emotions rather than being a grumpy pants all night. When I feel as though my mind is racing, I can use a run to help clear my mind. 

I have a plan to print off this visual and hang it on my fridge or somewhere visible. Then I can be sure that I am seeing the importance of running. 

Looking forward, I have to make a plan for how I am going to make this sustainable for the long term. This is not about just getting a good mark in EC&I (but that wouldn’t hurt me). 

Here are some great tools that I found to make and keep running a sustainable activity for my overall well being: 

This link gave me some support in how I can fit in smaller runs throughout the week. Sometimes 30 minutes is a lot, so some smaller runs just a few times a week could help me maintain the health and development of my running.

One of my biggest obstacles here in Saskatchewan is trying to figure out how maintain running in the winter. There sure aren’t many resources out there that support running in the cold, deep snow winter that we have. This Tik Tok had some relatable snow depths, but I am not sure about how cold this person really is as they run. 

Finally, I found an inspiration Instagram running coach that can hopefully pop up on my feed in a regular fashion for motivation. @trackclubbabe has regular motivation and real life posts that can keep me motivated through the good, the bad and the ugly! 

To finish, I am going to share a beautiful photo that I took during one of my runs these past five weeks. It was a reminder to stop and smell the flowers, or canola, or whatever else is out there to give me allergies!

Humbling Myself

After a whole two weeks of running at the same pace, I am finally starting to feel some progress being made. I had a serious head cold last week — yay for my physical health taking a toll on me try to work on my mental health! YAY! 

I am back on Tik Tok again this week to try and learn some tricks. The best thing about learning on Tik Tok is actually listening to people talk. That lead me to my second source this week — Pinterest! Her are some of the resources that I found and how they helped me! 

https://www.tiktok.com/@maeveannemcm/video/7194236809793113390?_r=1&_t=8d7YeBBtHXh

This link taught me about eating and supporting yourself through runs. Since doing some research about how to eat to support my body before and after running, this has been super helpful in the recovery but also the stamina that I have built. A co-worker actually did something called a “bun run” this week and I could not believe that someone could eat a dense cinnamon bun while running! 

Although I have never considered running a super long run, this link https://www.tiktok.com/@hannah_miller0/video/7205237002999057710?_r=1&_t=8d7YicaCE6v gave me the ideas of how to prepare in the hours leading up to a run. I find I am still balancing how much water to drink because it can cause some problems for me when I hear that swooshing around in my stomach. Again, it is all a learning curve. 

This post that I found on Pinterest https://bestplaygear.com/how-to-get-back-into-running-after-gaining-weight/ allowed me to give myself the mental support that I need. It really did break down the ideas of not letting the mental block I create for myself reaching success. I am mentioned in my previous post that I play numbers games, and I quite regularly think when I weighed 15, 10, 5 pounds lighter. I am working to revere that so that I can be comfortable in my own body. 

I am starting to really get back into it, and I have now realized I need to give myself grace as I am working really hard and that is what matters. When I look at my students in my class and watch them crush out their 6 day action plans over the last week or so, I realize that they have also inspired me to strive for and reach my goals that I have set for myself. This has been a humbling experience for me.

Action against social justice

I think back to a high school memory that I have involving a classmate and friend coming out as gay. I was part of a conversation previously that was extremely discriminatory and I said absolutely nothing. When my friend was sharing his news little by little with others, I was shocked to find out he was embarrassed to tell me. Why? Because I said nothing when I was part of the discriminatory conversation. He assumed that because I said nothing, I obviously agreed with the conversation. This was not true at all, but I learned that silence speaks louder than words. I screwed up, and I learned the importance of speaking up against what you believe in.

I would be lying though, if I said I engaged with those online that are keyboard warriors. Both my husband and I work for the public and very often we see people bashing the jobs that we have done or attacked our professions publicly. I really have no time for the haters.

Here is what I am for, I am for the small movements that you can publish to your social media accounts to share that you are any ally. Whether it be a Bell Let’s Talk filter to show people that I am passionate about mental health, an Every Child Matters filter to show that I support and honour reconciliation in Canada. I support that.

I have to protect myself though, and not just how I appear on social media for my job. Sometimes, I am passionate about a topic, but I am not willing to be stalked, harassed and picked apart by some guy named Bob on the internet. I actually cannot handle the thought of being called a name or someone saying something that personally attacks me. I just do not think I have that in me. I know that my #whiteprivilege is showing, but I have to protect myself as well.

Do I think social media activism is important? Yes. But I think that going to ceremonies on National Truth and Reconciliation Day, attending the Pride Parade, going to education rallies at the legislative and teaching my students about the importance of social justice. Rather than posting it on social media, I want to actually DO something to help support these issues.

I would love your thoughts and feedback on this!!

Larry the Twitter Bird

Did you know that the Twitter bird is named Larry? My husband knows random facts and blurted this out to me as I was typing and he asked “what are you doing?”

I have used Twitter quite a bit throughout my undergraduate degree (Katia), then a little bit at the end of my inclusive education degree (Katia, again!), and now again here I am, with Katia using Twitter again. 

I have no negative feelings about Twitter, but it is not my social media of choice. I know there are many benefits and professional learning opportunities on Twitter, including #SaskEdChat, but I just don’t find the time for this. It is a pathetic excuse, but it is the truth of me. I have seen other teachers connect with authors, communicate with other schools using Tweet Deck, I have seen teachers share great resources, but again I just have not gotten into that! 

I see many benefits of Twitter in the class, for example using Tweet Deck to chat with other schools and classes about math units, novel studies, science topics or politics. Again they, are all fabulous ideas, I just have yet to make that connection! I hope to one day soon! 

The one specific experience I have with Twitter is using #SaskEdChat. It is a great resource, but the only thing I am weary about is sometimes posting “in the moment”. Questions like “what are some deficits teachers are facing?”. Holy guacamole, I could add to that for days, but I am not sure if I want the world to see my feelings about that. I have also seen others post their feelings and thoughts and get some constructive feedback about answers. You have to be in the right mindset to be open for that. I am not going to lie, sometimes I have just watched #SaskEdChat for a far! 

Beating the heat and the rain

This week was hard to fit in some runs! But I did it! I was able to fit in two and complete (I mean I did it, I don’t know if complete is the word) my goal of running for 6, walking for 1 minute. I am not sure if this is sustainable as the temperature and humidity continue to increase as my energy levels and oomf continue to decrease. Next week, I think I will try to maintain my 6 minute running, 1 minute walking. I also want to make sure that I set myself up for success, otherwise defeat might get the best of me. 

This week, for support and learning tips, I took to Instagram. I would say, my regular motivation for fitness is @allygriffeth. She is a Beachbody coach, but has taken a strong stand point on running. She has transformed into someone who hated running to someone who does it almost every day. She is a rockstar and gives off so many positive and motivating vibes. 

I took myself to the Instagram explore this week. I found this video outlining a very simple version of what I am doing by increasing my running each week while decreasing my walking. I know I mentioned in my previous blog posts that I really am not new to running. So I cleared my search from “running tips” to “running motivation”. That is really what I need, motivation. I know right now, in the middle of two masters courses and June rearing it head, I NEED to run. I found this visual, which really creates an image of what happens to my mind, body and spirit before, during and after a run!  

Sometimes I get really caught up in the numbers game of running. The kilometres, the pace, the minutes, time spent walking, time spent running, what time I need to leave, what time I need to be home, how fast I used to run, how slow I am now, remember when I used to run ___ kilometres in __ minutes. Sometimes I think if I run without my watch, then it doesn’t count. I am going to share the image with you that left me with something I can tell myself when I am in the dumps about starting over in my running journey.

Be Real

I am quite social media savvy. I have all the “basic” social media account and spend way too much time in a day doom scrolling. I decided to dive into Be Real app. This website gave me a good debrief before I even downloaded it. I did read through some of the reviews on the Apple website and I saw one that said “Like Instagram without the toxicity”. My interests were peaked.

So, you post something, being “REAL”. You are supposed to show what you are doing to give an authentic view of what you are doing. I guess, that is the premise behind it. Maybe that is what the review about “without the toxicity”. The day after posting, you get a random notification that says “Time to Be Real”. You have two minutes to post. There seems to be some toxicity around checking your phone enough to meet that two minute window. 

It also tells others how many retakes you take of yourself. To me, I am putting myself in the 12 year old brains I work with every day and see how the confidence would drop minute by minute while others see what you have posted. The pressure to be “real” is still there. The push to be naturally beautiful is still there. 

Followers are not posted for the world to see, so that is something that can help protect privacy. I also saw that there were no filters, which I believe is one of the most toxic aspects of other social media. 

Do I need to keep using Be Real? No. But I find an underlying need to be in the know about what my students are dabbling in. Ignorance is very detrimental when teaching young adults. 

Running like the wind

@envisioncoachingg

Running tips for beginners 🏃‍♀️Tip 1 – don’t heel strike, run on the balls of your feet 👟Tip 2 – dont hunch, stay tall 🙌🏻Tip 3 – don’t set off too fast, keep the pace nice and steady ( you should be able to hold a conversation, if not slow the pace down) Save and try these tips on your next run ✅✅#fit #tip #runningtips #running #personaltrainer #coach #dothis #improve #beginner #fitness #fittok #gym #gymtok @HOKA @lululemon

♬ Players – DJ Smallz 732 – Jersey Club Remix – Coi Leray

I went for my first two runs, and WOWSERS! I knew that running again was going to be difficult and I would need to persevere, but I sure did not think that I would be exhausted like I was.

I convinced my husband to come with me, the 6 foot 1 gazelle that he is. His legs are way longer than mine, and he just has the gene pool to wake up on holiday Monday and run! Not me… 

I did some research on Tik Tok this week to try and find some support and answers for how to get back into running. I knew that it was going to be difficult, like I have said a lot already. I did see many Tik Toks recommending that I find a consistent pace, run on flat land, and to enjoy the run. One Tik Tok even said something along the lines of running at a pace that I can carry out a conversation, but that was for sure not happening for me. Here is the best Tik Tok I found this week for beginning runners! 

Run #1

We did it though, in a scorching (just joking) 20 degree weather on the holiday Monday of the long weekend. I cannot believe how difficult it was, even though I woke up, had a decent breakfast, stretched, charged my Apple watch, found a good running playlist and got the Airpods ready. My husband and I have a deal where we don’t ever leave each other behind when we are running because, well, who likes being left behind? It really is more of a deal for because I don’t think I’ve even had the chance to leave him behind. 

We ran outside of town, with a beautiful view that was motivating to keep going. One of the reasons that I love running so much is not only for the amazing physical health beneifts, but for the grounding and clarity that it brings me. Being outside in nature was a gift that I know I take for granted!

I got home, feeling very unwell. I was feeling defeated as it was for sure the slowest run I have done since grade 4 track meet. My go to strategy when I am feeling down or defeated is to try and help solve the situation. I went of course, straight to Tik Tok to find some more support. Check out this Tik Tok! It is the motivation I needed to complete my second run of the week.

Walk, don’t run folks!!

I’m a little late to the game, due to a serious case of food poisoning, but I have made the choice to start my running back up for my major learning project. At one point, I thought I would try to get my students to try something with their blogs that was out of this world, but its May, and I teach middle years. We are all in survival mode on top of the extra curriulars, the end of the year activities and the gusto I have left to create a brand new project. SO, I am going to make this project all about me. 

3 years ago, in 2020, I ran 50 kilometres in May to support Multiple Sclerosis. I look back, and I know I felt the best. Yes, losing a few inches around my waist would be great, but the feeling I had when I finished a run was worth it! 

I am hoping to use Tik Tok and Pinterest as my guides for resources and tips. 

I have an Apple Watch as well as a running interval timer. My plan is to run twice a week for the next 5 weeks and see what happens!!! Here is the schedule I have planned.

Photo by Tirachard Kumtanom on Pexels.com

Week 1: Run for 5 minutes, walk for 1 

Week 2: Run for 6 minutes, walk for 1 

Week 3: We will see…..

I don’t want to set these unrealistic goals I can’t reach, so let’s see what happens after the first two weeks. The smoke is blowing away, so tomorrow is my first day!!! Stay tuned!