Technolandy

Day 48 (of 2025/26) on #RemembranceDay with a shoutout to #indigenousveteransday

My first shoulder tap to get me moving into the education world that is the vocation of being a PVP (Principal/Vice Principal) was to coordinate and run the Remembrance Day Assembly. It’s one of the holy trinity of expected school assemblies: the BC School Act asayeth: one to open the year, close the year, on the school day before November 11th, the Remembrance Day Assembly, and one to rule them all…. sorry, wrong metaphor…

Assemblies are big deals – they need the anthem played… which is why I prefer more ‘gatherings’ where we can just get going… I prefer a bit less formality, though I know there are schools where it is a tradition to sing O Canada a LOT more often…

I’m pretty proud of the multi-decade work I have done for school Remembrance assemblies… bringing in veterans (bonus marks when they are from someone’s family) discussing etiquette and pacing with members of the Legion (the organization that keeps connected with veterans and, among other things, helps make sure that the poppy and assemblies for Remembrance continue. Mixing live shares with music has always been important to me (always love when I have a cohort of students that I can have do PowerPoint Music Videos to highlight as student work… and then every once in awhile reading In Flanders Fields..  I try to have my presentation change up a bit each year – most emphasized by my using a different ‘polished music video’ for four years before I repeat  – and a staff member even asked last week if they could get a sneak peek at this years number… it is great when assemblies can be meaningful and resonate with audiences of all ages… though I am aware my own assemblies go a bit longer than most attention spans last… but that’s why bagpipes were invented!

But things can, and do, change…

More recently I’ve added an assembly – before or on the 8th (depending on if it is a weekend or no) I do a similar presentation honouring our Indigenous Veterans… I often a shoutout in our required gathering, but more recently have felt it important to pull it out and honour it separately – not in small part to mirror the segregation many of our First Nations experienced, including not being citizens while they risked being arrested by leaving their home communities to sign up for military service. 

I’m thrilled that a colleague this year, as encouraged by her local Legion, moved her schools assembly to last friday… the day before Indigenous Veterans Day… without a plan to follow up on the day before Remembrance Day… I love it when I get to see examples of ways to nudge the boxes that we are often constrained in within the education system. Knowing and believing that Remembrance is important… I even emphasize that in BC it is not a day ‘off’ when schools close on the 11th, but a time to reflect mindfully ~ knowing that other provinces do not do the same… though I have learned through chats with many from those provinces, that the day feels even more special by having events that are emphasized in the school community… my lived bias is that is a time to gather as a postal code community and honour those that serve – now, in the past, and in the future.

Why we continue to gather?

1. it’s a great shared space for collective reflection and civic/citizenship learning
2. they also help bridge generations, and show that history is not abstract, or just what you read in books… local veterans can bring history to live
3. it reminds us the focus for the gathering is about building peace – and the different ways we can “remember” in a modern, diverse, screen-using, inclusionary society.

And in the spirit of doing different, as a Provincial Online Learning School, we don’t have much/many/any students scheduled to be with us on these days of remembrance, so – guided by our school growth plan – we are moving to an asynchronous schedule, which means we are putting our assemblies on YouTube for families to access when it makes sense for them!

Indigenous Veterans Day (Nov 8): https://youtu.be/ztb4hjsQZcY?si=UOqHXsbdSCIRWrY9ay

Remembrance Day (Nov 11):  https://youtu.be/AhtVXL3ihuM?si=2ituWTwUTfy-Z5U3

What is something you think we could do better for next years days of memorial?