Technolandy

Day 187 (of 2025/26) Lingering questions – World Cup; NHL Draft; social media; and summer of ‘26 –  #DeeperLearning #DL26

Ahh – the summer conferences and learnings

Deeper Learning presentation… that’s coming up… excited about the vibe and energy that will be happening at Imagine High in Chilliwack in another week. Looking forward to sharing some of the outside-the-box thinkings of thing we are doing with our hybrid learnings… trust me – online learning is not about being on screens all the time… No spoilers – I’ll reflect later (okay, one spoiler: Learning how to guide their own learning… miss a unit? Not a big deal… you know how to curate their own learning new materials when it actually matters to them, not because they are of a certain age)

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FOMO: ALA

My daughter is at the American Library Association big conference – as a school librarian, she is getting to live out some of my dreams and wishes… and then she got to share that while she was leading a panel, the amazing Maia Kobabe sat in front row and started sketching… then my kiddo ran into er a little while later and Maia actually said ‘we were just talking about you…’ eeek!! But my daughter is unfortunately more focused on trying to get Maia to TCAF than to see if e wants to come to my school comic con….

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WORLD CUP FEVER

I love tournaments and the World Cup is a lot of fun – the best version of reality tv. So far Canada has scored more goals than ever before (both times) and has already made it to the knockout stage for the first time – I did have a worry that we would be the one (of the 3) host nation to not qualify… though we are also the first host nation to be playing an ‘away’ game. Quirky. We had a school watch party – and though it was low attendance, it was yet another event where I had a family ‘come for the first time ever to a school event’… that always makes it worth it

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NHL DRAFT

(Could include the NBA draft too) – I always liken the wind up of the school year to the end of the sports seasons – we see some retire (I see you and already miss you Dave Truss!!) and we see some movement… not exactly trades, but some people seeking better fits… or any fits… blending seniority with position ‘needs’ – Human Resources is a fun complexity to navigate – rules within contracts for unionized workers… balancing who will be working with whom… how well the team will mesh – and wonders about what things will be like in 10 weeks.  Oh yeah, then the maternity leaves (predictable) and surprise leaves that always lead to more questions and wonders… just like wondering how the latest draft picks will fit in with our favourite sports teams. HAPPY RETIREMENT AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO ALL EDUCATORS WINDING THINGS DOWN THIS SUMMER OF 2026!

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Ahh, summer… still some work to be done, despite what the calendar might say (and the catch of being a principal.. it’s a 12 month job – albeit with a few weeks where I won’t be checking the email machine. Lots more questions than answers. Books to read. Series to binge. People to meet. Walks to walk. Families to visit. A break in routines (mixed reactions to those…) and plenty of surprises yet to come!

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Next – my SOL (Summer of Learning) occasional blog and supportive social media’s… oh yeah, hey = what should schools be doing with our social media’s? With the government shutting down access to students, ought we also shutter our facebook, instagram, YouTube channels, and other interactive media’s? While they are good communication tools with our community… shouldn’t we model rather than tempt viewership?

My personal brand will continue to go because I still believe educating how to use media’s is much more e/affective in the long term than banning (hahaha – cuz it’s perfect in Australia who led the way… https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jun/24/australia-under-16-social-media-ban-no-substantial-effects-study) and like the fears that were for other mass media tools – including books… people were terrified of how corrupting books were on youth and society in general… there is great potential in this next iteration of communication media. Errr – think I need a little doomscroll distraction before I open up the next book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series (not everything read needs to be educational and serious…!)