Community Room Podcast

Welcome back to Community Room! We have Dr. Sabre Cherkowski joining us for for Episode 8. Dr. Cherkowski is the Professor and Director of Graduate Programs and Research in the Okanagan School of Education at the University of British Columbia. Today’s topic is “Creating Flourishing Schools” and we touch on that and much more in this rich episode. We ask Dr. Cherkowski about her research in this field, the importance of the wellness of staff in schools, mindfulness, the role of a Principal in this endeavor and much more!


RESOURCES:

https://education.ok.ubc.ca/about/contact/sabre-cherkowski/

QUOTE:

“Social psychologists argue that who we are at any one time depends mostly on the context in which we find ourselves. But who creates the context? The more mindful we are, the more we can create the contexts we are in. When we create the context, we are more likely to be authentic. Mindfulness lets us see things in a new light and believe in the possibility of change.” - Ellen J. Langer

BIO:

Dr. Sabre Cherkowski is Professor and Director of Graduate Programs and Research in the Okanagan School of Education at the University of British Columbia. She teaches and researches in the areas of teacher wellbeing, educational leadership, professional learning and collaboration, and mentoring and coaching. She is currently engaged in a pan-Canadian research project examining flourishing in schools from a positive organizational perspective, and was recently awarded UBC Okanagan’s Researcher of the Year award. Sabre brings her experiences as a teacher, coach, and parent to her passion for exploring what it means to flourish in work and life.

For today's episode we have Kim Ondrik, who is currently the Head Learner and co-creator of Mill Bay Nature School, an innovative school of School District 79 (Cowichan Valley) where children are centered and the BC curriculum is perceived as joy-filled, imaginative, and provocative. Even though it is not labelled a “C” community school, this seems to be an incredibly community-minded school, how it collaboratively and democratically functions, who it involves in learning, how it values the community and knows what the community adds to a student’s school experience, and more. We talk to her about the model of Mill Bay Nature School, how the Hul’qumi’num’ People inspired their teachings, the benefits of consensus learning, and more in this deeply rich episode.


RESOURCES:

https://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws:23862

QUOTE:

"Partnerships with Indigenous locals in facilitating outdoor education experiences are an excellent way to invite community members into schools, their knowledge and practice in the outdoors being invaluable. In the Australian Indigenous Education Action Plan, (2010, p. 9), it says, “A sense of cultural identity, and the active recognition and validation of Indigenous cultures by schools, is critical to student wellbeing and success at school”. It is when all these factors combine that an Indigenous component to outdoor environmental learning is authentic. The inclusion of Indigenous perspectives is in fact vital to increase the knowledge of the wider population in Indigenous ways."

-[Place-based outdoor learning and environmental sustainability within Australian Primary Schools](https://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws:23862)


BIO:

Kim Ondrik is presently the head learner and co-creator of Mill Bay Nature School, an innovative school of School District 79 where children are centered and the B/C curriculum is perceived as joy-filled, imaginative, and provocative.. The school is in its fourth year and is inspired by the embodied ideas of the Hul’qumi’num’ People, Reggio Emilia, Dr. Gord Neufeld, and proponents of ‘risky play’ and processes of democracy and consensus.

Kim says: “Mill Bay Nature School takes collaboration seriously – wide awake of how dedicated teachers ‘scraping up against reality’ as they interrogate their assumptions and transform – in the service of young people, their families and the greater community – create enormous tension, calling forth great humility and holding the potential of one example of systemic transformation.”

Kim was the co-creator of three other innovative sites of learning and growth in British Columbia public education before her work in the Cowichan Valley. She previously spent time as a teacher in Vernon, and is a proud mom of 4 sons.

Today’s episode is going to give you so much information about what a community schools’ approach can look like and how it involves and benefits the students, families and community. We have a school principal joining us for Episode 6 of Season 3 to talk about how her path as a teacher has led her into this role; first as a student teacher, then a Learning Support teacher, Intermediate classroom teacher, and finally Head Teacher, before making her way to her current role: Principal of a community school in BC.

RESOURCES:
ACEbc placemat (https://acebc.ca/)

Season 2, Episode 4 with Abe Fernandez (https://www.communityroombc.com/past-episodes/s2-episode4-376rk)

Season 1, Episode 9 with Dave Rawnsley (https://www.communityroombc.com/past-episodes/s1-episode9)


QUOTE:

“One aspect of our fragmentation is the gaps between sectors of our cities and neighborhoods; businesses, schools, social service organizations, churches, government operate mostly in their own worlds. Each piece is working hard on its own purpose, but parallel effort added together does not make a community. Our communities are separated into silos; they are a collection of institutions and programs operating near one another but not overlapping or touching. This is important to understand because it is this dividedness that makes it so difficult to create a more positive or alternative future—especially in a culture that is much more interested in individuality and independence than in interdependence. The work is to overcome this fragmentation.”
― Peter Block, Community: The Structure of Belonging

BIO:

Jen Griffin has spent 20 of her 22-year career in community schools, first as a student teacher, then a Learning Support teacher, Intermediate classroom teacher, and finally Head Teacher, before making her way to her current role: Principal of a community school in BC. Having been in this role at the same school for the past 12 years, Jen has a unique perspective of the ebb and flow of a community over time. Jen will share her perspective on the critical relationships that must exist between parents, school and wider community partners, and how these relationships, developed through intentional gestures of connection, trust, care and positivity, are the cornerstone of any successful community school.

Welcome back to Community Room for Episode 5 of Season 3! Last episode we talked about community-minded schools and how fostering students’ deep engagement really comes down to caring and connecting with our students – to listening, to building trust and rapport with them, to giving them voice and choice and to meet them where they are,

Today's episode is called “Care & Connection as Touchstones: a CS Approach”, and we chat with two Community School Coordinators in Prince George, BC (Central BC): Stephanie Mills and Jacqui Adams. Our guests today are right in the throes of the action in their district’s community school model. One of the best things about Community Schools’ is that they are responsive to the community they serve. They all look different, as they should, because they are in different communities and neighbourhoods, and each of those have distinct needs and gifts. Both Stephanie and Jacqui talk about their unique challenges and how it differs from community schools like those in the Lower Mainland.

RESOURCES:

acebc.ca
communityschools.org

Dakelh Holistic Lifelong Learning Model - https://www.sd57indigenouseducation.com/_files/ugd/665f8e_2ac09c026aaf4a8f80f64d644fb2ab37.pdf

District Strategic Plan and Dakelh Holistic Lifelong Learning Model - https://www.sd57.bc.ca/StrategicDirection/SiteAssets/2021.06.22%20Strategic%20Plan%20Implementation%20Year%201%20and%202%20Approved%20Website.pdf


QUOTE:

"According to the Indiana School Social Work Association “The uniqueness of school social work lies in the ecological perspective in which the student is viewed within the context of the classroom, the family, the community and his/her culture”. Social workers believe that early intervention and prevention efforts are important within the school environment. Skilled in the areas of conflict resolution and crisis intervention social workers are able to collaborate with teachers and other school staff to intervene early and effectively to ensure that each student receives an equal opportunity to thrive academically and socially."


BIO:

Stephanie Mills is a Community School Coordinator in Central BC. Stephanie has a bachelor's degree with a major in Psychology and an Honours bachelor's degree of Social Work. She began her Community School Coordinator work with the school district at the elementary level before moving to a secondary school earlier this year. Stephanie believes that connectedness and positive engagement can have a significant impact on student outcomes. Through her work with children, youth, and families Stephanie endeavors to increase student engagement at school and support positive connections with both school and community.

Jacqui Adams works for the school district during the school year, and during summer break she works at the hospital covering holidays. She is married with two beautiful daughters Bailey almost 27 and Kaitlyn 18. She has lived on Vancouver Island, in the Okanagan, Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, and Northern Central BC. She has three dogs who she says are like 3 additional children.

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 4 of Community Room! Today we chat with Katy Bigsby and Daniel Duggan; two engaging speakers that sit down with us to talk about the programs that run off school time, what the important elements of out-of-school programming are, and we really dive into the magic of intentional care and connection in schools. There can be so much value in these programs, as our guests know first-hand, and they have so many benefits for the participants.

RESOURCES:

https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/handle/1828/11773 (Katy's Thesis)
https://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2013-54CaringAdults.pdf
https://youth.gov/youth-topics/components-positive-school-climate
www.reillearning.com

QUOTE:

“When your child has the skills to respond adaptively to demands and expectations, he does. If your child had the skills to handle disagreements and changes in plan and adults setting limits and demands being placed on him without falling apart, he’d be handling these challenges adaptively. Because he doesn’t have those skills, he isn’t. But let there be no doubt: he’d prefer to be handling those challenges adaptively because doing well is preferable. And because—and this is, without question, the most important theme of this entire book— kids do well if they can. ”
― Ross W. Greene, The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children

BIOS:

Daniel Duggan from Rhythm Resource is an expert percussionist with years of professional performing experience. He’s the author of handbooks and online training material for teachers, an experienced and sought after workshop facilitator and performer with a passion for building community. He seeks to empower every individual with their unique and bold creativity.

https://www.rhythm-resource.com/ (Daniel's company)

Katy Bigsby has been designing engaging learning opportunities and providing training support for community organizations, schools, and government partners for the past 25 years. She’s been a social worker, educator, and currently works as an educational consultant. She has a Master of Education in Leadership, specializing in adult education and community engagement from the University of Victoria.

Katy loves walking or biking on the Galloping Goose trail, spending time in her garden, reading, singing, and sitting by the fire in winter with family and friends or sipping a spritzy drink on her back deck in the summer. You can reach her at [email protected], or at her Instagram, REIL LEARNING: https://www.instagram.com/reil_learning/

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 4 of Community Room! Today we chat with Katy Bigsby and Daniel Duggan; two engaging speakers that sit down with us to talk about the programs that run off school time, what the important elements of out-of-school programming are, and we really dive into the magic of intentional care and connection in schools. There can be so much value in these programs, as our guests know first-hand, and they have so many benefits for the participants.


RESOURCES:

https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/handle/1828/11773 (Katy's Thesis)
https://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2013-54CaringAdults.pdf
https://youth.gov/youth-topics/components-positive-school-climate
www.reillearning.com

QUOTE:

“When your child has the skills to respond adaptively to demands and expectations, he does. If your child had the skills to handle disagreements and changes in plan and adults setting limits and demands being placed on him without falling apart, he’d be handling these challenges adaptively. Because he doesn’t have those skills, he isn’t. But let there be no doubt: he’d prefer to be handling those challenges adaptively because doing well is preferable. And because—and this is, without question, the most important theme of this entire book— kids do well if they can. ”
― Ross W. Greene, The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children

BIOS:

Daniel Duggan from Rhythm Resource is an expert percussionist with years of professional performing experience. He’s the author of handbooks and online training material for teachers, an experienced and sought after workshop facilitator and performer with a passion for building community. He seeks to empower every individual with their unique and bold creativity.

https://www.rhythm-resource.com/ (Daniel's company)

Katy Bigsby has been designing engaging learning opportunities and providing training support for community organizations, schools, and government partners for the past 25 years. She’s been a social worker, educator, and currently works as an educational consultant. She has a Master of Education in Leadership, specializing in adult education and community engagement from the University of Victoria.

Katy loves walking or biking on the Galloping Goose trail, spending time in her garden, reading, singing, and sitting by the fire in winter with family and friends or sipping a spritzy drink on her back deck in the summer. You can reach her at [email protected], or at her Instagram, Bigsby Consulting: https://www.instagram.com/bigsbyconsulting/

Welcome to Episode 3 of Season 3. Hope you’ve been enjoying listening so far! Many educators know that the climate in a school matters. The climate amongst the staff, amongst the students and between the school and community, matters. It matters because when our needs our met – when we feel safe and cared for, we can relax into, and focus on, learning. It matters because a positive environment in a school can also prevent negative behaviours, as well. This conversation about school climate, why it is so important to our students, and what we can do to enhance it, is so foundational to everything that happens in a school, including the success and learning, of the students! Today we chat with Suzanne Vardy, who currently works in a lower mainland school district helping to ensure schools are safe, welcoming places for children, youth and families.

RESOURCES:

https://casel.org/

https://heartmindonline.org/

https://www.prevnet.ca/

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/erase


QUOTE:

"To manage behaviour effectively, educators need to consider not just the behaviour itself – what the student is doing – but also the underlying cause(s) of the behaviour. If educators focus only on what the student is doing, and try to eliminate the behaviour, they may find that another inappropriate behaviour arises in its place, because the underlying need has not been met. It is important to remember that inappropriate behaviour is usually a response to something in the student’s environment and is an attempt to communicate a need, rather than being deliberately aggressive or purposefully negative."

- www.edu.gov.on.ca (Ontario School Board’s Caring and Safe Schools Policy)


BIO:

Suzanne has been working alongside individuals, families, and communities for over 30 years in a variety of settings including not-for-profit community agencies, an alternative measures program, school districts, and her clinical counselling private practice.

Currently, she works with a lower mainland school district helping to ensure schools are safe and welcoming places for children, youth, and families; in private practice, she supports children, youth, and families -- as well as individuals moving through transitions. She also works with City University teaching in the MEd in School Counselling program. Suzanne believes in strong and compassionate families, schools and communities that surround and support children and youth -- allowing them to thrive and become kind, caring and resilient people.

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 2 of Community Room! Our guests today are dedicated to growing and nurturing community-mindedness and elements of community schooling in their lower-mainland district. This is a relatively small district and we will talk about that and what that can mean for new initiatives in a district. We wanted to have these two folks here today, as we thought it would be an informative conversation about how some districts begin to plan for deepening these understandings, and making the impact of community school elements and this approach, more deeply felt.

RESOURCES:

nccs.org
acebc.ca

QUOTE:

“Children flourish when communities support their minds, bodies, hearts, and families. Thriving children strengthen their communities in a virtuous cycle.
Community schools are a long-term strategy for student success. They are a partnership of community members and leaders working together to ensure children are surrounded with support. All children and communities deserve community schools, designed around the innate strengths and needs of the community.” - From "Transformation" from nccs.org


"Start small and build gradually. You needn’t open a full-scale community school or launch a multi-school system from the outset. ... By building gradually toward a comprehensive program, the team’s leadership will be able to observe how well the partners work together and consider ways of resolving any issues that arise before growing the strategy. Also, this kind of gradual expansion allows trust to grow among partners at the site.
- From "Building Community Schools: A Guide for Action" from nccs.org


BIO:

Rick Bloudell is a Manager of Community Programs and Partnerships His portfolio includes Community Schools and Neighbourhood Learning Centres for his district, most recently opening and overseeing operations at brand new Welcome and Wellness Centres located at the secondary school. He previously spent over ten years working for a local municipality. Rick graduated from Simon Fraser University with a degree in business, specializing in Human Resources, as well as a certificate in Labour Studies.

Tanis Anderson started her career in education as an Education Assistant. From there she became a classroom teacher, teaching Grades K-4, where she taught in Community Schools and Community Minded Schools. From there, she became a Literacy Helping Teacher and shifted into a program Consultant Role in Literacy K-12. Last year she moved school districts to take on a new job, as District Vice Principal for Early Learning. Her portfolio includes supporting early learning and literacy, StrongStart, community programming, childcare and food security. Tanis received an undergraduate and Masters degree at Simon Fraser University.

We welcome you back to Season 3 of Community Room after an unexpected pause to Season 2. Today we have a really special episode where we will look into the effect of community schools, or community-minded schools on newcomers to the country. We will look at what role the school plays in someone’s settling into a new home!

RESOURCES:

https://kappanonline.org/stages-of-immigrant-parent-involvement-survivors-to-leaders/

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/18/04/partnering-newcomer-families

QUOTE:

"...Educators should keep a positive outlook on families. “If you start out with a mindset that there’s going to be some sort of problem or challenge, or you view cultural diversity as a deficit versus an asset, then that will shape the way you approach families,” says Mapp. Teachers can ask how families support their children's learning at home, which can show families that teachers value their role. In surveys, phone calls, or conferences, they can even inquire about families’ cultural backgrounds: 'What are some of your wonderful cultural traditions that we should be celebrating or paying attention? Is there anything else that we should be aware of — holidays you don’t celebrate? We want to make sure we honor and value you." - Leah Shafer, Harvard Graduate School of Education

BIO:

Rajeeta Samala is: Positive. Empathetic. Hopeful. Most people that know her often shower her with these attributes. She is an adult educator that’s been working in the field of literacy & EAL for the past 10 years. She is also a certified Mindfulness Instructor and offers workshops for community members. Some of her interests include cooking, knitting, gardening, puzzles, reading as well as yoga. She enjoys being active in the community and doing her part to bring people together.

Branka Vlasic is currently a Community Development Coordinator for a Neighbourhood House in the lower mainland of BC. She says her time at the elementary Community School her children attended when she first arrived in the country, was an invaluable part of her life, of her sense of belonging, of finding a new home for herself and her kids, and of growing up as a parent and a person. Branka also says she is a good neighbour and a Salish Sea lover.

Hi everyone! Welcome back to Episode 9 of Season 2 of Community Room! Today we talk about the importance of parent involvement and how their engagement can directly affect a kid's success in school. We talk with Bill Brassington, a Trustee and Vice-Chair of a Board of Education. We talk about his experiences in community schools, what he's seen with engaged parents and more!

RESOURCES:

https://www.edutopia.org/home-school-team

https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/protective/factsheets/parentengagement_parents.htm

https://scholar.google.ca/scholar_url?url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ronel-Sapungan/publication/283539737_Parental_Involvement_in_Child%27s_Education_Importance_Barriers_and_Benefits/links/563dc34608ae8d65c01281ac/Parental-Involvement-in-Childs-Education-Importance-Barriers-and-Benefits.pdf&hl=en&sa=X&ei=we-DYZ_aA4G5ygSG0LuAAg&scisig=AAGBfm2dGIDr1fUJL0gweAZThNod4h9GOg&oi=scholarr

QUOTE:

"Despite current ads and slogans, the world doesn't change one person at a time. It changes when networks of relationships form among people who share a common cause and vision of what's possible. This is good news for those of us intent on creating a positive future. Rather than worry about critical mass, our work is to foster critical connections. We don't need to convince large numbers of people to change; instead, we need to connect with kindred spirits. Through these relationships, we will develop the new knowledge, practices, courage and commitment that lead to broad-based change." - Margaret J. Wheatley


BIO:

Bill is a proud parent of two multi-racial teenagers, he is a Vice President of Sales for LGM Financial and he is a Trustee and Vice-Chair of a Lower Mainland Board of Education. Bill has been a volunteer in his community for over 30 years supporting city committees, youth sports, community groups and his children’s schools. It was during the time his son and daughter attended their neighbourhood Community School, that Bill’s volunteerism focused on education. He became involved in the school Parent and Community Council and became Chair of that, as well as a representative on district Parent Councils. His work as a Trustee has given Bill the ability to continue to be involved in the lives of his children, that of his community and the schools that take students and develop them into our next generation of community builders.