Inquiry Blog Post #2

The Crafty Time Thief

As a mom of two little ones under 4, a part-time grade 2/3 teacher, and most recently a UBC student, any spare time that I once possessed has now vanished into this air. I constantly ask myself (and my friends), “What did I used to do with all of that spare time? Why haven’t I learned another language? Why can’t I play the guitar?” If only I could go back in time, I’d have done all those things and more…maybe. Back in that time of spare time abundance, I spent a lot of time reading professional books and attending professional development opportunities.

Since having kids I’ve had to become wily in my quest for professional development, I’ve had to become crafty in my means of acquiring moments here and there. This reminds me of something Donalyn Miller said in her novel The Book Whisperer, “readers steal time to read, they are time stealers” (I obviously read this book prior to having kids when I had all that spare time!).

I now understand what she meant by this on a different level, I must steal time to read, and I do just that. When I’ve successfully acquired time and can develop my teaching skills, here are some of my top picks:

• I listen to any podcast I can find that hosts Jody Carrington or Shelley Moore.

• I recently listened to Jody Carrington’s book Kids These Days on audiobook while painting a dresser in the evenings because my children were sleeping. I strongly recommend this book to all parents and educators.

• Shelley Moore’s 5 Moore Minutes are quick videos that are packed with information for teachers around UDL and inclusion. https://fivemooreminutes.com/inclusion-library/.

• I make a conscious effort not to use my cell phone around my little ones (other than to make phone calls). I don’t want a screen to steal my time from them. I have held out from creating a Twitter account since its inception. Since creating one for this class, I have enjoyed following significant people in education, most recently Wab Kinew https://twitter.com/WabKinew. He is an Indigenous Canadian politician and often gives keynote speeches at professional development opportunities for teachers. I look forward to commandeering time from my day (when the kids are sleeping) to explore more of what Twitter has to offer for my professional development.

I look to this coming school year with a heart full of hope. Hope that there will be more opportunities to collaborate with staff members and other district staff. Hope that we will be able to meet with colleagues more often during the school day and after the school day. This year I felt very isolated from staff and really missed the informal professional conversations that typically happen before and after school with my colleagues. Although the professional development opportunities that happened on Teams were meaningful, I look forward to attending professional development opportunities in person with my district colleagues.

Works Cited

Carrington, Jody. (2020). Kids these days: A game plan for (re)connecting with those we teach, lead, and love. IMPress.

Kinew, Wab [@WabKinew]. (n.d.). Tweets. [Twitter Profile]. Retrieved July 22, 2021, from https://twitter.com/WabKinew.

Miller, Donalyn. (2009). The book whisperer. Jossey-Bass.

Moore, Shelley. (2021, July 22). 5 Moore minutes! With Shelley Moore. 5 MM library. https://fivemooreminutes.com/inclusion-library/.