Every school has a population of students who are incredibly complex. Complex can mean violence, they run, they hide under their desk screaming and crying, they are not learning in the classroom environment and are also doing their best to avoid learning as their brains are simply too busy with other pieces. These students require… Read More Complex
A guy walks into a bar… he is handsome, middle age, seemingly bright and well respected with an engaging smile. He compliments everyone around him. He liked my dress and told me I seemed like a smart lady when we were in conversation. He asked what I did and why I do it. A lovely… Read More A Guy Walks into a Bar
The nature of my job has me working with many different people in the Eastern part of the province. I am incredibly privileged to do the work I am able to do. The job, right now, has parameters placed on it that are a result of a government in transition and therefore the #sitbeside has… Read More Routes to Roots
Andrea sent me an article last year, it was 17 pages long on the constructivist theory of learning. We simply cannot do it alone. The article was looooooong but it made me think about every student, every teacher, every classroom and every table I had the privilege of sitting around – listening and learning and… Read More Track Pants
I feel terrible that my husband is making a pile of long weekend plans with friends and at local events. In these last days of summer, I need quiet. I need to think and organize and stay at home on my deck and in my kitchen because this will boost my energy. I will gain… Read More Push and Pull
This week we write 2 stories to see what it’s like to bump them up against each other. The first is by Andrea and the second is Kelly’s. If your story interrupts your reading, please write and share in the comments. My dad and step-mother Pat came to visit when our first-born was still a… Read More Fortune, Glory and Follows
Andrea and I have been talking and thinking about “taking something to scale.” We thought about some incredible stories of educators and teachers learning from teachers. I started the narrative as I always do and I kept drifting away to this story. I couldn’t let it go and found blog 17 butting in front of… Read More Scaling Beta
You must know your own story… I was 6 when I decided to become a teacher. I had a class, and chalk and stuffed animals in the basement. I played school endlessly. I may have drifted back and forth deciding on this path and that path but my mother and my father were not surprised… Read More Story Yourself
Andrea and I cannot stop thinking about the question, “why should we learn?” This question comes on the heels of many many articles on engagement that whip by on my twitter feed on any given day and because I know many many educators who turn themselves inside out trying to connect with their students and… Read More Backseat Learning
My daughter has been in school for 20 years. She turns 24 in July. She will be off the dole this month for the first time in her life. I remember her first day of school; raincoat, rubber boots and a Spice Girls’ lunch box. What I did not know was that her teacher for… Read More Feels Like Home
The Beast 