The word “anxiety” has been thrown around a lot over the last few months. Anxiety is a state of fear or apprehension about what is to come. It is the body’s response to stressful situations. For many, anxiety is high because of the pandemic alone. Not withstanding the changes in normalcy it has brought. One …
The much-awaited and long needed downpour just broke through heavy clouds, and I am staring out the window at the forming puddles, thinking about school. One week from today and we will return to a building we have not met or gathered in as a staff or school community since March 13. March 13th. The …
Hello Friends, Over the past days, which now total near weeks (a week and a half, plus one weekend, to be exact), we have not been together. This has been hard. Really hard. And over these days and weeks, your teachers, and educational assistants, and custodial staff, and bus drivers, and resource teachers and support, …
Walking down the hallway, I turn quickly into the school office, with the plan to retrieve a document that moments earlier I had sent to the photocopier from my computer. As I make the sharp turn to the right, scooting in around the corner, I become witness to a small huddle formed around a very …
The old elm went deep, stretching twisted sinews ever downward, down through loamy, dark soil. Ever further, always searching. Seeking until finding that which was desired. Penetrating layer upon layer of sandy, coarse matter until the wooden talons finally obtained their probable rest. Reaching over and out toward the far reaches of the property line, …
I am not much for New Year’s Resolutions, as would be 2/3 of Canadians. Go figure. It appears I am in good company. However, two specific people, friends of mine, have unknowingly inspired me to write. That is, to write again. Without making much ado about this, shoving fanfare to the side (for if I …
The one thing students really need on any given day may not actually be contained in the words written down on paper — those goals for the day typed out on a lesson plan or scrawled out on paper. No, it might not be the planned numeracy lesson or literacy centre that meets them where …
“It’s too hard,” he says looking at me with big brown eyes. Shoulders already slumped in defeat. I assure him he can do this, but I do know that in his mind: the task before him appears beyond reach. Outside the limits of capability. Like climbing a treacherous mountain. It’s monumental, this undertaking. And certainly …
I happened to come across the now-viral video clip of a little boy being asked if he would miss his mom on the first day of school. A question to which he promptly exhibits visibly with quick tears that ‘yes,’ indeed—he will. The shot shows him running into the safe arms of his mother, with …
Teachers have powerful stories to share. There are stories of triumphs and stories of failures—stories of everyday authenticity lived out within the trenches. There are stories of heroism, stories of realism. Stories of hope and inspiration. Stories that have been shared with many and stories that have been shared with one. These stories might not …
“The real heroes anyway aren’t the people doing things; the real heroes are the people NOTICING things, paying attention. The guy who invented the smallpox vaccine didn’t actually invent anything. He just noticed that people with cowpox didn’t get smallpox.” — Augustus Waters, in John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars We are almost there. …
Being a Mom has rewarded me in so many ways, particularly in my understanding of things concerning parent-teacher relationships and student-teacher relationships within in a school system. Disclaimer from the get-go: I realize that one does not have to become a parent so as to teach well and make a difference. I would never want …
