I work with amazing educators. Everyday I am challenged and inspired by the work we do and the conversations in which we engage. Day after day impromptu professional dialogue occurs – in hallways, emails, via text, in staff rooms, offices, the library – almost anywhere. These are not official meetings or scheduled workshops but rather […]
Category: Inquiry
Finding Community in Making
Recent events throughout the world and my own social justice journey/learning have brought me to tears repeatedly over the past couple of weeks. I rarely lose my optimistic demeanour but, I wonder frequently how to face the challenges and horrific truths that impact our society right now. Without adding a layer of frivolity to the very […]
Moving Beyond Literature Circles
When I first moved up to teach middle school many years ago the conversation shifted from the importance of guided reading instruction to the value of literature circles. These kid-friendly versions of book clubs were all the rage and teacher guides began popping up everywhere. Moving beyond the standard novel study (the whole class reading […]
A Few Magical Days
A few weeks ago I posted about our school’s plan to inspire a “maker” culture with our staff and students. The addition of makerspaces to public libraries and school library learning commons is spreading rapidly throughout the library community. Yet I struggled with excitement and doubt. My excitement seemed obvious – the chance to […]
Rethinking the “Maker” in Makerspace
Recently, I wrote about the very early stages of adding the makerspace movement to our new school and library learning commons space. Our next step was to meet with interested staff and have a collaborative discussion about the whole concept. Luckily, some wonderful colleagues came out and we had an enthusiastic and reflective conversation. We […]
The Third Teacher – A Reflection on Space and SO much more
I have been reading The Third Teacher and I am only about half way through. But I just cannot resist writing about it even prior to completing it. The text is not new (2010) but it has so many ideas to offer and reflect upon. As a new school, we have the perfect chance […]
For the Love of School…
Day 4 I want my students to love school. I loved school. I still love school. I was the kid who liked writing essays. I often read the entire summer reading list for high school English courses in the actual summer. I loved singing and performing in music class, choirs and musicals. I was not […]
Going Back to the Research
Day 2 Over the years I have worked hard to stand up for issues of equity and social justice in education. I have also worked (alongside my husband) to raise our 4 daughters to stand up for themselves and others and to be loving and inclusive of all people. This week I am putting some finishing […]
Understanding the “Magic” in Inquiry
So for a wide variety of personal and professional reasons I have been absent from my blog. The great gift of this absence was how much I missed it. And that I discovered that what I really missed was the act of writing itself – the thinking, articulating, editing and rethinking of my own ideas, experiences […]