learning – coyote chalk

Weighing Somedays

Awhile back I had the chance to get to know Chris. He came to work alongside me in the afternoons of his grade nine year. It was spring. He had, bluntly, told his Physical Education teacher what he thought of him and his teaching. We finished things up through my program, working on more than PE outcomes. I remember that… (read more)

Knowing Along the Way

My heart learned much this year. Mid January last year Alan returned once again to Saskatchewan. Some time during that January, that time of -25 plus the wind chill, exploring back alleys, walking the shoreline of Old Wives Lake, we knew. Cold be damned. Home was together. Sometime during the slow hours of this past December break, on holiday at… (read more)

Making the Causes Visible

At the provincial grad symposium today, my Director of Education stated, what I believe, the most authentic bit he’s shared since taking the job. He reflected that perhaps (and I’m paraphrasing here) it isn’t graduation rates educators need to be focused on improving. He wondered if graduation rates were perhaps a symptom of a bigger problem. Perhaps our work as… (read more)

Grateful for Our Circle

Our school year began on a Tuesday. We had four days together that first week, students and me. Four days. I am a Grad Coach this year. I have my own program and many new faces alongside me everyday. The structure and design of our classes and days is different than my previous years in my school and in an… (read more)

A Student Support Teacher’s Pause

“Cori you teach my brother.” Zack sat back in the Adirondack chair, his feet swinging, too small to touch ground. I paused. I actually felt the pause of sifting through data to find the correct answer. Am I his brother’s “teacher?” Your brother is Josh. Josh is in grade ten. I work with Josh as his Student Support teacher (SST)….… (read more)

Curiosity

Day Two I’ve been attending ACAD’s summer institute. I think I am beginning to understand something about the ways I learn and the ways that I want to learn. I am beginning to learn about what drives my curiosity to learn. My art mentor, Alison, retired this past June. Alison is a phenomenal woman, artist and educator. I met Alison… (read more)

In the Beginning

Day one. I am spending a week in Calgary attending ACAD’s summer institute, offering educators 24 different two full day sessions. We participate in six hours of studio sessions each day. I spent today slipping into the comfortable space with line & shadow, the space where I am safe, the space where I enter through sketch(book). I like storying this… (read more)

My Path

Dear Team, Today was the first time I have felt this undervalued as a teacher. And the truth, that’s not the case. It is just the case today. I was trained in the middle years program. This is a program with a focus on kids and curricula grades 6 to 9. Though the province lumps us in with the elementary… (read more)

The Gifts of Her Space

The best part of my world is being able to share this space with Jessy Lee, my daughter. She amazes me. She is my best support and my loudest advocate. She is almost 16 years old, an avid reader and a published author. These last few months I’ve watched her craft her first novelette. Okay, not her first long text,… (read more)

Where I’ve Been

These days, every time I begin a post I end up saving it to my drafts. Why? Cause I’m tap-dancing. There’s really no other way to say it. I wish I wasn’t but it’s the truth. How am I supposed to be transparent? When it comes down to it, what I am as a teacher is the three descriptives I… (read more)