Author: Cori Saas (page 11)

When I Pause

A week ago I attended a silent retreat. The weekend marked 10 years of winter-silent-retreating. The first few years I brought my camera, my book, my sketchbook, my journal and, sometimes, my lap-top.  Today, these 48 hours of silence have become some of the best connected moments of my year, the connections becoming sacred spaces. Today, I listen. “We can’t… (read more)

And You Want to Teach What?

Yesterday while composing, editing and posting my previous blog post, I zipped off an email.  I was so excited about the idea of teaching an advanced English course, my head was spinning.  Today while post-conferencing, my wonderful administrator smiled sideways at me and asked if I had noticed the slip in my email.  No?  With a forged late slip in… (read more)

Best Prep Ever

“I’m so Tweeting this.” That was Andrew, one of my wonderful 11/12 students during a CW reading. I’d just freaked them out. We were writing farcical essays.  Monday, instead of actually working during my prep, I played. My kind of play. I sang, I drank coffee and then, with a wallop of delusional fur ball mouthing, I wrote.  It was… (read more)

The Changes to Come

Written January 1, 2011 ~ I’m at a New Years Eve party. It’s a little past midnight, which means it is now 2011. All I can do is think about that for which I am truly thankful. Thoughts of gratitude are common this time of year, but for me, right now, I’m thinking about my students, all of them; it’s… (read more)

So Good – Being Together

In mid-December I chatted with a few colleagues, my Prairie Land Peeps, in an on-line space. We chatted about what we’d been up to in our classes. Mostly we reflected about just finishing up student-lead conferences.  After the on-line meeting, I received an email from my colleague, Toni, “I want to steal your idea that you did with the student… (read more)

In the Process

Ok.  I’m on draft #4 of the coolest blog.  But I can’t publish ’cause I’m wrapped up in my own excitement, and now the blog looks more like swirls of wire than what it is, an AHa moment.  Where is the message?  I’ve emailed my draft to my mother, for goodness sake.  And she sent it back with footnotes.  Arg. … (read more)

The Terror of Publish

I’m surrounded by people who love to blog. Ok. I’m surrounded by people who blog effortlessly. I have trouble relating to the skill of effortless blogging. However, I do love to journal. Yup, paper and pen, every, every night since I was twelve. Yup, turning twelve, now that was a big year – new school, three inches, two cup sizes,… (read more)

Poster-ing

Prints.  Or You, Me and Codie’s Wrapped Truck. Yesterday, I was reading a post in the Canadian PLP forum.  There’s been loads of discussion around students creating/understanding their digital footprints.  Well, that got my wheels turning.   About eight weeks ago in Visual Art, while my students were discovering installation art, as well as looking at how place effects both how… (read more)

Connecting Lines

Yesterday, in the ever recurring desire to be out-of-doors, my friend and I hiked the Frenchman River Valley.  As the sun set and as I shuffled my feet through tall grass, I lamented about the “homework” waiting for me in preparation for the up-coming PLP days.  Mostly, I lamented about time-way from my students.  My friend suggested, “think of it… (read more)

Musing over Magic

Maybe it’s pure folktale that says we think of our photos during a fire.  But a few weeks ago, they did not cross my mind.  Neither did every single print resource or the rows of books and fully developed unit plans perfectly shelved into subject areas.  Nor did I consider this lovely laptop and it’s digital copies of those resources,… (read more)
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