Author: Cori Saas (page 9)

Time To Listen

I am an educator. Though I am careful about the details of the stories I share, I share my truth. I share my story. Why? Because I ask the same of my kids. Because sometimes the kids in my world need me to share first. And sometimes, I need them to lead. Last week, one of my grade ten students… (read more)

How Do I Get That Job?

Last week I attended the seventeenth annual National Congress on Rural Education. My role at the conference was as teacher advisor to a team of nine high school ejournalism students from Prairie South Schools. The students were successful; this means I was responsible for frequently refilling my coffee cup. I sat in on the keynote speakers and the entertainment following… (read more)

For My Kids

I met a wonderful teacher Thursday at the SELU meeting. When the morning group broke off into three focus groups, the teacher group began by sharing stories. Not ten minutes into the guided discussion, one of the teachers from the south, an ELA teacher, leaned over and mouthed, “We need to talk!” And later we did. Together, we made our… (read more)

The Importance of Sharing Our Stories

Our stories have great value. I believe if I connect only as voyeur in someone’s life, it is really my stories I fail to hear. Connecting with kids not only changes their lives, it changes mine. ~ December 20, 2011 – The views to my blog soared. That day my blog received its second highest total number of views since… (read more)

Best Gift

On December 23 my daughter and I were downtown, getting coffee. I shared a story of when I attended the University of British Columbia. My daughter was surprised to learn I had attended UBC. I was certain she knew the story, that she had always known the story in the same way the important people in my world know my… (read more)

Language Learning: Fall SLC

My grades 9/12 ELA classes have just finished student-led conferences. For the most part, during the conferences, I am a silent note-taker sitting at a different table. This fall conference marks the beginning of the second year with this group of kids, and the growth that I see in the ability of my kids to conference compared to last year… (read more)

Out of Tune

A bunch of stuff was out of tune Thursday. During the Remembrance Day service the kindergartens, grade 1 and grade 2 shared. They shared K’Naan’s Wavin Flag. If you haven’t listened to it, do. The kids rocked it. I mean really, really rocked it. My senior kids have begun to study performance poetry. Some of my grade 11/12 have been… (read more)

Spirit of Gratitude

It has been a stressful three weeks. I have been worried about my students, and let’s face it, I have been angry with them too. And almost everyone in our learning space has felt it. There have been moments when I have been inclined to punish my students by yanking their privileges. That would have been easy and spiteful and… (read more)

A Little Rattled

I have been eye-ball deep in a new term for almost four weeks now and what I have come to know is that my best teaching days have nothing to do with curriculum. My best days are the ones when I’m tough, filled with loving my kids so fiercely that nothing slips by, so filled that we all go home… (read more)

Summer in Ten

The girl on the right has been a Rider season ticket holder a year longer than she’s been alive. There’s nothing like the first night game. The chill night settling onto the stadium, the hope the team will pull out the infamous 400 points in the final 3 minutes. It’s Rider football baby! We don’t leave to beat traffic. We… (read more)
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