Tag: hope

For Home

Last year, Jessy Lee, Alan, and I spent Christmas at the cabin. We were there for Christmas Eve, Jessy Lee setting out cookies for Santa, watching Jess open her stocking, sharing a turkey dinner with Mom and Dad, and leaving early on the morning of December 26th. We returned to the calm of our home,  and that holiday later met… (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)

Keeping Talking

~ My school division recently launched a locally developed course, Mental Health Studies 20L. This course is designed specifically to meet the needs of learners’ in our division. The course addresses positive mental health, common mental health challenges, understanding stigma in relation to mental illness, and mental health and addictions. Teachers are nudged to take up the task of offering… (read more)

i believe

believe in…. Trust and time. And listening. And relationships. And belonging. And sharing stories with students. Their stories. My stories. And listening to their stories no matter what. The cat stories, the lunch stories, the stories of suicide. Staying late. Arriving early. Showing up. Saying ‘I love you’ and ‘I am proud of you’ and meaning it. Reading aloud to… (read more)

An Earned Prize

When I graduated from high school in that section in the yearbook where graduates share their future dreams, I wrote that I hoped to someday win the Nobel Prize for Literature. My dream to change the world through story. I published a bit of poetry, wrote my thesis as a narrative, dabbled in prose, but I know deep in my… (read more)

Red Shoes Series: fine fit

~ for Alan Del said When I figured things Out, I could buy red Shoes. I have a pair of nearly pink Flats. I bought them Years ago. They pinch My feet. I found red runners that I wore When I sat my ethics Review. The runners are candy Apple red, New, and they have no Grip on my soul.… (read more)

Unrelenting Light

I am thinking about love and trauma and time and trust. I am thinking about love. March 27th, 2014. It is almost four years since Dad’s stroke. I stumbled across a photo of me and dad from a year ago. A year ago. Mom and Dad and I had adventured to Danielson Provincial Park. It was warm and sunny. Spring.… (read more)

Language of Hope

A few days ago while scrolling through a social media site, I noticed that a student I teach had posted a photo with, what I consider to be, an offensive word. It is not uncommon for me to connect with students on some social networking sites. I am as selective about who I connect with as I hope and try… (read more)
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