Category Archives: Thoughts and Reflections

Strength It is funny how strength fluxuates Some days I feel like I can move mountains Other days a step feels Impossible In my gym I have the words of Rudy Francisco on the walls “Remember, you are still here” I think about the weights I lift everyday adding a bit more each time TheContinue reading “Day ONE-30 Days 30 Poems”

I often start my blog posts with a title in mind. Today I am just going to type and like I say to my students, “perhaps a title will come.” A few years ago I was a basketball coach, I use that term loosely because really I was just the hype guy because I knewContinue reading “Thanks Pandas and Zeniths”

Every day I sit and consider the work I ask my students to complete. WHat tasks we will be exploring. I think about how I am honoring their time. This last week we started a new semester. We did some quick writing tasks. I made sure to take the time to share. I find weContinue reading “Give them time”

As we entered the school year there was so much talk of “learning loss”. This idea that the interruptions of covid have done mountains of damage to our students has been peddled by many. Have there been interruptions? Absolutely. Have those interruptions led to some wide-scale loss? That has not been my experience. Have kidsContinue reading “Let them shine”

Jess Lifshitz, a phenomenal educator, extended an invitation to bring a poem with us into 2022. In the past, I have had resolutions and then shifted to goals and then dreams and then plans and then and then and then. I loved the idea of a poem guiding my thinking heading into the new year.Continue reading “Lift your chin-call it exercise”

I got to spend some time with teachers talking teaching and books last week. I think it is my favorite thing to do outside of working alongside students in the classroom. We talked about ways to help students expand their reflections on texts, and how using these strategies can help students develop into deeper thinkersContinue reading “Taking a dive”

I was originally going to title this post I believe in Dr. Gholdy Muhammad, but it is an assignment for University and I was not certain that my Professor would think it fit the assignment. We were asked to follow the model of the “This I believe” essay from NPR to express a belief statementContinue reading “This I believe”

A few weeks ago I shared that we had started our Book Club rotation for this semester. I would love to do multiple rounds but I make sure we get in at least one round of book clubs. Book Clubs in Room 157 are not a labor-intensive task. Really, when we boil it right downContinue reading “Book Clubs in Room 157 (updated with NCTE slides)”

I started this school year promising to do things differently than in the past. I am teaching English 30-1 which is the Alberta equivalent of Senior English, I guess. In the past, this course has been primarily test-focused; students spent most of the time learning to take a high-stakes test at the end of theContinue reading “Gatekeeping Greatness”

I spend a lot of time dreaming of changes in education. The more and more those dreams start to slip away I wonder how long I will continue with this work. Teaching is really hard; It has become harder because of the pandemic and the related fall-out. When Covid started, I thought maybe there wasContinue reading “Learning Alongside Them”