Twenty-four years ago, I was starting my teaching career in a Grade 5 class. After the second month of school, my class was feeling pretty comfortable with me. There was a growing concern on my part about the note passing that was taking place. You remember the notes that were passed between students: “What are [...]
Just before Christmas, I wandered around the middle school campus, observing students and teachers. It’s one of my favourite things to do during the day--so cool to be a witness to learning! I was struck by how incredibly busy our halls are, reinforcing for me the fact that our hallways really are extensions of our [...]
I was taking a first year Canadian history course and my professor asked the question,“Why do you think there was a law in Lower Canada that prohibited the cutting down of oak trees?” I thought to myself, “Oh, I know this one!” A little background is needed here. I was almost finished my degree, but [...]
Have you ever noticed that you need others in order to make it through adventures and ordeals? Case in point, tubing on Lake Okanagan. Our school board chair, Rick Thiessen and his wife Karen (who is also our school’s transportation coordinator) invited my family to spend an afternoon boating with them. The Thiessen’s have a [...]
Our Middle School just wrapped up our production of The Sound of Music. There were many amazing memories from the performances (like the reaction of the Grade 4, 5 and 8 students to the scene where Rolf kisses Liesel’s hand), but most of the really memorable moments occurred long before all the rehearsals happened. This [...]
Have you ever noticed how many acronyms we use? I mean, my kids are so adept at using all the texting short-hand and it has in many ways, become second nature to use the abbreviated form for so many things. We all know the basics (lol, btw, r, ru.…).I have tried to make up my [...]
What do you remember from when you were in grade 6? If you are over 25 years of age, it probably isn’t too much in terms of the lessons and details of that year of your life. The things that we do tend to remember are the events and people that deeply impacted who we [...]
The following text conversation took place a few weeks back between my daughter, Carissa, and me. Carissa is in her second year studying at Providence Christian College in Pasadena, California. I received the first text message just before 9:00 a.m. on a Monday morning.CARISSA: can i buy a dress on your credit card? you can [...]
175 kilometers. Almost all uphill.My son, Justin, and I had spent two days bicycling from Princeton, up to the Coquihalla Summit. For the most part, the trail was washboard gravel that rose steadily upwards. Then there was the 25 kilometers that strayed onto a gas pipeline. 25 kilometers of pushing our bikes up steep hills [...]
During one of our recent middle school chapels, I asked all of our students who had been involved in any of our athletic teams to stand up. I started with cross-country, then volleyball and basketball, followed by grade 7 and 8 badminton, track and field, secondary soccer teams and golf team. In the end, we [...]
