Last week, I had my own mini-adult temper tantrum. It was the end of the day on Thursday, and as part of our current phase of Work-To-Rule, we all need to be out of the building in 15 minutes. Like others, my teaching partner, Paula, and I are working through these...
I didn’t grow up celebrating Christmas. As many of my friends and classmates prepared for the holidays with a Christmas tree and stories of Santa Claus, I lit the candles on the menorah. Sometimes Hanukkah overlapped with Christmas. Sometimes it didn’t. I remember...
Friday. My teaching partner was away for an appointment, and I had duty and period 5 prep. We also wanted to have students help us switch around our building space and begin to create a school in our dramatic play space. In order to get everything done and the...
As many people know, I’m a strong advocate for play-based learning. Real, authentic, student-driven and led play. Free play. I’ve called this play many things over the years, including “free exploration time” and “work time” — for play is a child’s work — but this...
This is my 19th year of teaching. I’ve taught at 8 schools in our Board, and worked with hundreds of students. But sometimes, no matter what previous experiences you may have had, a child’s comment stops you. It makes you think differently. This is one of those...
As we go back into the classroom this week to get ready for school, I’m doing some thinking around a phrase that I hear quite frequently in educational circles: the need to “prepare children” for the next grade. Recently, I started to look at this...
Recently, I shared my Self-Reg journey on The MEHRIT Centre Website. As I mentioned in my profile here, I now find myself seeing everything through a Self-Reg lens. I was reminded of this recently, as I worked with the other Summer Curriculum and Site Support teacher...
Yesterday started as my day often does, beginning to get materials organized for the week and setting up the classroom space prior to the start of Before Care. Soon after I started though, I noticed that some of our butterflies emerged. On Friday, we had two...
I recently read John Hoffman‘s wonderful blog post about Thoughts On Parenting While Angry. I was really taken by this post, as I realized that it’s not just parents that have these moments. Educators can also have them. I remember one of these moments for me last...
As a child, I loved worms. I remember collecting them off my driveway after a good rain, and digging for them in the mud at other times during the year. There was something so wonderful about holding that wiggling worm on your hand and watching it transform into...
One of my favourite things to do on the weekend is to go out for brunch, especially with family members or friends. It often becomes the perfect time to connect with people. After my subitizing learning focus over a year ago now, brunch outings also offer new...
The more that you learn about Self-Reg, the more that it seems to govern your views of everything in your life. Sometimes I’m sure that Stuart Shanker‘s questions of, “Why?” and “Why now?” never leave my head. And yet, no matter how much we’ve learned about Self-Reg,...
Usually when I contribute a post to The MEHRIT Centre blog, I do so as a way to share reflections, celebrate a success, and discuss some possible next steps. My posts are always about what I know to be true. This doesn’t mean that I don’t make mistakes along the way,...
It’s the start of cold and flu season in Ontario. I often joked that I was “immune to getting sick,” having spent so many years around kids and germs, but this year, it got me. I’ve been balancing more than usual this year between teaching, my work at The MEHRIT...
I am currently enrolled in a Teacher Leadership course through our Board. This is the second face-to-face course that I’ve taken, and in both cases, I’ve struggled with the same thing: those initial social interactions. If I know you, I’m very social, but I struggle...
My teaching partner, Paula, and I have been spending a lot of time in the past few weeks observing how our students use the classroom. Sometimes we just stand back and observe the room, and other times, we record a quick tour of the classroom to capture a moment in...
While school didn’t start for students until today, educators across Ontario have been back in classrooms since on August 27th to get ready. I was lucky enough to meet up with my teaching partner, Paula, at a professional development opportunity a couple weeks ago,...
Today I went for a pedicure. I love pedicures! There’s something so wonderful about getting your feet massaged, feeling the warm water on your toes, and then leaving with a beautiful new nail colour. When my mom asked me if I wanted to join her for a morning nail...