Educator · Author · Speaker · Innovator
The last period of almost every day ends the same in our classroom. We have a snack, tidy up, pack up, and gather on the carpet to read a story together. It’s the same scene every afternoon – a dozen or so kids are on the carpet waiting patiently at the rocking chair, a few […]
When you Google Digital Citizenship, the results are endless. The number of sites and resources dedicated to what it means to be responsible online are plenty. Two of my favourites happen to be ISTE’s Standards for Students and Common Sense Education. These sites, among many others, offer a wealth of information on creating your […]
Twelve years ago, a phone call was transferred through to my classroom. On December 9th, 2009, standing in front my very young students, I learned of my dad’s unexpected passing. No one knew that was what the phone call was going to be. And no one really knew what to […]
When we meet young learners for the first time, there are key questions we have. Can they recognize letters and numbers? Can they count? Can they spell their name? We also want to know if they can communicate with peers and if they can express themselves in age-appropriate ways. There […]
In May of 2019 a simple (and life altering) exchange through DMs led to the writing of my first children’s book. Gracie was officially published on December 12th of that same year. I remember during the entire process, having these ideas about what it was like to be an author of […]
Grace Hopper once said, “Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, “We’ve always done it this way.’” So many, too many, educators love this phrase. We often claim to continue with outdated practices because it’s what we’ve always known to work. But are these practices effective? Are we […]
We were in the middle of a hike yesterday afternoon when one of the little boys on the trail, out of nowhere, screamed a very high-pitched scream. Upon further investigation, he wasn’t hurt, he’d merely seen a bug, was frightened, then screamed. The very next response from his father, upon […]
On May 2, 2019 I sat in a packed auditorium at the Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I was sitting in the third row of Catherine Zeisner’s keynote, Class of 2030. She took to the stage armed with stories from her personal life, her life at school and […]
This past September, coding became a part of our ministry mandated curriculum for grades one through eight. What I assumed would be a logical continuation of my already established coding program, this year has led me to some pretty big realizations and learning for a variety of reasons. For starters, […]
The holidays. Ah, the holidays. Shopping lists. To do lists. Not enough time in the day. Not enough days in the week. Then there’s the other part. The sleeping in, the wearing pjs for two weeks, the not knowing what day it is, the too much coffee and no alarm clocks […]
