My aim as an educator is to provide students with opportunities to build skills for “reading the word and the world”

This includes developing an understanding of the importance of caring for each other and being cared for, as well as an understanding of the dynamics of power, people and resources that make the world around them.

While working towards these goals I continue to deepen my understanding of literature, communication, culture and pedagogy, as well as my position as an educator in a complex and layered world.

I am a teacher because I want to keep learning.

I am a teacher because students share fresh, curious perspectives that challenge me to review and adjust my understanding of the world. It is a joy and a unique privilege to be entrusted to learn with young people each day.

As a teacher I learn from and collaborate with fellow educators, parents, students and community members, continuously engaging in the process of better understanding the dynamics that shape our society and our school systems.

I work to provide a safe, welcoming, and courageous space where students can explore, question, create, connect and build confidence.

GOALS:

• create an environment that inspires students and respects them where they are developmentally

• foster the joy of reading and writing as tools for discovery and reflection

• create space to explore and examine the world alone and together

• allow time for students to express their voices and identities

• provide opportunities to build community and to listen to and learn from others

• offer multiple ways to practice literacy and develop our understandings of the world

IN THE CLASSROOM:

• STUDENT LEADERSHIP

Classroom jobs, students advisory team, and plenty of opportunities for students to speak, collaborate, and create the classroom

• ENVIRONMENT as TEACHER

Classroom space, supplies, routines, visual and physical design work together to support growing independence in adolescent learners

• MANY STORIES

Always moving towards maximizing the variety in type and origin of texts studied and celebrated

• READING THE WORLD

Using the humanities to understand the world around us

• SHARING

Our words, ideas, and ourselves

• METACOGNITION

How are we thinking and learning?

• TRYING NEW THINGS

What could we do differently? Is this working for us?