Blog Posts

Aldous Huxley said that “words can be like rays. When they are used properly, they are able to get through anything.”

At Rick Hansen Secondary, I have had the great privilege of working to develop new Creative Writing courses that satisfy English credits for grade 11. For those students who love to read, are curious about writing and publishing, and need a creative outlet to express their thoughts, worries, and experiences in ways that are not visual—photography, visual art, theatre—Creative Writing 11 has become a haven.

In previous posts, I have shared my perspectives on the spectre of systemic racism in education, particularly in relation to Indigenous Peoples. I highlighted two interrelated constructs related to this issue: epistemic racism (the idea that there is only one form of true knowledge) and the related “racism of low expectations” highlighted in the 2016 Auditor General’s Report.

_{O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't.}

_{— William Shakespeare, The Tempest}

When asked to reflect on a classroom, most of us will envision rows of desks facing a blackboard where a teacher stands. For decades, this image has represented the learning space for millions of students and yet excludes how we learn naturally and daily in non-school environments. True knowing and understanding mean being able to transfer knowledge from one setting to another. This requires a varied approach to teaching and learning, ultimately creating the opportunity for our students to explore their passions.

Earlier this school year I made the commitment to report back on what I had learned as a consequence of my “shadow a student” experience.  Listening to students has been a key part of my practice over the last few years, and shadowing a student is the most recent iteration of this learning journey.

Earlier this school year, leaders in our organization had the opportunity to learn from renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Shimi Kang on the subject of mental health and wellbeing.

“Now let us begin. Now let us re-dedicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world.” -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

It has been my practice for the last few Januarys to make predictions about possible changes in the K-12 sector. This practice goes back as far as 2015 when I highlighted the top ten issues facing our education system and some things to watch for as we sought to transform it.

Student success is a focus of the Abbotsford School District. The desire for student success permeates through all levels, from senior management to building administrators, classroom and support teachers, education assistants, and students. At Abbotsford Traditional School (ATS), we have a reputation for preparing our students for the expectations and rigours of university–academic student success. This is one kind of student success. Another kind of student success is accomplishing academic achievement in parallel to student well-being.

Many of you will know that I am a big football fan, (and an especially big Raider fan). The inspiration for my post this week does not come from Raider Nation, but from the Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith. If you follow the Seahawks, you will know that their Super Bowl winning quarterback, Russel Wilson was traded away and that most pundits thought that with back-up quarterback Smith at the helm, the team would be lucky to win half of their games this year.