Colleen Ruddy

There are a few reasons I chose this picture. First of all, my dear friend Kyra (who was once a student teacher in my classroom) is pregnant with her first baby and due any day now. The other reason is that it reflects to me the changing face of text. Who doesn’t remember those special books that were read to you as a child, the ones you can’t wait to share with your own kids? When I think about giving gifts to new parents, beyond the essentials, I think of books. While I realize that iPads and tablets are changing things and that kids will be learning to read on them at young ages, it does not usurp the magic of holding a copy of “Guess How Much I love you” in my hands and reading it to my niece or nephew. Text will come and go in all shapes and forms throughout our lives, but there is an incredible sentimentality to opening up a copy of A.A. Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh” that has an inscription inside of it, written from your grandmother to your mother when she was a just a baby, and reading it to your daughter. Text enters our lives from the very beginning and shapes our view of it for the rest of our lives. I still love books!

My name is Colleen and this is my seventh MET course. (I can hardly believe it!) I am originally from Montreal. Currently I teach grade 6/7 at a small Catholic Independent school in Prince George, B.C. where I have been for the last 6 years now. I taught Montessori Early years in both Korea and Turkey before returning to Canada. I recently (June) got engaged and have had some fun this summer making preparations for the wedding. I am really looking forward to another engaging course. I have found that most of my learning comes from interactions with other students in the course, so thank you in advance for that!