This first week has flown by. They have given us a lot of freedom and choice around how we decide to spend our time here. It has been really interesting making it up as I go along. There was definitely a part of me (an exhausted part of me) that wanted someone to just tell me what to do and where to be each day, but I’m grateful for the ability to explore what is interesting to me and experience things I find meaning in.

One of the very first things we did was help paint a rainbow on the sidewalk with the Gay-Straight-Alliance, some teachers, community members and the mayor. It was a wonderful experience and I was honoured to part of it. I spoke briefly with some of the students and many encouraging car horns were heard as people drove by us while we painted together. I was encouraged by how supportive the community seemed to be of this venture and I was inspired by ways educators can act as a bridge between students and the community. It was wonderful to see the way members of the school community spear headed and facilitated this important project.

I also spent a beautiful day helping a grade 1 teacher from Conrad Elementary with her field trip to the waterfront. She organized for her students to pick up litter along the beach and then sing an ocean song at the docks where they would be recorded for the radio for World Oceans Day. I learned so much from this teacher in such a short amount of time. I observed her management style as she dealt with shepherding her boisterous grade ones all over the place, keeping them on task and with the group. She was warm and firm. I also saw how she had created a unit around World Oceans Day that integrated so many subject areas and was deeply rooted in the First Nations territory they are in. They sang the song for the ocean and then she also pulled out her drum and they sang a chant about the Spirit Bear, which used the local language. When we arrived back at the classroom she welcomed me in and began to share her resources with me. I was able to take pictures of all her bulletin boards and ask her questions about her pedagogy. I walked away with lots of ideas about integrating subjects with younger students, as well as with some dandelion syrup that her class had made in a previous unit on dandelions!

I was also fortunate enough to accompany a grade 6 teacher on his field trip to Diana Lake this past week. It was a beautiful place and the students were all very well behaved, surprisingly. I thought a lot about the value of outdoor education. Its very common place here, but something we are sorely lacking most of the time in the city. The students here grow up playing in nature on a regular basis and I felt I could see the difference. So much important learning occurs when kids take risks outdoors and play games together outdoors. It was a fairly self-directed day. The kids were given some options and sent off to entertain themselves. I didn’t hear one single child come up and say they were bored. I saw kids collaborating and coming up with things to do, grouping and regrouping as they needed to. It was quite amazing to see.