Yesterday, I started to write about the importance of learning in different environments. I was thinking of our trip earlier that day to Heritage Park with two grade 2 classes in the community program. One of our big goals this year is to be more involved in the life of the larger school community. It was remarkable to see the joy on the faces of all the students as they explored Calgary history by walking along a replica of a typical prairie Main Street from the turn of the last century. The students showed a level of interest and engagement that we don’t always see in the classroom.

Today, I had one of my best lessons in language arts with one of my students walking on the field during recess. We started with an impromptu retelling of the Three Little Pigs. We then moved on to Little Red Riding Hood. We continued the story retelling at lunch recess with Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The student surprised me with his animated and accurate retelling of the stories. Once we finished Goldilocks, I started asking him how Goldilocks felt at different parts of the story.  When I asked him how Goldilocks felt when she first approached the house in the forest. I was expecting him to say sad or scared.  Instead he said “nervous”. Walking outside surrounded by children playing, we were able to delve deeper into the story and the character’s feelings than we would have inside the classroom.

John Kershaw (@jmkershaw) teaches students with autism. He has a strong belief in helping all students find their place in the community.

This year, we explored the relationship that humans have with water and our relationship with the rivers that run through Calgary. We asked important questions about how water shapes us and how we shape water, an interconnected relationship that requires serious, thoughtful, consideration, and time to study the topic in depth. The more we learned about the rivers, the more compelling they became. We have become hermeneutic scholars around the rivers’ origin, landforms, myths, civilizations, celebrations, conflicts, disasters and their deep meaning to us and our personal identities as beings living in Calgary at this time in history. The rivers have become a part of us, just as we have become part of the rivers. Everything is the same issue.

A reflection from Zach captures a lasting impression:

Learning about the river changed my thinking about water. I find myself thinking hard about water in different and related ways. I am rethinking local and international water issues and how we treat them. I found that one question would lead to another and once  that question was answered, it led to another, fascinating question.

The lasting impressions from our explorations around water this year have made me respect our rivers a lot more than I did before. I try to waste as little as possible, leaving  a cleaner river and a cleaner earth. I also use less water, knowing that the freshwater supply is finite. Water is a part of us and we need to take care of it. We are the river.

Margeaux Montgomery is an educator who enjoys exploring, wondering, creating and laughing with her students daily.

The Monterey Park School Kindergarten team has learned about the power of collaboration. This year alongside the children, we have set upon a journey of exploration and adventure, creating experiences full of curiosity, joy and discovery.

We began the year by coming together as a teaching team and anticipating the road ahead through thinking deeply about our curriculum and creating our learning destinations.  From there we observed and listened to the ideas and theories of the children to build inquiries that were authentic and meaningful.  We co-constructed criteria with the children for everything from classroom expectations to what makes a GREAT story.

In January, the team embarked on a professional learning journey that took us to Opal School in Portland, Oregon. The children and educators immediately welcomed us as equals and invited us to share our perspectives of their work.  We listened to the children’s ideas, questions and inquiries and observed how the teachers intentionally prepared the classroom environment each day.  Questions were visible everywhere, art materials were laid out thoughtfully, and the children’s work and thinking was documented and made visible to the school community and the world.  It was a powerful experience that inspired us to think differently about our practice and the power of collaboration.

This year we've learned that collaboration is more than working together, it's about sharing ideas, building relationships and grounding learning in the collective. When we come together, we inspire, draw strength, create, innovate, discover, invent and learn.

Julie Ramsay (@reggioinspired), Sierra Downing (@SierraLDowning) and Kristine Church (@KristineChurch) are members of the dynamic & collaborative Kindergarten team at Monterey Park School.

One of the many things I have learned over my 35 years in public education is that we are extremely humble and reluctant to celebrate our successes.  From the classroom to the boardroom we continually accentuate the negative and eliminate the positive.  This is at best unfortunate and at worst damaging to all involved.  I believe that we need to take every opportunity to inform our public about the great accomplishments taking place in CBE classrooms on a daily basis.

I have also learned that teacher voice is exceedingly powerful in the ongoing dialogue around students and schools.  About a year ago I commenced my own social media journey.  At that time I found that public dialogue around our schools was essentially trite and negative. The amazing successes and fulfillment which I had come to know as being an integral and constant part of our system was neither being shared or resonating through the electronic media.  One of the reasons I ran for trustee was a belief that this could be improved and changed.

I believe CBE 182 is becoming a useful instrument in the broadcasting of the great happenings in our public schools.  The real difference makers in education - classroom teachers - have taken charge and are sharing their stories.  This is striking a chord with our public.  This is what our public wants to hear.  This is what our public needs to hear.

It is my pleasure to commend those who have already contributed and I am looking forward to the stories yet to come.

Dr. Judy Hehr, 1st Term Trustee, Elected to Wards 8 & 9

It’s May 5th at 5:00am when 48 bright-eyed Grade 8 students and 5 coffee-fueled educators meet at the Calgary International Airport’s Meeting Place B. The majority of students and parents arrive to the muster point early, eager with anticipation for BP’s annual Voyage au Québec - a weeklong French language immersive experience in Québec. During this 6-day excursion, we visited various historical sites and cultural hotspots throughout Montréal, Québec City, and along the Beaupré Coast.

In the months leading up to the trip, students attended bi-weekly preparatory meetings after school where they selected two sites from the itinerary to research and prepare their contribution to a collaborative documentary film of our trip. These meetings were great opportunities for students to use their language skills in a more casual setting than their classroom as they shared their expectations and responsibilities during the Voyage. Throughout the year, I saw students from the Continuing and Late Immersion programs collaborating on their language learning.

While in Québec, students were excited when we arrived to their sites. They took ownership of asking for our Tour Director to wait a few minutes so that they could film their experience. They were able to speak, in perfect French, to the historical significance of their site.

During the many stops, tours, and meals together, students were independently speaking in French amongst each other, asking questions and for clarification of the tour  guides, engaging in conversation with our very Francophone Tour Director and laughing at his very Francophone jokes.

A student summed up very eloquently what I had learned today...

“Mme, it felt good to use all of the French I have learned in a real French setting.”

Sheena (@MmeSheena) is a FI Teacher/LL, and an Apple Distinguished Educator. She is passionate about blending technology and language learning and offering students real-world language experiences.

Each year, we aspire to foster a sense of wonder and passion within our students. For us, it started when our students forged a bond with a professional athlete, subsequently focusing our learning around the question: “What is the relationship between Science and Sport?”

This mentorship has fuelled our students’ enthusiasm to learn, explore, and grow. They have grilled a World Champion to consider the impact of friction on his bicycle, inspired an impromptu lesson on aerodynamics from an Olympic gold medalist, and challenged a CFL receiver to describe how physics influences his strategy. Others have connected by taking up knitting to demonstrate perseverance or by interpreting principles of of human kinetics through the arts.

The impact on others has been less explicit, but by no means less valuable. The language of fair play has become engrained in their values. Reflecting on their mentor’s experiences will encourage the use of a new strategy rather than giving up when encountering an academic challenge. Some now live the continual cycle of goal (re)setting after witnessing its importance to someone they admire.

A role model is powerful. Seeing that person discover, commit to, and pursue their passion can be everything.

These moments of learning and personal connection always serve to remind us of the power of a relationship and how any small interaction can be a pivotal moment in a shaping the narrative of student experience.

Not all of our students will become scientists – fewer will pursue professional athletics – but we will endeavor to empower each to ask questions, take risks, and pursue their passions, in whatever form that might take.

C. Ware (@shelware) & E. McCrady (@elainemccrady) are passionate Gr. 5 team teachers who won’t stop exploring & are science nerds at heart.