Part of my professional growth plan is focused on building a positive school staff culture. I am no expert in this area but I have been honoured to learn from many others to help with my growth. It is my… Continue Reading
As we near the end of March, many schools have moved into the final term of the year and this often leads to discussions about awards ceremonies in schools. I recently had the honour of travelling to Red Deer, Alberta… Continue Reading
This post was originally written for the Canadian Education Association in 2015. I believe it is still relevant and important today. I often wonder if what we see as teaching at professional learning events would be acceptable in a high… Continue Reading
There were moments in the past few years when my inbox reached over 1000 unread emails. I felt like I was drowning each time I looked at my Outlook or my phone email app. I remember when I used to take… Continue Reading
It is no secret that I have concerns with the focus on awards in schools. For the past 9 years, I have been privileged to work as a principal in two different school communities who have both moved away from… Continue Reading
Through my work in promoting a strengths-based education and culture in schools, the question often gets raised: where do we to start? People often agree that to bring out the best in people, shifting our lens to a strengths-based approach is… Continue Reading
Last year at James Hill, we made the decision to move away from points and 1st-4th place finishes for our annual elementary school Sports Day. We felt that the focus on points and winning was misaligned with the goal of… Continue Reading
There is a simple mistake that the vast majority of us as parents and educators make when dealing with challenging behaviours: we focus on the behaviour. When we focus on the problem behaviour, most of our theories and strategies involve… Continue Reading
Back in January, we lost a true reformer in education and a close friend of mine, Joe Bower. I have not been able to find the right words to express the impact Joe had on me as a person and as… Continue Reading
Note: this story of inclusion is shared with the encouragement and permission of Logan’s mother. Logan has been at James Hill Elementary since kindergarten. During this time, it has been easy to pick out all of his challenges – his… Continue Reading