Graduation
This is not your typical graduation The years have not been kind to learning Isolation is no true guide This is not just ceremony Nor is it celebration time This is a moment in a story Where you look back at what came Before Before moving on This is where you take stock This is […]
The Education Fallacy
When you have worked long enough in education, you are bound to come across a few recycled phrases. “We’ve always done it this way” is a personal favourite of mine. Nothing says I don’t want to think about my practice more than the expression that assumes mastery. “We did this before, but we called it […]
Getting Behind
I don’t think there’s a worse feeling in the world than getting behind. In education, it’s an experience that I have often. Marking, planning, reports, oh my. The deadlines are furious and all consuming. Plus, you need to keep track of your own, teach the students how to keep track of theirs, and make sure […]
Questions I Wrestle With
There are a host of questions I wrestle with as a creative. Most of them you would know already, without even talking to me. The same narcissistic pull, the same neurotic push of “when will people find my genius?” to “why do you even bother?” Usually at the same time, which is absolute torture. But […]
Having a Good Day
I really enjoyed having a good day today. Just like yesterday, I found my flow and my story feels the closest to finished it ever has. I was facing down fear and self-doubt all day. I was planning the future while securing my present. And just like that, right at the end, my lizard brain […]
Another five hundred
So, I have been working all day. The good kind. The writing kind. With the keyboard clacking and my mind going almost blank as the story just appears on the screen. I hit my flow and it was spectacular. I was in it for a few hours. But now I am exhausted, physically and mentally, […]
Looking for the Real World
It’s the end of another school year, so I have been reflecting a lot on what we have been able to deliver for our students. I am happy with what has been going on in the classroom, the kind of universal learning my students are participating in, becoming expert learners. But the one question that […]
Stepping Up
Today I found it more difficult to get started. Not by much, but it took me a minute. The past few days, my fingers have been on fire, dancing across the keyboard and building the narrative of my life. It has been cathartic and deeply therapeutic. Wildly beneficial, both to my physical and mental health. […]
The Click of the Keys
It’s not every day that we do the things that bring us the most joy, but it should be. We spend so much time living and reaching for our boss’ dreams that we forget about our own. Money and income become the mantra of the oppressed, drowning out our own hearts in their slow, horrifying […]
Ready to Shift
No matter how tight your planning, how deep your desire, sometimes in creative work you just have to be ready to shift. It’s not that you didn’t try, or that you didn’t have a great ideal; it’s just time and the universe pulling you in a different direction. Most of the time, this kind of […]