Teachers know inherently that kids need to feel a sense of belonging in their classrooms—for without making connections, the kids will shut down or act out, sometimes with tragic consequences. If we identify the lonely kids in our classrooms and ensure that they make connections, can we prevent violence from happening in the future? Maybe. I came across an article in a popular parent blog (momastery.com) about a teacher's heartfelt strategy to stop school shootings. After th

First on my list of new year's resolutions is to read 100 Preteen/Teen novels by Canadian authors before the end of 2018. Some of these authors are well-known in classrooms across the country—the globe, in some cases—but others are much less so, but they have talent none-the-less. Today I #am reading Will's Garden by Lee Maracle. Will's Garden is a coming of age story of a young native boy. The book begins with the busyness of preparing for Will's Becoming a Man Ceremony. Wh

Writing Tip of the Week When To Use a Hyphen 1. Use a hyphen to make some compound words. The candidate was not well-known, but she was beginning to have a following in social media. 2. Use a hyphen to divide a word at the end of a line. Although the candidate pretended to be stern, she was laugh- ing when her opponent cracked a joke. Don't divide— a one-syllable word such as stand, poll a one-letter syllable from the remainder of a word—a-genda a contraction—don't, haven't,

First on my list of new year's resolutions is to read 100 Preteen/Teen novels by Canadian authors before the end of 2018. Some of these authors are well-known in classrooms across the country—the globe, in some cases—but others are much less so, but they have talent none-the-less. Today I #am reading Hunger Journeys by Maggie De Vries. It's World War Two in Amsterdam. Teenaged Lena leaves her starving family to travel by train with her friend, Sofie, to Almelo, a town close