"It’s showcase time!" I exclaim at morning meeting, about 4 weeks out from the main event itself.
"Woooo!!!" Cheers groups of students, young and old, and immediate chatter starts to take hold of the group. All 64 of them all Via Vita students, sitting on the floor, with young ones settled into the laps of older ones, get louder with the vibes of showcase running throughout the room. Normally, morning meeting is a time to discuss things to change, the going's on of day-to-day events. Today, we've all come together to start our day and the first topic is showcase, which quickly takes hold of the entire agenda. The daily meetings are led by 2 students, who are now clapping rhythms trying to get the group back in order and quiet down. Vibes of excitement, anticipation, worry, and then getting-to-business waves over the crowd as they go through the emotions of preparing for such a big event as Showcase. New students unsure of what it all means. Old students grinning ear to ear, knowing exactly what it means. A few rounds of repeating the pattern claps from the morning's leading students and finally the mass of the group settles down into low whispers and then finally quiet, while a few hands shoot up in the air. “When is it? We have to write the script?” “Can I sign up to act, please? Oh! And dance? How many things can I sign up for?” “I want to babysit this time!” “Remember last year’s? Can we do that again? That was so much fun!” My absolute favourite time of year. An excellent example of controlled chaos, student-led learning, and infused creativity. Showcase season. The time of year when we bring all of the themes and most influential things we’ve been learning about all term and pull it together into an on-stage production. Songs, dances, skits, poems, stories, science shows – you name it, we include it. Written with the students’ guiding ideas, produced with the support of their teachers edging them along. It’s always completely unique and entirely theirs. Can we include a boat? Why not, if it makes sense! Can we include that story we loved reading over and over in class? Sure, let’s figure out a way. Can we include aliens? Spaceships? Zombies? I’m sure we can find a way to make sense of that, right? Is it stressful? Heck, yes. Without a doubt. We willingly walk into the chaos and make more chaos. It’s messy, it’s challenging, it’s ever-changing. Our newest teachers are looking at us like we’ve lost it. Our oldest teachers just keep saying – trust the process, you’ll see. See what, they ask? The payoff. The reason for it all. The moment when you see a child, who perhaps is struggling to keep their head up in math lately, or who has been chatting with us a lot lately about the woes of their changing social dynamics, or perhaps a student who has been having a difficult time smiling through the cold winter months, or a child frustrated with the complexity of reading the English language – you see them, beaming. Perhaps on stage, perhaps leading the younger ones, perhaps handling the mic system, perhaps keeping order back stage. It doesn’t matter the role, but it does matter that they are beaming. This is the reason for it all. For all the rehearsing and script writing, for all the prop making and mess cleaning. It’s also the reason for all the prep work, tests, quizzes, due dates, projects, parent meetings, staff meetings, schedules and classes. And it’s even the reason for the record keeping, payment collecting; accounting, upkeep and marketing of the business. This is the why. That child is beaming. Look at them. Look at what they’ve accomplished and look at how they feel about it. Can you compare anything else to it? This moment will move mountains. It’ll build confidence, and positive memories with school. It’ll help them believe in themselves, work with others, and never back down from a challenge. It builds grit, integrity, and independence. It's an opportunity to work through stress, cope with fear, and manage challenges. It’s real, hands-on, experiential learning. It’s hard work, no doubt, but it’s the reason Via Vita exists. February 2020 marks 4 years since Via Vita Academy Ltd. became a thing and marks the 10th Showcase production with our students. We embarked on an adventure we had only dreamed of, with hopes in our heads and hearts for what Via Vita could be. Make a positive difference in the lives of our students. As a teacher, Via Vita is most certainly a dream come true.
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The image below was created by the kids, so there are a few spelling mistakes. But, as said by one of our amazing teachers, spelling, like life, isn't always perfect. But it can still be honest, heartfelt, and beautiful. So, with that, we hope you enjoy this beautiful piece written in combination by our students and our fantastic Ms. Tori. A wonderful way to start Spring! Thank you VVA! “Can you name 10 things that make Via Vita unique, that you love and appreciate about your school?” It’s a question I’m sure most of the kids have thought of from time to time but one that I was curious to see be put into words. As I stare at the wonderful 60 faces in front of me, eager to participate, I can not help but have a sense of immense pride. Pride in my kids, in my work team, and in the environment in which I have been honoured to become a part of. As I stand at the front of the room in Buddies with my fellow teachers in tow, I am amazed at the level of critical thinking these kids bring to class every day. Without hesitation they create groups that involve all ages and designate a writer and “techy” who copies down the information and then prepares it for our Menti project. Menti (as the lovely Ms. Rhiannon taught me) is a brainstorming website that allows multiple people to add words to a central idea or question. The best part is the ideas that come forward more often are the ones that grow in size. It is reflective of that age old classroom question “so what’s our big picture, what is our major focus”, without standing at the front of the room in a lecture-style lesson. As we rotate around the room, it is clear that the kids mirror many of their fellow teachers’ style of classroom management. They prompt their friends for answers to our question, and are patient for the ideas to come out rather than move on to the next student. Some of our older students engage with focus activities or adapted questions to help our Pre-Kindergarten kids feel acknowledged and involved. All in all the lesson goes according to plan, and as we come back together to share our answers with the Menti Cloud projected on to the wall, I cannot help but feel that twinge of excitement to see what the kids really believe sets our school apart. Their excitement grows with each word that is typed and submitted, and while they smile, laugh, and point I cannot help but feel that sense of pride again. It wells up in my throat as I observe the things that I know in my heart are important to their learning, but that you sometimes wonder if they are picking up on. Music, daily physical activity and kitchen are the first to be thrown up on the board, and it is amazing to see how they value the impact that daily life skills have on their growth. Values like kindness, buddies, and helping others are quickly added; compassion training that is close to all of our collective hearts. After school is added by another student and I feel Ms. Hilary grab my arm, and with a giant smile she goes, “Look, I’m up there!”
“Of course you are Hilary”, I think... we couldn’t do this without you. As the word 'kind' builds it’s way up to the centre (being the most common word they think of), I stare at these beautiful future adults. If the one thing we could bring to them every day is how to be kind to each other, I know I would never have another moment where I question myself, “did I make an impact today?” Buddies lesson for the day: never underestimate the value of kindness in a child’s education. It will truly inspire everyone around you. It is something I have seen every day since I joined Via Vita Academy, and I cannot express how thankful I am to work in an environment that values this quality. And knowing that our kids believe it sets us apart too? Well, there’s something kind of magical about that, isn’t there? From the very appreciative, Ms. Tori Our VVA staff is truly something special. Up until the years of VVA, we had never worked with such diverse, supportive, and passionate group of educators who truly take risks together, share and reflect together to build such a positive work and learning space. Another dream conquered - a work environment that feels like home! Every day we see new layers of ourselves appear because we feel so supported and apart of an amazing team. Thank you VVA staff. Truly, thank you. An extra special thank you to Mr. Ryan for writing this beautiful post, describing a very special day for all us of at VVA, the day we decided upon our Vision Statement. A couple year's into operating, and we still hadn't narrowed down our vision statement enough to confidently share it with the world, that is until this wonderful summer's afternoon. It was a day none of us have forgotten, and often long to create again. The wonderful mix of mindful reflection, nature at it's finest, and clear and confident minds that came together that day has truly left a beautiful mark on all of us. Now that it’s January, I thought I might share a flashback to this one day that our teaching team shared back in August, when things were warmer, and our vision for this school first officially took shape...
Mid-August arrives, and the Via Vita Teaching Team gathers to envision how our year of learning together is going to look... ...But before we can start, there is a major list of tedious to-do’s to be done; rooms need rearranging, schedules need straightening, forms need filling, protocols need punctuation, new staff need to be shown the ropes, plus-this-plus-that and then some, among a bunch of other one-last-little-items. Phew. The first days of our first week back have us feeling a bit hectic, straight outta the gate. Then comes a surprise: we’re invited to spend a day together out of the school, well removed from our list of to-do’s. There’s this place, on a lake, away from the whirring, clunking sounds of the city. A place surrounded by trees, whose leaves will be gently rustled by the crisp winds of late summer. A place where the year ahead might be more comfortably envisioned. Also we’ll be fed dinner. Away we go. Upon arrival, everything that was promised comes to life. We are alone on the lake, where all but the Judas Trees are still green with the vivacity of August’s bittersweet ending. We set up shop in a wide oval on the deck, and for that day’s first hour, we do little but breathe this place in together, and exhale the last few days away. This place. This is where we’ll truly begin our year. Working comes easily. We have a list of to-do’s for this day, too, but here, getting things done flows as readily as the lake lightly rippled by the breeze. So we explore things that might’ve been harder somewhere else--our personal strengths and struggles, how we can be more mindful in our learnings and teachings, and how to move forward as a new team, together. These talks are challenging, but they are beautiful, and as we share, our vision of the year ahead becomes ever more clear. There is one item left on our list, but the day is young, so we stop to eat and laugh. Above us, clouds waver indecisively about whether to rain, while late summer sunbeams promise to keep things warm regardless. After several helpings of delicious food, we’re feeling ready to take on that last to-do: make a statement about the school, one that encapsulates, in one line, what it is we’ll be ever-envisioning for our school as we learn, teach, play, and work alongside our students. Our team is in full swing; we’re especially pumped about this line, and it shows in our approach; in pursuit of something simple, true, and achievable, we take to willfully weaving our ideal pursuit. Somehow, what we envision has to fit into this one clear-cut sentence. It sounds heavy, it sounds intimidating, and yet for us, melding likeable minds lakeside, under the shifting summer sky, the day’s last to-do is done not long after we’ve begun: Our vision is a culture empowered by community, compassion and wonder. We’re finished, but, because we’re feeling pretty great about our day, we decide to keep it going. So into the lake we finally go. Some dive straight in, while some dip toes. Some swim to the raft, and some soon after leap off in a rush after spotting spiders. While we’re laughing and treading water together, The sky finally makes up its mind, and we watch as the wind pushes a warm rainfall across the lake toward us. And we stay put, and keep treading water, and laughing together. Written by, Mr. Ryan |
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