Please welcome our Grey Fox Class with today's Blog Post in honour of 'Random Acts of Kindness Day', which is coming up on February 17th! Our Grey Foxes are in grade 3 and 4 and wrote this together with the help of their teacher, Ms. Zoe. Way to go, Foxes! What do you think - can you help add to their list? February is a time to celebrate love, friendship, and family. It is a time to give thanks for the wonderful people in our lives, and to think about how we might share love with others. With ‘National Random Acts of Kindness Day’ soon approaching on February 17th, the Grey Fox class has been looking into ways to spread kindness all around. After all, kindness is infectious! Let the kindness challenge begin! Here is the list that we came up with; let’s see how many of these you can practice this month!
-Offer to help someone -Hold the door for someone -Listen to others -Show respect for others -Practice GRATITUDE! (give thanks for the people in your life and show your appreciation) - If someone drops their things, help them to pick them up! -Help to cheer someone up if they are sad -Hugs!! (with permission) -Buying a meal for a stranger -Babysitting for adults so they can have a night out -Offering to take a photo for someone -Giving to charity -Manners…”Please” and “Thank-you” -Cleaning up the house (before being asked!) -Helping a sibling with something -Helping to cook dinner -Sharing -Giving someone a bus ticket or paying their bus fare -Giving compliments -Practice EMPATHY! -“Comfortation” (term coined by the Grey Foxes that’s means: to have a comforting conversation or moment with someone) :) Can YOU think of any others?
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Today, January 1st, 2018, marks 2 years since the day we announced the opening of Via Vita Academy. 2 years! Wow! Via Vita has grown from just an idea, well, suggestion really, from some very special people, to now an operating school filled with families, students, and teachers - even more special people! The parents who have came through our doors, the students who have participated in our programs, the children whose faces we've painted, those who've chatted on the phone with us, met us at events, donated supplies, shared our information, shook our hands, liked our posts, recommended us to a friend, checked out our website, or even asked us how we're doing - we are forever grateful. It all supported us through the birth of Via Vita and continues to support us as we find our place in the community, Where we've come from and what we are today has shaped so much of who we are, our values and goals. Even through the busy times of school assignments, report cards, field trips, lunch duties, meetings, enrolment, and growing lists of administration tasks can leave us feeling swamped and stressed, we honestly, really, truly, it might sound crazy, but we really mean it - we wouldn't trade it for a thing! Opening this school took much planning, and with that, much anticipation for these busy times. The work is, and continues to be, a labour of love. The day we signed the dotted line, marking the beginning of Via Vita Academy Ltd. as a real, functioning "thing", we made a conscious decision to change our lives, and with that, hopefully, the lives of many families to come. It has been nothing short of amazing. Copious amounts of work, but amazing and extraordinarily rewarding. 2 years ago and onward, we knew there was nowhere to look but forward, As educators, employers, colleagues, business partners, parents, and friends - we set our focus forward, with the support of so many wonderful individuals. Somehow, magically, along the way, we also found teachers who agree and put in 110% every day. Their dedication is unmatched and truly enables our school to stand strong. Even on their holiday break, they stepped up, offering us this tidbit to post today. When asked to help us write a New Year's Day post, they produced something truly heartwarming and inspiring, setting us up right for 2018. So, we give you this, from our current staff of 6 Via Vita Teachers, looking forward to 2018 with goals and learnings for ourselves and our students. Education is our passion; learning is our life. Here's to a year of kindness, joy, more learning, and mutual support! Can you guess who wrote each one? In 2018, my wish for my students...
To continue fostering relationships with each other, spreading kindness, developing their love of learning, and discovering who they are. To expand upon the approaches to learning that we have explored together--through questioning, and a shared willingness to understand more about our world. To find excitement in new activities and persevere when things become challenging. To learn more about the world and themselves. To continue discovering just how unique and amazing they are, and that they are each so, so important. To continue to develop their sense of wonder and to never stop questioning. In 2018, my wish for my teaching... To grow and adapt as I learn with my students. To inspire both my students and myself to build upon--or perhaps add to--our individual skill-sets. To inspire my students to create their own path and take risks along the way. To be informative, engaging, and fun! To be reflective of my growing appreciation for each of my students. I wish for my teaching to be ever more patient, engaging, and inspiring, for my students and my colleagues. To continue to grow and develop with the students we have at our school. In 2018, I plan... To learn even more about my students, so that I can best serve them both academically and emotionally. To read more than I have for many years before; gotta practice what I teach! To find the fun in ordinary tasks To organize my desk so I don’t drive Ms. Yolanda crazy! To roll with it! Well, try to at least! To set realistic goals, and to not procrastinate so much, so I should get on setting those goals… since it is now 2018! In 2017, I learned... That once in a while the plan needs to be scrapped in order to meet the needs of the students in the moment. Sometimes what students learn from those “teachable moments” is much more important that what you had originally planned for the class. That I can teach as much by listening as I can by speaking. To be flexible and let my students lead the way. To appreciate more opportunities to learn outside of the classroom. To take it day by day, enjoying the little things! That I am not a spring chicken, and I need to get more sleep! Happy New Year, Everyone! Welcome to 2018! Please welcome our newest teacher, Zoe Scott. Her kind spirit and compassion for teaching are felt immediately once you see her in the classroom, and are truly wonderful to work alongside. Her first blog post below illustrates not only her beautiful way with words, but also the journey that many of our students can relate to. Her journey is inspiring and heartfelt. It shines a light on a challenge so many of us carry with us, and often, a reason why many of us later decide to become teachers, to make a positive change in the world of our students. We are lucky to have found someone who will have such a positive influence on our students. Welcome aboard, Ms. Zoe! I can still feel the ice shooting from my fingertips as the knot in my stomach tightens. Yet another morning that I wake in a cold sweat, as the queasy feeling takes over. The symptoms may be all in my head, but to my 12-year old body, they are very real. I’m not sure when the thought of school first began to fill me with such anxiety. I had once loved to learn, and had looked forward to each school day with great anticipation. How did such a change occur?
The school system can be a difficult place for anyone, but it is extremely bumpy terrain for those who are different. I was the girl that never quite fit in, despite my desperate attempts. I never felt as though I was enough. Like a lot of others, I spent my adolescence afraid to raise my hand in class, though inquisitive fires burned inside my mind. I spent my days hiding my opinions, and cloaking my true essence in a thinly veiled disguise. This constant state of fear and inauthenticity slowly began to gnaw at my heart. I lost confidence… I lost opportunity…I lost myself. My journey began a few simple online yoga tutorials. Yoga came to me like small droplets of rain that eventually grew into a stream. This practice gave me a sense of inner connectedness that I had never known. It pushed me to honour myself where I was, instead of in comparison to other people. Instead of turning down the volume on my thoughts in fear, it forced me to acknowledge them, to explore their roots, and to then release them. In doing so, I soon began to strive for growth rather than perfection. Moreover, I finally began a path of self-discovery and inquiry. What I love about Via Vita Academy is that they see the value in this sense of questioning and soul-searching. They encourage uniqueness and push students to become lifetime students of the world, and explorers of the body, mind, and spirit. Inquiry can lead to strength and self-discovery, during a time that often feels so unstable. Adolescents in particular often find themselves feeling out of control. They are desperately trying to navigate the parameters of their new position between childhood and adulthood. Suddenly they are overwhelmed with responsibility, pressure, opportunity and choice. Moreover, with the increase in social media, they are constantly bombarded by external forces, telling them what to think and who then should be. This is why I am so excited to be able to help facilitate these aspects of yoga for the students of Via Vita, both on the mat and in the classroom. Sometimes the noise of the world can become so loud, that it can muffle the sound of our hearts. For me, teaching is about helping students to listen to themselves, so that they can discover what they need, and how they might impact others. If students are ever to grow or make sense of the world, they must first have an understanding of who they are, and where they are in their journey. Next, they must learn to honour their inner light by learning to drown out negative self-talk. As we begin to respect ourselves, we ultimately begin to generate kindness toward others. It is in the tradition of yoga to end each class with the phrase “Namaste”, which loosely translates to “the light in me sees the light in you”. Each time I teach yoga to my students I like to end the class by saying “the light in me sees the light in you, and may you always see the light in yourself and the light in others”. For me, this is the ultimate goal of education-- to create students that strive to see the beauty and possibility in the world, that have the means to explore and question it, and the hearts to try to improve upon it. |
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