Please join us in welcoming Ms. Arlene to the Via Vita team! We wish we had met Arlene sooner, as soon as she started, we could see the awesomeness she offered both our students and staff. She brings with her a wonderful sense of joy and wonder, that has already inspired great discoveries in the classroom. We are so grateful and thrilled she has joined our team! With her contagious zest for life, curiosity and openness, we hope you enjoy reading her intro to you! Welcome aboard, Ms. Arlene! Ever since I was a child, I knew there was something I loved about travelling. Having parents who immigrated to Toronto from the Philippines, I was fortunate enough to spend some of my childhood travelling to the Philippines to visit the hometowns of my parents as well as some family. Sure there was the whole process that was exciting too - packing up your bags, going on a plane, all that ‘good’ stuff. But there was some sort of magic in travelling somewhere, and not knowing what to expect. What feelings will I get once I arrive? What people will I meet? What will I see? I certainly didn’t have the answers to that, and if I asked my parents they didn’t know either - all those answers can only come from me, and when that time comes.
Visiting the Philippines was such a wonderful experience. I was able to learn more about myself - my heritage and culture. Even at a young age, I took this as an opportunity to learn something new. However, there was still something more that I needed, especially once the trip came to an end and I eventually had to go back home. But with that being said, my love and pride of being who I am, a Filipino Canadian, took me in the direction of doing more with that. For over 10 years, I was actively involved in a cultural dance group. We would showcase our Filipino culture through music and dance and we would perform in festivals within Canada and other countries around the world. I remember thinking, how lucky am I to do what I love and be able to share that with others. Essentially, this whole experience for me entailed learning more about my culture, dance, and travelling - all of my favourite things. I believe that it is important to take up every opportunity to ‘travel’, and I am using that term very loosely. Although I have shared with you my first travel experience which involved hopping on a plane, this is not the only travelling one can do. Travel in a book, in a movie, or in your dreams. Travel with friends, or with new friendly faces. There’s mystery and wonder in where it will take you. For instance, mine took me to dance and to learning about Filipino culture. But, the grand souvenir that I got from this all is a broader perspective in the word ’travel’. To me, travelling isn’t merely a thing to do - it’s an experience and it’s a feeling. When you travel, I guarantee you will learn something new. As a new teacher at Via Vita Academy, my hope is to inspire these students to do the same. I want them to travel within learning, within their creative minds, within their play, and within their conversations with others. There are new adventures awaiting them, and I am so excited to see where their own travel experience will take them!
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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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