A new year of "Teaching Together"

This is my third year with the Canadian Teacher's Federation (CTF, FCE for Fédération canadienne

des enseignantes et des enseignants) "Teaching Together or TT (Enseigner Ensembe or EE.)"

It used to be called "Project Overseas"--in fact, it was still called that my first year. CTF wanted to change the name from "project," which sounds a little like Canadians fixing problems elsewhere as their pet project, to a name that reflected the collaboration and cooperation between Canada's federation and the those of other countries. We all belong to "Education International." In fact, those of us who are team leaders went to Ottawa in February for training and were addressed by Cassandra Halle, our then Executive Director, for the last time, because she became Deputy General Secretary for EI! I found her inspiring and feel happy (and proud) that she will represent Canadian educators so well. Two years ago the first new name that CTF came up with was even better--International Collaboration in Education, which really expressed the sense of collaboration we are aiming for, but unfortunately the acronym is ICE which we could NOT do!

Education International

Check out the information about Teaching Together. Arla, in the video, is with us this year as a team leader. She's awesome. I strongly encourage all teacher friends to consider applying--the experience is fulfilling in ways that we don't expect. I love it!

Teaching Together

Team Guyana

We have a lovely team, Katrina from Alberta, Melinda from Nova Scotia and Sarah and I from Ontario.

We will be going to Georgetown where we will plan with our co-facilitators and then go north to Charity where we will spend two weeks working with Guyanese teachers who will be learning class management strategies, learning styles, leadership strategies and instructional strategies. These are the subject areas chosen by the Guyana Teacher's Union and we four will partner with their four facilitators.

Fun is coming! Stay tuned!

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I'll have a blue Christmas without you

One of my homework assignments for the forest therapy course is to find a “sitspot”, a place to sit with the natural world and allow nature to work its way in. My sitspot on the ship is in the bow of the U deck. When the crew is working on the deck, it can be quite noisy and some parts of the engine are noisy too. I am glad to have my fancy musician’s earplugs. They allow me to hear everything (even small details) but they lower the decibel level to protect hearing. I use these when I need to. But at the bow, there is a miraculous quiet, and I listen to the waves against the ship, watching the birds and the changing sky. On the starboard side in the early afternoon, or the portside in the morning, I find the most exquisite variations in blue. Perhaps I’ll see a greenish blue--let’s call it aqua, or a light greyish blue or on cloudy days a darker grey like a blackboard. I love to see the particular blue that falls somewhere between denim and royal blue with...

Kibi (Week Two)

Our second week was spent at the Kibi Presbyterian College of Education in Kibi--pronounced chibi, and sometimes spelled Kyebi. It was a gorgeous campus in a valley, surrounded by mountains. There was a garden, used by students, and many fruit trees (mango, papaya, banana, coconut), available to students to help themselves to! We had cocoyam for our supper one night. The leaves grow plentifully and Ghanaiansr refer to it as "spinach." cocoyam leaves growing all over the campus The campus had lush plant life, especially hibiscus--they also serve hibiscus drinks which are delicious. Did you know that Ghana (at least in the south of the country where we were) has red soil just like PEI? The pictures of red soil that I took don't look quite red. In real life the soil is a much brighter red. The second week was a replica of the first. Two cohorts from the Volta and Eastern regions. Opening ceremonies, 2 days of 4, 2 hour classes, a closing ceremony and Canada/Ghana night. For...

Here is my new blog. I hope to document my adventure from July 2019 to August 2020. I got here by having a "deferred salary" (imagine the good fortune I have to work in a profession where this is possible), so I have been earning 80% of my salary these past four years and will earn the same next year, my fifth year. It is a sabbatical, an adventure, a journey of self-discovery and perhaps an indulgence. Friends and colleagues have requested a blog to keep up with me. I don't know how faithful I will be when posting (I'm not much of a journal person) but I hope to connect with you every week or so.

The Adventures of Lynne

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