Elisa Waingort

It has been months since I sat down to write anything of significance. Other than the occasional email, to-do lists, lesson planning and weekly updates to families , I’ve consciously not been writing. Why? Until I stopped writing, I had been trying to live what I thought was the correct version of a writerly life. Read more

I missed writing a blog post last week. I was exhausted – the story of this school year – and I let myself slip into that exhaustion until I had convinced myself I just didn’t have the energy to put pen to paper or, in this case, fingers to keyboard. But yesterday while I was Read more

I am sweating bricks. (I know the correct word here isn’t sweating, but it’s the closest to how I’m feeling and it’s the most appropriate word I can use in a public forum.) I am sweating bricks. Why all the fuss, you ask? Well, we have a new K – 3 curriculum in the works Read more

Yesterday I attended a session about diversity, equity and inclusion sponsored by my provincial teachers’ association. The presenter was well-prepared and shared interesting information. He used story telling and statistic to develop his argument and line of thinking. He emphasized that most interactions are about how validated or not we feel. He said that everyone Read more

This SOL is a haiku in honor of poetry month. No matter what time I arrive at school, I’m in a race to catch up. Cross posted to the Two Writing Teachers Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge. Read more

Thank you to those slicers who have shared their good things this month. I found your posts inspiring, so I am sharing my own list as a way to celebrate and end the March SOL Challenge. 1. Books – lots of them. 2. Spotting my husband in a crowd and feeling blessed. 3. Watching movies Read more

I don’t know what to write about today. And, that’s OK. I do know what I will write about tomorrow, though. That’s a win, right? I am proud of myself for writing a blog post every day this month, so far. I consider that a major accomplishment. On April 1st, I will be switching to Read more

This morning we exited a live Coding Quest lesson 1/2 way through because our classroom iPads weren’t working well enough for us to follow along with the instructor. Everyone was frustrated so we took a quick break. We had a class meeting to talk about our Wonder Jar and instead ended up talking about Emily’s Read more

Today was our first day back after Spring Break. The kids were chatty at first, but quickly got down to the task at hand. They had think time. They talked. They read. They wrote. We laughed. And, I tried something new. Instead of the usual flow of a back and forth litany of questions and Read more

Today I participated in my first Circle for Reconciliation. It was an emotional and inspirational 1 1/2 hours. We introduced ourselves and shared why we were there. I chose to participate in a circle as part of my journey to being an anti racist teacher and person. I was nervous before the circle started because Read more