Category: Uncategorised (Page 1 of 13)

November 24, 2025 – Be the Learner

If anything from what I am reading in my education leadership courses and what I wish for teacher candidates is… to be the learner. I was chatting with one of my former students (who is now a phenomenal teacher, lead learner, and person) and we’ve had conversations about growth mindset versus fixed mindset (Dweck, 2006). As I reflect on my practice and the feelings that are embedded, to reflect in and on action (Schön, 1983), I’ve come to understand that when I am performative, I have a “fixed mindset.” I feel anxious, worried about what others think, and often self-deprecating and overthinking about how things should be based on my beliefs of other people’s perceptions. When I am THE LEARNER, I have a “growth mindset.” I feel free, joyful, and a willingness to be vulnerable such that I can move forward with humility, grace, and curiosity.

When I am learning… I AM HAPPY.

Being the learner is powerful, and in my educational leadership courses, being the lead-learner can be transformative, in particular with instructional leadership in schools. There are so many things on the go and so many things to do, to keep myself sustainable and happy in the work I do and in life, I have taken deliberate action to REST and be compassionate and kind with myself and my time. I am still learning how to do this SLOW work and I will (and have) made mistakes. Once again, focus on the learning (not the performance) and all will be well. I cannot control what others think or believe, I can only control what I think and believe. That’s it. With this understanding, I can take each step with the knowing that I can only do my best without compromising myself in doing so.

Last week was filled with learning opportunities, and I took the time to engage in these opportunities to fill my cup. The photo above shows the poster I and my colleagues created for the ABCDE (Association of the BC Deans of Education) Spotlight Symposium on the shared responsibilities to the Renewed ACDE (Association of the Canadian Deans of Education) Accord on Indigenous Education. Each teacher education programs created a poster for this event and there were guest speakers talking about what’s happening in their jurisdictions. The presentations were inspiring in many ways, but the event also had small group discussions for participants to sense-make and share ideas. I had a really good time catching up and connecting with folks in-person I knew at this event.

The ABCDE symposium was on Thursday, and Christine’s professional learning continued on Friday with a Facebook friend of mine, Dr. Cher Hill, came from SFU to give a talk as part of the IWAU (Inspiring Women Among Us event) as a keynote speaker. It was so wonderful to see Cher in-person in Prince George. Her presentation was titled, “Trees Don’t Care About Your Pronouns: Relations Forest Pedagogies, Gender, and Belonging,” and she spoke about some preliminary findings of who did not like going outside, having her Foundations of Education classes held outside, what can be learned about gendered barriers held with being outdoors, and how the forest provides a place for belonging. It was a very interesting presentation and thought-provoking. I think about me taking my EDUC 394 class outside and the impact it has on student learning.

Saturday concluded my professional learning series with the viewing of two movies: “The Salmon’s Call” and “Nechako.” Both movies were shown at the Prince George Performing Arts Theatre as part of IWAU. The directors of both movies were women and most of the production staff were Indigenous. Each movie concluded with a panel discussion. I was so wowed by each movie in terms of the cinematography, the local content, and the political activism that is required to protect the water and the salmon and to gain the rights of Aboriginal Peoples, the land, and way of life on the land. I was heartbroken, devastated, and inspired all at the same time. I had no idea to the extent of the horror that these communities have endured and their reliance and persistence to succeed. I am very appreciative of this work and hope others in this area will/can see it.

I am so grateful to engage in professional learning. It was always my favourite thing to do when I was a K-12 teacher and it’s my favourite thing to do as an academic. Stay humble, be vulnerable, and keep learning. It is way too fun!!

November 16, 2025 – Learning by Doing

This school year, I negotiated and was offered 10% time for research. Normally, my assignment would be 80% teaching and 20% service. This year, it’s 70% teaching, 20% service, and 10% research. Moreover, I did not have any classes to teach over the spring and summer intersessions. I scheduled my classes for the fall and winter terms. This year was also the first time over 7 years to have one term without teaching. Although having a term off from teaching is part of the collective agreement, it can be challenging when the program is year round.

Slowly but surely, my job assignments transitioned from a practicum oriented role to one that is focused on coursework. I was asked several times if I wanted to assume a different role (re: Senior Instructor), but I was somewhat insistent on keeping the title, Assistant Professor, full-time term faculty. The teaching time is the same for there is no expectation of research if I was a Senior Instructor. Admittedly, I did not know what I was asking for, but emerging into research took some time. So, research I’ve done so far has been done on the side of my desk.

Having a non-teaching term and 10% research time has been extremely helpful and beneficial. During the spring/summer term, I went to a conference in Toronto and took the time to work on a harmonized ethics application, submit a proposal to write a chapter, as well as work on several manuscripts or chapters for publication. Although this was my first time having both research time and a non-teaching term so that I could do research, I am learning by doing on how to manage my time, lead a research team, do an ethics application, and publish.

What I have learned is, I really do like going to conferences and presenting. It’s much like my dissertation and doctoral work. The strongest aspect of my doctorate program was my oral defence. I am also learning how to take the lead on writing and research, while learning experientially from others by talking to them, participating in working groups, or being a part of a research team. I’m going at my own pace, which I feel being a term faculty member has afforded me. I don’t have the pressure of tenure track and I am content with my work.

I even took a pause in writing this blog post to check in to my “ongoing CV” to record some of my recent work. I did not even realize how much I did not record. That’s not a good thing. It’s a good habit to record your accomplishments as you do them in anticipation of the annual professional activity report (PAR) and for some, tenure and promotion. As term faculty, I am considering applying for promotion to Associate Professor. I enjoy the teaching and I am enjoying the research. I am also happy to stick to Assistant Professor as well. All is good.

As I return back to blogging on my OpenETC WordPress site and updating a page or two, despite the fact that I do not have to have an exemplar of portfolio work for teacher candidates, I think it’s a good opportunity to reflect on my scholarship and professional activity moving forward alongside my other blog. I am really feeling satisfied with the challenges posed in doing research while loving my return back to teaching (and teaching about teaching). Letting go on what you think things should be and just learning has been my greatest lesson.

I feel very appreciative to the many mentors along my pedagogical journey in research. Each mentor offered something different, such as “be selfish” or “your research is your teaching” and there was so much more guidance, insight, and tips from so many during my SFU and UNBC days that has led me to a place where I never thought I would be. Honestly, being here and doing what I am doing is a dream. As a child, I had always knew that I wanted to be a “doctor” but not the medical kind. I had no idea how I would get here, but now, I am here.

November 7, 2025 – Renewed & Reignited

We are all on a journey. I call mine “My Pedagogical Journey.” I spoke about it at an IGNITE session in Langley, BC. At the time, I had just left teaching in K-12 schools as a high school mathematics teacher, I think I may have become an elected school trustee while working on my dissertation, and I was one of the co-moderators on #BCEdChat on edu-Twitter (when Twitter was Twitter). Even just talking about where I was at that time, I was certainly in a state of transition. I was figuring out my next steps in my career, and knowing or not knowing, in my life as a whole.

Not to sound too traumatic, life has changed a lot since 2010. Even when I made this TEDxWestVancouverED video in 2017, I just finished my doctorate degree and still wondered what I was meant to do in life. Since this video, my mom passed away, I left the political side of education as as school trustee and moved to Prince George for work, and I am divorced from a 30 year relationship. Luckily, my kid moved up with me after the pandemic and I am still at my job, and now I am a new homeowner living independently and happily. Right now, I feel very aligned.

“Finding your place in the education system. Where is your best fit? How are we all aligned?” – Christine Younghusband – September 23, 2017

In Prince George, I am working as an Assistant Professor as a full-time term faculty member at the University of Northern British Columbia. My work is focused on teacher education, educational leadership, and intro to education. My work is currently 70% teaching, 20% service, and 10% research. Some of my teaching time is dedicated to the program in the School of Education, and I am engaged in work as part of my service such as being a member of senate, being a member of two senate committees, social media moderator for the School of Education, various committee work for the School of Education, and more recently, executive member of the Canadian Association for Action Research in Education (CAARE) as vice-president and program manager. I love this work.

I am involved in several research projects as a co-investigator and principal investigator, that are related to professional learning, out-of-field teaching, and transformative leadership. These projects may not resemble my dissertation exactly, that is, focused on mathematics education in the secondary years, but they are related to passion for professional learning, out-of-field teaching, and transformative leadership. I love the idea of ideating change, creating change, and being the change agent in education. Finally, I am also back to teaching, the primary aspect of my work at the university. I love teaching. It is something that I was meant to do, but what I love more about is the relationships, learning, and making connections to ideas, people, and the land and place. I am very happy.

I have been blogging since 2010 (I believe), or since 2011. I left teaching and I just became a school trustee. There has been many transformational moments in my life since such as the Pulling Together Canoe Journey, seeking help from others, and recent passing of a good friend and colleague of mine. Change is turbulent, unsettling, and uncomfortable. But sometimes, you have to endure the tough times to see the light. As much as I have been very resistant to change because I was too afraid of what’s on the other side, now I feel brave. I am not saying that I will shake the world, but what I am saying, I can only control what I can do, say, and feel. That’s it. Super empowering and it has created a lot of peace, happiness, and joy in my life. Today, I am aligned. I am in the right place in education (and my life).

May 6, 2025 – Change is OK

I am left wondering about blogging and portfolio in teacher education and in my practice. I maintain another WordPress site of which I have regularly blogged in since 2010. Originally, I wanted to practice my writing skills via blog with a “real audience” where there was some stakes in the game. I hired someone to create that website for me. I may have muddled around with it too much, and over time I had lost access to that account because of a “two-step authenticator” and buying a new phone. I got locked out of my account and could only access the account via my iPad which eventually experienced lots of limitations due to updates, etc. I had to eventually give up that website and concede to leaving my thoughts and whatever I wrote on that website as digital debris. I moved onto creating this website as part of my work in the teacher education program but also to return back to blogging to reflect on and think about my practice.

Now, I am no longer teaching EdTech or portfolio as courses within the teacher education program. How that evolved, I am not sure, but I was open to change and now here I am. Although I did include portfolio as part of another course as I took some time to grieve the change, I can see now that I don’t have to include portfolio as part of my coursework and move forward onto something new. This change reminds me of the IGNITE presentations. I did include them as part of my undergraduate course this year, which was great, but I let go of them as well in the teacher education program. So, I am left wondering, what’s next? I don’t have to maintain this website to serve an an exemplar to teacher candidates or graduate students of whom I supervised in EDUC 796 for a portfolio capstone.

One of the pieces of advice I give to teacher candidates is, follow the path that the doors open for you. Don’t try to force a direction you career. Have goals but be open to the opportunities that lie ahead of you. You don’t know what you don’t know. That’s how most of us navigated through our careers in K-12. And sometimes when you are to fixed on a goal or try to make something happen that’s not there, often it does not work in you favour. It only feels like an uphill climb and we can get disheartened by the journey. Boy, am I telling my story. However, once I let go and just went to the doors that were open to me, I am 100% happier and love what I am doing. I had no idea life could be this way. I am focused on what brings me joy and I have gratitude for the path I am on.

Of course, I did not anticipate this was the pedagogical journey I would take, nor was I prepared for the challenged I had to face, but change and being open to change has been integral to my success. Right now, I am reading a book about relationships, heartache, and letting go. This book about people but it could be about anything. I had no idea that letting go of practicum supervision, letting go of being the B.Ed. Coordinator, and letting go of portfolios would lead to more time to do what I love, teach courses that I love, and have the freedom to write and research during this spring/summer term without courses to teach. This is my first term not teaching any courses and I am wide open to doing research.

I never thought I would be here and feeling hopeful about what’s ahead. I can only do my best and do what’s best for me. I understand that now. A colleague and mentor of mine said that to me 2-years ago… be selfish. I never understood what that meant, but what it really means is, prioritize yourself. It’s taking me years to understand what I love, what makes me happy, and what I value. I am still learning and I am learning more about my value and what I bring to the table. I have nothing to lose. It’s just change. So, I am left with the conundrum of whether to continue with portfolios in one of my classes in teacher education, let it go, and if I should continue my weekly blog on this platform. Change is good.

April 29, 2025 – Visiting Family

In the last year or so, I’ve been focusing on work life balance and REST. In the beginning of 2024, I almost burned out. I had to catch myself. Saying “yes” to everything is unreasonable. As a result, I spent most of 2024 focussing on what “makes me happy” and ended the year with a few wins: (1) bought a townhouse; (2) gallbladder operation; and (3) ending the term well and feeling good about it. I also went to Las Vegas with my siblings and my kid in the winter time, and I spent the Christmas holiday in my new place. XO. I feel very grateful for 2024.

Now that we are almost 4-months into the 2025 school year, I wonder how I am doing with maintaining a work-life balance. I think that I am fully moved into my place and I believe that I have all that I want to have in my new place. My twin brother brought back a few boxes from Vancouver to Prince George, of which are stored in my garage. I do need to organize my garage, in a good way. So, I guess my home is a work in progress. I have also purchased a small BBQ and a plant for the patio. The plant did not survive, but I am enjoying BBQ dinners.

As for work, I’ve enjoyed my 4 classes in the Winter 2025 term. First, I was teaching classes that were in my areas of interest: math/numeracy, assessment, educational theory & practice, and instructional leadership. I enjoyed the subject matter and the students. I also learned a lot about myself and my practice. If anything, it was a fruitful semester and I look forward to teaching these courses again. Research is also part of my work. I was able to maintain the work for one research team and I learned how to co-create and submit a harmonized ethics application for another research group of which “I am leading.” It’s been too fun.

Once the marks were submitted, I took the time to taper the term with other work that I do with respect to service and research, but also take time for myself. For years, I would push myself and “keep going” rather than taking the time to rest and restore myself to keep what I do at the university sustainable. So, I did take a few days to go to the Lower Mainland to rest, get a massage, and visit family. As much as I could feel guilty in taking time for myself (beyond “be a person day”… aka. Saturdays), I feel that I needed to let my body and mind to do what it needed to do, to be where it needed to be, and be feel ready for the next term.

Now, I am heading back to work (after the Federal Election), and I feel good. It’s a lot of cognitive and emotional work to break habits that I’ve done for decades and find a new rhythm to keep what I do sustainable and enjoyable. Stress and busyness are not good metrics for success or happiness. I look forward to a term of writing and getting some stuff done. I have one more “promise” I have made to myself to conclude to the winter term. Let’s see how this goes. In the meantime, I am very happy with my work at the university and hope to continue for another few years with a renewed term contract. Onwards and upwards. 🙂

April 20, 2025 – Formative Feedback

The last possible day to submit grades for the Winter 2025 term is April 23rd. I’m glad that I met the due date with some time to spare. That said, I took some liberty with the final due date and last assignment submission. I was open to flexing the final due date for those who needed it, but I needed some flex too. For the last few years, I’ve been challenging myself and my pedagogy in terms of how to teach at the university that would be authentic and true to my values but also model what I was teaching and still being compliant to the university.

I started with my pedagogy… in teacher education and graduate studies. I think I have a strong hold of my approach to teaching in these classes. Students were helpful in providing me with feedback and helping how to I could approach teaching in higher education. Admittedly, I was driven by perceived expectations and stereotypes of what makes a “good professor.” I could not live up to those expectations, nor did I want to. It wasn’t like imposter syndrome. It was worse. I was being someone who I was not, and I was losing myself in the practice.

With each class, I wanted to do something different. Not being different for the same of being different, but rather being more like myself and aligning my practice to who I really was. The process was rather messy. Lots of mistakes or missteps were taken, but that’s where the learning really happens. The more vulnerable I was with my practice, the more aligned my assessment practices could be. Sadly, I was often in a cognitive struggle with who I wanted to be with whom I thought I should be. It wasn’t until Winter 2025 when it came together.

In brief, students in my teacher education classes offered unsolicited moral support and I received affirmation that was unexpected. They noticed my efforts and shared their appreciation with me. I wanted to hold that space for them but also accept those compliments at face value. In past, I would have shrugged them off and not believe them because I thought I had to always fix myself to be a better self. My graduate class was always fun. It’s amazing that they were able to recognize and call my class a “sharing circle” which I will not take for granted. Finally, my undergraduate class helped to turn a corner I thought I was unable.

Now, I approach my end of term marking period as a LEARNING opportunity for me. Instead of grading and evaluation… which involved lots of judgement and scrutiny… I took this marking season as a learning one. I was learning about what they learned. Did they meet the criteria? Did they personalize their learning? Did they complete the assignments? Did their work reflect who they are as a learner? Did they meet the expectation of the assignment? These questions regarding assessment made sense to me. The students completed the work, personalized their assignments, and met or exceeded expectations.

April 7, 2025 – Finding My Rhythm

As I approach the end of this 3-year contract as a full-time term faculty member, I am beginning to find my rhythm with teaching and learning in higher education. Can you believe that? I’ve joined the university almost 7 years ago. This is what I love about teaching. You can NEVER perfect this job. You are always learning. And when you feel like you have mastered the profession and you have nothing else to learn, adapt, or change… it’s time to retire or find a new job to pursue.

That sounds a bit intense. Another direction is burnout, but this blog post is not about that either. I want to dwell in my happiness and joy of my classes. This term I had 4 classes to teach: EDUC 421 (assessment and motivation), EDUC 376 (numeracy foundations in the elementary years), EDUC 201 (educational theory and practice), and EDUC 656 (instructional leadership). What a beautiful combination of courses (and students) to make this term sooooo awesome!!

In each course, I learned so much. In EDUC 421, I designed the course that aligned and responsive to their pedagogical learning needs. “I did not expect the course to end the way it did.” That’s what I said to the students at the end of the course. In EDUC 376, a 4-hour class, followed the 4-hour class of EDUC 421. It was an endurance test and because both classes were held on Mondays, we lost hours to professional development day and Family Day. I learned that I had to let go of the constraint of time and do what I could do in the time given.

I loved that I prioritized working with schools. In EDUC 421, we engaged in in-situ learning with Harwin Elementary, and in EDUC 376, we contributed to Family Numeracy Night at Edgewood Elementary. In EDUC 376, we had guest speakers from the school district and we went to 3 numeracy/math sessions with Carol Fullerton on the professional development day. I also engaged in personal professional development in math with BCAMT Interior and Mathematizing 24/7. I just so much learning about math/numeracy and working with folks in the field.

In EDUC 201, I learned so much. I always left that class thinking and wondering. We played and experimented. We examined equity in K-12 schools. I tested myself if I had the capacity to do teach this course and hold space for others. I learned what it means to be a student who is taking education as an elective course with some folks considering teacher education as a possible career. I was humbled and I felt scared most times because I was too worried about teaching the class that might be different from what they experienced in other undergraduate classes. In Week 8 or 9, we engaged in a Fish Bowl making MY LEARNING PUBLIC. That class was a game changer for me. Thank you all!!

Finally, EDUC 656 was an online class. After our first class, I knew this would be an awesome class. What a wonderful way to end the week and I always knew I would end the class inspired and revitalized. I would like to thank my colleague for pointing me in the direction of instructional leadership literature by Hallinger, of which how we started this class. Then we moved onto books by Peter Dewitt and Michael Fullan, and ended the course with Carolyn Roberts book on Re-storying Education. Wow. The pieced seemed to “fit together” serendipitously. We just had fun working with and listening to one another. I loved this course. I am hopeful.

I am teaching faculty. I am not on a tenure-track and I am not tenured or on a continuing contract. I am just learning how to be who I am. What a wonderful way to engage in Parker Palmer’s Heart of a Teacher – Identity and Integrity. I have approached this teaching year striving for AUTHENTICITY versus ATTACHMENT (re: Dr. Gabor Mate’s work). As precarious my position can be, I stopped worrying about (in fact, fearing) what others may think of me or my practice. I stayed true to my purpose and my love… the students and teaching.

March 30, 2025 – Change is a good thing

I missed blogging last week. I parked this weekly commitment to tend to other “things to do” that took precedent to my personal and professional reflections. I’m not sure if it was the best thing to do. Blogging has been something that I’ve been doing since I left teaching in K-12 in 2010. I would not have considered myself a good reader or writer. They were not my strengths is school, but interestingly I pursued a career that demands reading and writing. What is that all about? I often scratch my head at that notion, but here I am and I love it.

I mentioned in blogs before that I’ve tried a daily blog (like a couple of people I know) and I have landed at a weekly blog post. Now that I was able to reconnect with my old WordPress site, I am maintaining two blog posts per week, but it aches me when I’m unable to get to my weekly blog posts. Much like the experience of the students I teach, missing out on a regular routine of blogging, it’s is really hard to get back to the blogging process. However, as I reflect on last week, I am realizing that the brain/mind can only handle so much at a time.

Compassion, empathy, and kindness to self and others goes a long way for the learner and the teacher. This thinking brings me to my EDUC 201 class. They have been provoking my thinking (and being) as an educator in many ways. This year is my first time teaching this class in person. Last year, I taught the course online. That was my first time teaching the course. My first learning is, teaching undergraduate, graduate, and teacher education programs are very different and require a different approach or pedagogy from me (I believe).

Of course this idea of teaching differently for different courses makes sense, as well as teaching differently from year to year because whomever is in your class will be different. So, if you teach with “students at the centre” and are responsive to those in the room, you make decisions as to how the class will be delivered. That said, I am a person who likes to teach what I think is effective and what I want to learn about. In all of my classes, I am focused on equity, curriculum as policy, and decolonization. Within that framework, I am interested in activating teacher agency, student learning experiences, and educational leadership.

A couple of weeks ago, in EDUC 201, we engaged in a “fishbowl” activity where I was the learner who was making my “learning public.” We are reading Shafir and Dugan’s (2021) Street Data and in Chapter 7, it talked about professional learning and the teacher making their learning public to their peers to show their uncertainty and seek help and insight from their peers for support in a given situation. What a vulnerable suggestion from the book and personally, I have never witnessed or participated in such a professional learning activity in K-12.

So, why not? We had tried the “fishbowl” process earlier in the course, but it was super difficult because (1) it was our first time; (2) the topic was very challenging; and (3) students were able to change from the inner circle to the outer circle or vice versa. Nonetheless, it was good to return back to the “fishbowl” process to try again, but change the context and “rules of the bowl.” This time, we were engaging in making “my learning” public and the inner circle and outer circle did not change. The inner circle participate in the inquiry and the outer circle observe participants and listen to the conversation in the inner circle.

Of course, I brought a “real” concern to the inner circle to start the conversation. Folks in the inner circle started to ask questions to guide my thinking on my inquiry. The participants in the inner circle were OUTSTANDING. They where honest, kind, and compassionate. They were asking questions that brought light to my implicit biases on the situation and I was very uncomfortable (and vulnerable) because they were leading me to a “truth” that I wanted to deny or was resistant to. Our class is focused on equity in schools and what the inner circle brought me to a definitive place of unlearning. For this, I am very grateful.

What a powerful process and after the “fishbowl” activity, we reflected on the process. I learned that folks in the outer circle wanted to say something, but respected the process to witness and listen to the conversation. Also, they witnessed a reflective process and “change” was happening for the public learner. The “fishbowl” process and professional learning was AMAZING and I felt supported and held by the entire class. They created space for me and essentially encouraged me to keep moving forward and not lose sight of why.

EDUC 201 exceeded my expectations and I appreciated their willingness to participate. This experience influenced how I approached my teacher education and graduate classes in the following weeks. I had more confidence in what I was doing and I could feel good about being my authentic self. The focus is about learning and what I am learning is, my perceptions, feelings, and experiences of what I think how things should be in conflict with how I would like things to be are at odds, in my mind. And even if it is true in the real-world, I need to feel clear, calm, and confident with my practice and pedagogy. It’s ok.

March 17, 2025 – Working Together

On Thursday, March 14, 2025, I facilitated a session on Curriculum Mapping with faculty members. The Redesigned B.Ed. Curriculum at UNBC was first implemented in September 2020 and the program has taken several turns since it’s implementation during the pandemic with moving courses, changing courses, and replacing courses. What was first imagined in 2018/2019 by the curriculum development team shifted over time with its implementation. When we were making efforts to redesign the B.Ed. Curriculum in response to the changes in BC’s Curriculum (of which finalized in 2019) was an opportunity to envision what this program can offer teacher candidates to prepare them for the workplace. The program changed from a 2-year program to a continuous 16-month program, and we enacted two interwoven courses that run throughout.

The B.Ed. Redesign went through many consultations and was approved by the BCTC (BC Teachers Council) and the UNBC Senate. We had to update former courses but also make new ones. To chart out the courses and its progression, the program WIREFRAME was created. The general design was to start the program with more theoretical courses that are familiar to an undergraduate program, then would progress towards practice with practicum scaffolding over time from term to term from observation, experiential, formative to summative. As mentioned, the wireframe provided a framework for the program to implement courses over 4-terms (or 5-blocks) and we have changed a few courses for various reasons mentioned above. Curriculum Mapping is a process to check to see “how we are doing” to check if we are living up to our promises.

At first, I tried to implement this process digitally and hoped that folks would volunteer information about their course based on the 9 Professional Standards for BC Educators, 9 First Peoples Principles of Learning, and 9 relational ways of being and knowing (i.e., the Four R’s, Kirkness & Barnhardt, 2001). The 9-9-9 framework is taught during EDUC 446 (Indigenous/Aboriginal Education: Epistemology), one of the interwoven courses. Unfortunately, participation was incomplete and completing the Curriculum Map for the B.Ed. Program would be beneficial for our program review in the fall to show evidence how we are meeting the 9-9-9 within our program but also find examples that exemplify our Signature Pedagogy of People, Place, and Land. To re-approach the Curriculum Mapping Process, we met in person last week to highlight what we doing in each course. Although we were not all, the process was active and fruitful.

I am grateful that my colleague was willing to help me out with the Curriculum Mapping process and we co-planned the session last week. I also have the support of the Chair who made meeting in person possible (i.e., bringing regional faculty to Prince George, providing food during the day, and gathering together at the end of the day with dinner). What I enjoy most is faculty and staff members coming together to co-create, collaborate, and connect. We achieved what we had set out to do with Curriculum Mapping with folks who were there, and there were many side conversations that occurred amongst folks in the room to make decisions, to clarify, and to make-sense of how things are going and establishing possible next steps. We ended the day with a closing circle describing what “People, Place, and Land” means to us. I was just wowed.

There is quite a bit of work to do, such as catching up with folks who were not able to make it to the session, to collate the data into something meaningful, to analyze the map to determine if there are any gaps within our program, and to create a product or map that depicts the journey teacher candidates experience in our B.Ed. Program in the Regional Program and Prince George. A request was also made by one faculty member to make an effort to define “People, Place, and Land” for new faculty members and those who are looking for a direction or definition. Although defining the signature pedagogy was not yet established and was intended to form with each individual, it is certainly a topic for future discussion (possibly at the program retreat during the summer). I am thankful to move forward with this project and look forward to next steps.

March 9, 2025 – What are the odds?

The more that I am open to life and embracing the uncertain and unplanned, of which has turned out in ways better than I expected or imagined, I was so grateful to bump into this person. He lives in Prince George and we’ve worked on some student supervision and manuscripts together over the past few years. For me, the last 10-years have been a whirlwind for me and experiencing many life changes and trying to make sense of them, sometimes you just need a person to lean on to get over some of the perceived obstacles life gives you.

Well, this person was one of those people I could lean on. I’m not sure if he had thought he would be that person, but I really needed him to “treat me like a person”… but also provide perspective, share stories, and have space for me. Anyway, I learned a lot from him about statistical analysis (and Spain… LOL), and he sent me a photo on a messenger platform of noodles. I think he was trying to make me jealous. The irony was, I just landed in YVR and was on SkyTrain heading to Vancouver then Metrotown for a “be a person” weekend.

Guess what? My friend was in Burnaby at Metrotown for a business meeting. Huh? A little serendipity? Was it meant to be? YES… it was. It’s so strange because we are often challenged to meet in Prince George because of our schedules and here we are… in the Lower Mainland, no less… at Metrotown. A long story made short, we met for “late hours” at Cactus Club to say hello. We had a lengthy conversation. We chatted for 2.5 hours. Time just flew by. The place was super busy too. I guess it would be. It was Friday night. LOL. 🙂

I just loved how my friend asked me if I was in Vancouver for business or pleasure. I said… PLEASURE. It’s ok to spend some time for yourself. I say that, but it has taken me decades to figure that out. Now that I know and understand the value of rest, sleep, and valuing yourself, I am taking these moments with lots of intention. I have now embedded “be a person day” (aka., Saturdays) to just do what I want to do (that’s not work related), in a guilt-free, happy way. Sometimes it would be doing chores or just doing nothing. It did not matter.

This weekend, I’m in Vancouver to attend an event TONIGHT with Dr. Gabor Maté as a VIP ticket holder, but I also went to my favourite restaurants, got a massage, and went to my aunt’s 83rd birthday party. Furthermore, I’m staying in a hotel. Very bougie. Normally, I would stay at my brother’s but he was not feeling well, so this weekend is really “Christine’s Day” and I’m enjoying it. So, but bump into my friend and to spend some time with him chatting away about anything about life and staying in the present, I could not ask for anything more.