our BLOG

Even though equal opportunity for equal benefit is central to its meaning, fairness does not mean that everybody gets what they want. It does mean that everybody has an equal opportunity to benefit. For example, a teacher may offer computer time only for students who have completed their work. That’s fair, because everyone has the opportunity to finish their work. It would not be fair if the teacher only offered computer time to…

These times especially require elevated trust levels among all of us in our community. Our very welfare and health depends on creating a circle of safety and the only way we can do that is to rely upon teachers, staff, parents and students to work together for the common good. And, we are so fortunate that this has been our experience. At the same time we recognize a responsibility to guide our students by modelling behaviours and teaching how trust is created and sustained…

To say that the last twelve months have been trying would be an understatement. Uncertainty and fear have left many of us feeling powerless and exhausted. We’ve had to contend with the capriciousness of government leaders, manage the health and safety of our school community, and address the rightful worry of parents. But through it all we have managed…

History matters when you’re engaged in making good people. History informs how we interpret what is happening around us. It provides insight into the motivations behind social change and provides momentum to embracing change. So, while this is only one month, Walden International School is committed to ensuring that our children move into society with a broad grasp of what is true and are motivated to create...

Often it is the kids that will lead us. In their fresh and still relatively innocent view of the world they are able to see opportunities that we adults might dismiss as too difficult or too simple or just too obvious! Their ideas, inspired by our guidance, help us make the choices that differentiate between passive acceptance of ‘reality’ and challenging generally accepted ‘rules’.

When we support activities such as Orange Shirt Day…

As tragic and difficult as the pandemic has been, there have been silver linings and golden learnings. Although we were kept incredibly busy while recalibrating for remote learning and then creating a safe environment to which our students could return, the shut down provided an opportunity to re-think and in many cases re-invent how we would operate the school.

Our teachers had the chance to consider where they could most effectively bring...

Among the many lessons we’ve learned in the past several months one stands out. We are on the right track in our determination to make good people. Of that I have little doubt and I am so thankful that our parents have shared their support for our approach. This month I am committing our team to doubling down on this effort. Even within our small community the ripple effect of building a culture of decency, dignity and respect will have vast repercussions….

During my twenty years as an educator I have been fortunate to learn many valuable lessons and pursue my vision of educating young people. That vision revolves around a belief that we must create an educational eco-system where our children can flourish.Further, I believe that we must establish an environment where students are nurtured with learning experiences that embrace a culture of compassion and empathy for the individual…

After the longest March break in history, we’ve all been excited to have the kids come back to school. Yes, we have some very stringent new protocols to follow and it feels somewhat odd but hearing the chatter and laughter in the hallways and classrooms is heartening. I think we sometimes take for granted the joyous squeals, laughter, and even tears let out by our students. After six months of preparing for a safe-as-possible return to campus, it was absolutely wonderful to have our students back.

COVID-19 and social isolation have provided me with the opportunity to open my eyes.

This pandemic has forced me to slow down, to be authentically mindful, to be appreciative of family, of downtime, of myself. I have found a way to give myself permission to being OK.

While I can appreciate that there are parents who face real challenges with maintaining a sensible work/life integration…

Our motto at Walden is Making Good People and as part of that commitment, we teach students the importance of contributing to the community we share. We wanted to continue with our annual Spring food drive but this time we had to be more creative in how organized this drive,” said Christine Johnston, PK Teacher and Walden’s ME to WE coordinator. “These are hard times for many families. People have lost their jobs and struggle to put food on the table…

Have you experienced the banging of pots and pans in an early evening salute to front line workers? It’s a raucous symphony of gratitude for the people who put the needs of others above their own.

For this week’s post I chose to take a slightly different tack and bang some virtual pots and pans for our teachers. I was inspired to do this when I read this article about one teacher’s experience with teaching during the pandemic. This lead me to ask some of our Walden teachers to share how they’ve been adapting.

Reinvention has become a constant in all of our lives and with it has come a requirement to adapt rapidly to new learning and lessons being placed before us on an almost daily basis.

If there is one standout lesson among many learned during the COVID-19 impact on our school it is this: our community - parents, students, teachers and administrative staff - has responded with remarkable initiative…

Whether you’re 8 or 68, brain breaks are a great way to refresh our minds. What is a brain break? It is a short mental break that helps us refocus so we can return to our task feeling centered and ready to proceed.

We’ve incorporated these refreshing mental pauses into our daily programmes at Walden and it’s something to introduce with your home-learning programmes too. We’ve learned that brain breaks help children (and adults) re-energize their brains and bring their attention back in a more focused fashion.

By now you’ve all seen the many memes on social media about homeschooling. I have two favourites at the moment. The first was a tweet from Shonda Rhimes, the head writer of Grey’s Anatomy. “Been homeschooling a 6-year old and 8-year old for one hour and 11 minutes. Teachers deserve to make a billion dollars a year. Or a week.”

The second is another tweet from @TheNextMartha. “Our homeschooling curriculum includes: Honours Laundry and AP Vacuuming.”…

We were chatting with some friends on the weekend. Online, not in person. That’s what we do for now. We were talking about our kids and how they were managing the Covid-19 state of emergency.

He said, “It’s especially difficult for them because they have never experienced anything like this.”

It’s hard to know where to start. There is so much coming down the pipe at all of us right now we could easily succumb to overwhelm.

Feeling overwhelmed is perhaps the most common symptom of anxiety and it can affect us both mentally and physically.

We are monitoring the COVID-19 situation on a daily basis as part of our commitment to keeping you informed.

With particular reference to the last point, we have implemented upgraded cleanliness protocols for the school. We take standards for hygiene and cleanliness very seriously and are taking additional steps to ensure the safety of our Walden community.

When I was young my mother saw a classified ad in our Mississauga neighbourhood newspaper. It offered training for people interested in doing voice-over work for commercials and films. She said, “Daphne, you should do this!”

Next thing I knew I was signed up for broadcast training. As it turned out, I was pretty good and since that time I’ve been doing professional voice-over work.