BCSTA Director Candidate

A Tidal Wave

Yup. A hat-trick of blog entries today… Yay you!!!  In an earlier blog titled The Body Knows, I had mentioned I was sick and took a couple of days off.  My was body telling me to slow down but it has taken me several weeks to get back up to speed.  As I get “life in order” I realize there is a tidal wave coming!!!  Goodbye life of leisure and hello chaos.  Soon after spring break and Easter long weekend, life will be busy with contract work, meetings, and conferences.  By planting seeds everywhere to see what takes, I’m am faced with many opportunities.  Unfortunately, times are conflicting.  As I try to rebook and reschedule, it is not a perfect fit.  It’s about making choices.  What is important to me?  Where am I going?  What are my limitations?  I guess we’ll soon find out.

Courage

From the beginning of this Edu-Blog, I’ve been struggling with courage.  What does it mean to JUMP… to take risks… or try something new?  I’ve spent much of my life calculating the outcome, playing it safe, and doing what I thought I was suppose to do.  More than two years ago, I jumped… and left the comforts of my teaching career to explore other avenues in education and challenge some of my false beliefs.  At first, I wanted to commit my time to writing my dissertation, but I had other “work” to accomplish first.  More than 5 years ago, I had a vision of working at the university, public speaking, and becoming an educational leader.  Guess what?  I’m there and surpassed my expectations.  It is absolutely incredible and I’m grateful.  What’s next?  I am back to student mode and writing my dissertation.  It’s time for the next step and I’m not sure what it entails.  What I do know is that I am dreaming bigger and I’m looking forward to growing up.

One Step at a Time

My Kid… Completed 10 Levels of Swimming by Age of 9

My kid is a source of inspiration.  I thought I would go through life not having children.  I was so focused on my career and in my 30’s.  At the time, it seemed impossible to have children and be successful at work.  Well, it was kind of true… at least for me… I became a mediocre mom and a pretty good teacher.  Truthfully, I wanted to be excellent at both.  Nonetheless, life moves forward and we learn from our experiences.  For the past 9 years, Zoe has taught me many life lessons and I am truly grateful.  One of them just happened a few days ago.  It’s the beginning of spring break and it dawned on me that Zoe’s swimming lessons were over.  We picked up her report card at the pool and she PASSED… Level 10.  That is totally incredible to me considering I don’t know how to swim.  What I realized is, we can accomplish great things by taking one step at a time, by doing what we love, and by enjoying the experience instead of dwelling on the outcome.  You did it Zoe!  Congratulations!

Do Your Best

The Straight Coffee – Wilson Creek, BC

Lately, I’ve been thinking about “What am I going to do with my life?”  You know… it’s the classic “What am I going to do when I grow up” question.  There is no question in my mind that my purpose involves teaching, learning, and leadership.  I am in the field of education.  I derive great joy from sharing ideas, inspiring others, and taking the first step.  This knowing is a gift.  I love public education, teaching teachers, and diffusing the fears of learning mathematics.  All I can do is DO MY BEST and the rest is in the hands of others.  Which leads me to this bagel and lemon loaf.  If you don’t know already, I’m a bit of a foodie.  I enjoy going to the Straight Coffee.  They started off as a little coffee shop in Wilson Creek with maybe 12 seats and a limited menu.  They were great then.  Now, they have more than 30 seats, a full kitchen, a wide selection of sweets & savories, and coffee too.  Their success comes from doing their best at what they do.  Because of that, I keep returning.  Life’s Lesson: Do your best and success will come.

A Good Place

Stop. Take a moment and reflect on your day.  How did it go for you?  Sometimes we get so consumed by getting things done that we lose sight of what we accomplished.  Today it seemed like I was in the right place at the right time.  Do you get these moments?  Sometimes these special moments occur at a special event, like your birthday, or sometimes on a regular day, like this one.  Today was suppose to be no different than any other day… but today, I feel like I’m in a good place.  I had the great fortune of having coffee with a good friend, I bumped into another friend at the mall, then I had some quiet time alone to “get things done” and reflect.  Today was an amazing day!  I realized that I have good people in my life.  I am doing things that I love to do.  And, I sense I am closer to my life’s purpose than I have ever felt.  This is truly rewarding.  I don’t know exactly what I am meant to do with my life, but I do believe that everything happens for a reason and I’m grateful.  Lately, I feel like I’m in the shift… another one.  Not sure what it will entail, but I’m excited.  I embrace change because it’s suppose to happen.  Don’t fight it.  To strive is to arrive… and learning something new is super awesome.  I hope that you are having a similar day.  It feels great to be in a good place.  I am a natural winner.

The Body Knows

Ever since returning from the Hawaii International Conference on Education in January, 2013 has been moving along in a flurry.  I have not had much time to reflect on my experiences nonetheless move forward to explore other ones.  I’m not sure where January went and I cannot believe it’s already March.  With much to accomplish, I don’t want to slow down.  From one event to another, from one meeting to another, from learning experience to another… I was beginning to feel like I had no time.  The last thing I wanted to do was slow down.  The body knows... I kept doing more, sleeping less, and eating/exercising when I could.  Soon after presenting at the BCTF New Teachers’ Conference a few days ago, I got sick.  Your classic cold… runny nose, headache, and sore throat.  I had to stop.  Two full-days of rest and nothing else… I feel much better now.  Life’s Lesson:  Listen to yourself.  If you need a break, take it.  Otherwise, you’ll just get sick. 

BCTF NTC 2013

BCTF New Teachers Conference 2013, Richmond, BC

I had the great fortune of presenting at the BCTF New Teachers’ Conference 2013.  It was a well attended two day conference with approximately 400 new teachers, teachers teaching on-call, and teacher candidates.  My workshop was scheduled on the second day in the afternoon (aka the last session of the conference).  I was a little concerned about attendance and what I was attempting to present.  I learned two weeks ago at the BCAMT New Teachers’ Conference that new teachers know a lot about formative assessment.  How could I make “The Implementation Dip” mildly relevant?  Yup.  Another workshop about Assessment for Learning and formative assessment.  With the help of my daughter, we had 10 out of 12 attending and many of them engaged.  These teachers asked excellent questions… thought provoking and edgy.  Personally, I loved it.  These teachers make me hopeful… with their pedagogy, critical thinking, and assessment practices.  Yay You New Teachers…

Honesty

Call me naive.  Call me stupid.  Call me ignorant.  It is in my nature to want to trust everyone.  I want to believe the good in others.  I want others to trust in me.  Why am I a politician?  I begin to question… What am I doing?  Where am I going?  How am I getting there?  On my pedagogical journey, I became disconnected.  Less than three years ago, I lost my sense of purpose.  I was a successful mathematics teacher.  I loved teaching mathematics.  I was even the department head.  After 15 years of service, I left the profession.  Why not stay teaching?  It seemed like a good fit.  Unfortunately, I was misaligned.  As a teacher, I valued building relationships with my students and colleagues such that you could not distinguish between the teacher-self and true-self.  What you got was me, like it or not.  In my last few years of teaching, showing signs of weakness or strength seemed unacceptable.  Aside from a few close friends, I was unsure of who I could trust.  By the end of my teaching career, I felt lied to, hurt, and misled.  I needed to find my authentic self again.  Who could I trust?  Could I be honest?  Could I be trusted?  With much reflection, soul searching, and forgiveness… I found myself.  As an educational consultant, school trustee, and SFU Site Assistant, I am honest.  I am trusted.  What you see is what you get.  What a relief…  It feels great to be realigned and reconnected.  My dreams and aspirations for educational leadership are within an arms reach, my false beliefs were challenged and dispelled, and my faith in others (and myself) restored.  My next personal challenge to overcome is my dissertation.  It’s about trusting myself, being honest with myself, and having the courage to move forward because it’s the right thing to do.  

Professional Learning

BCSTA Provincial Council at the Wosk Centre

My name is Christine Younghusband and I am a professional development junkie.  When I was a practicing mathematics teacher, I would attend any conference, workshop, or in-service session; I engaged in various teacher leadership opportunities endorsing teacher professional development; and I was the School Pro-D Rep.  Today, I continue to work with the BCAMT Executive, I assist with a Master of Education Cohort at SFU, and I present to teachers as a consultant.  As school trustee, I continue my professional learning as a Board member, SD46 Education Committee Chair, and BCSTA Education Committee Member.  Last weekend I seized the opportunity to observe part of Provincial Council at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue in Vancouver.  My understanding of governance is broadened and I appreciated being acknowledged by the BCSTA President as the BCSTA representative on the Ministry of Education Standing Committee on Provincial Curriculum.  Learning is fun.  Yay me.