Iskʷist Nadine BenRabha and I am feeling proud and grateful. In our Grade 1/2 class we begin everyday with a circle. We introduce ourselves in nsyilxcən and share how we are feeling on a scale of 1 to 10 and elaborate with context and descriptive emotion words (we are working on our feelings vocabulary). As I reflect on our class, and on my experience teaching it, themes that rise to the fore are adaptability, community, and teamwork. 

I co-teach this class and feel privileged and grateful for the way we communicate and work together to both bring our strengths to teaching our class.

The theme of helping one another extends to our students. Our class, like so many, is home to a wide range of levels in literacy, numeracy, and social-emotional skills. We have many students who need support throughout the day, and I am proud of our class’ resilience and culture. Our community of students are eager and willing to help one another.

One of the regular ‘When I am done’ choices is ‘helping a classmate’ and I frequently look up from working with a student to see clusters of peers helping one another complete and comprehend their school work. I have seen classmates gently help each other regulate at the carpet. A guest teacher recently remarked at how amazing our class was at helping one another. 

I feel proud and grateful.