Sunday, May 10, 2015

Paddling Together - Our Journey Continues


Our minds and hearts are full on this sunny Sunday morning after another amazing journey through the NOII Symposium over the last 2 days. We were at standing room only (really!), packed to the brim with thoughtful, engaged, empowering educators working together to ensure that every kid crosses the stage with dignity, purpose, options, curiosity, passion, resilience. The theme of passion and purpose was a good reminder to be excited, to stay energized, to continue to ask and seek answers to hard questions…and to be thoughtful and focused when putting this all into action. Over 20 students participated in the Symposium this year, sharing their unique perspectives and contributing to rich dialogue, making this one of the best legs of the journey thus far. 

My mind is full with new ideas and new ways to move my practice forward. My heart if full with all the new friendships and connections that I know will help me along the way, even when things get tough (as we know things can). That’s powerful. But it can be overwhelming too – I don’t want to forget the multitude of perspectives presented over the last 48 hours (uncovering curriculum, passion to praxis, grounding our work, putting the Ferrari into gear!). Luckily, with so many participants capturing ideas at #noii2015, we have much to now reflect on. Thanks to Jennifer Delvecchio, we also have this storify (see below) which pulls many thoughts into one place. We’ll also be posting more on the NOII website very soon – more to come.

To everyone who attended, contributed, volunteered in numerous thoughtful ways – we thank you…meegwetch, gilakas’la, huy chexw, kw’as ho:y, kinanâskomitin, (add others in the comments below!). The Network has always been a combination of multiple moving parts. As Judy and Linda have so thoughtfully reminded us, the Spiral of Inquiry is about all of us – it doesn’t exist without our collective efforts.

On that note, remember to save the date of May 12 – 14th 2016 for next year’s Symposium!

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