Welcome, Eagles!

As students in each group choose identifying metaphors, there are repeated images, often chosen for different reasons. For one group, it was the hardy, cheeful sunflower, and so they remain "the sunflowers" in my mind long after they've graduated. Maybe this habit of linking a group with an image is reminiscent of my primary teaching days. Over the years, I taught the River Room, the Sunshine Room, and the Huskies. I once drew a cartoon of Primary Polly, a wise-beyond-her-years young teacher who said, "You know you're really in trouble when your students choose the slug as their mascot"! But luckily, mine never did. A common metaphor gave us a sense of identity as a community and helped to create the relationships that allow children to learn from each other, which by far magnifies the learning that will occur when the teacher is the only source. So, in this new video-linked northwestern BC cohort, we had much diversity but we did have two eagles, enough to make the image more vivid than others. So welcome, eagles. May this time in your life be a great time of renewal. I will come back later to explain the link between eagles and renewal that I learned from Marilyn, a student from Singapore. Check back soon...and feel free to respond to the blog invitation and post your own identity images.