Why I Loved 2015

I loved this year for the most part. There were a lot of things that made me not like it on a global level, and I think many of us feel the same way, but on a personal I think it was a great year.

Here are some of my favourite things of 2015

Finding my writing voice I started writing. Not just writing, but I found my voice to write about issues I truly care about. Like race and inequity. I never had the courage to do that, even though in real life I already do this work. But this feels like an amazing accomplishment to me.  

EduColor The former happened because I also joined EduColor  a social justice movement in education that focuses on issues of race, culture and ethnicity. EduColor empowers people of colour like myself to speak out against injustice and inequity and focuses on improving some of the systemic problems in education that marginalizes kids.

I was brave enough to share my story this story took a lot of courage to write and share, but I’m proud to say that I did. “I was a refugee, I’m haunted by images of child refugees” was first published on PBSNewshour.

My writing reached the heart of teachers I’m humbled to have this post be #2 best blog posts on Edutopia. The impact it had on teachers makes me feel so grateful to be able to write on teaching and education and help others while doing so.

 The Writing Project I have been working on the Writing Project with Design Cofounders team and looking forward to launch soon!

EdSpeakers Board Member I was invited by Shelly Sanchez to join Edspeakers.com cooperative. Check out my recent interview with Shelly about our goals for 2016:

Edublogs Nominations So I’m not really a fan of ‘best lists’ but I was excited to see my name being nominated for the best teacher blog, best individual blog, and best tweeter!!

I ❤️ NY We visited New York for 3 days in October and I loved it.

I was struck by seeing and hearing some of the things from Jose about his school and how things were run. Unfortunately, many schools are the same way. This needs to change.

Surveillance in schools is not an environment to make students feel safe and trusted. But I was so happy to see how Jose made his students feel safe in the classroom:  

EdCampToronto was a Success We worked very hard on this event and I was very happy with the results. People connected, shared great ideas and learned a lot. EdCampToronto happened at Design Cofounders, a great design studio that inspired many teachers to use space differently in the classroom.

Our theme was Education for Social Impact and we had an amazing panel of educators doing impactful things in education. 
I was especially happy to see social justice to be a topic discussed throughout the day.

I feel very lucky to work with amazing people who continue to support me and my work and always look forward to meeting new people to collaborate with.  If you’re interested in working together, get in touch with me here.