I have lost count of the number of times I have been told that rules without relationships lead to rebellion. Yet today, relationships with students seem to be feared instead of embraced. Over the years, quite by accident, I have discovered that this precept from days gone by is critical to classroom rules and to learning itself. Relationships are an essential part of learning, especially relationships between teachers and students.

What if the problem isn’t just how students respond to feedback, but how we deliver it? What if, instead of handing out scores, we gave students the opportunity—and the space—to reflect on their learning?

While teaching a Western Civilization course to high school students, I found a unique opportunity to introduce the topic of critical thinking along with the subject matter.

All people living collectively in Canada are “treaty people,” meaning that we all have rights and responsibilities for this land we call home.

At first glance, the Montessori method and the Science of Reading appear to be opposing philosophies. But if you look closer, they are in fact surprisingly similar.

Over the years, I’ve found one of the best ways to help kids understand how an economy works is to have them take an active role in managing their own money.

Not only do visual arts classes make space in a student’s day for creativity, they can also offer a chance to focus on something bigger.

When I reflect on my years working in classrooms with students, I think about how much time it took to access and use essential technology B.G. (before Google). I compare it with what it must have been like for people before electricity and after electricity. B.G.

We don’t have to choose between structure and creativity. The best teaching lives in the in-between, where we follow a script, but we fill it with our stories, our students’ voices, and our classroom rhythms.