Colleen Elep e-learning, English As Second Language (ESL), General

Language Learning App Review

As an ESL/ELD resource teacher, I often get asked about what apps are beneficial for students who are learning English. This can be a tricky question! On one hand, I believe that spontaneous oral communication and interactions are the best way for students to acquire proficiency in an additional language. At the same time, I understand that teachers need resources to support their students, especially when they are in the early steps of acquiring English. While ESL accommodations and modifications may help to’level the playing field’ for newcomer students in the mainstream classroom, I think it is still important for English learners to receive explicit, targeted English language instruction, especially when they arrive in Canada during the intermediate grades. This is where language learning technology can play a huge role: many newer programs are designed to cater to the interests of learners, and follow a scope and sequence that aligns with international language acquisition continua.

Language learning technology has advanced significantly over recent years: there are a slew of fantastic options that make language learning fun and engaging. Let’s take a look at a few language learning apps that are fun for kids and adults alike to use. If any of these options sound intriguing, you can easily sign up for a week long trial to see if it will work for you or your students.

Drops by Kahoot

Drops is a fabulous language learning app that hails from the same company as Kahoot, a company whose app became ubiquitous in the virtual teaching world. Users of Kahoot will recognize the dark purple interface and illustration style, along with the same easy to use, immersive, and exciting virtual environment of their quiz games. I absolutely love this language learning app for the same reasons I love Kahoot: it is fun, intuitive, and has an element of urgency to keep you on your toes.

Drops is an app that is best used on a mobile device. The app works by feeding the user a steady flow of highly visual vocabulary learning activities. Once you have correctly identified the meaning and spelling of a word a certain amount of time, you have “mastered” the word or phrase and can move on to new ones. The app is great for supporting students who are getting regular oral practice in the classroom or through other immersive situations.

I could see this app being used by an older multilingual learner who enjoys games and is accustomed to using a mobile device. Drops does not have a dashboard teachers can see or monitor learning, so a teacher would have to check in with the learner regularly to see how they are progressing through the app.

LingoPie

Lingo Pie capitalizes on the access Netflix has to content from all over the world. You can watch multilingual shows and movies from all over the world, geared for different ages and levels of language acquisition. The subtitles are interactive, and the user can click on words they don’t know. After the content has been watched, Lingo Pie generates a set of digital flashcards the student can use to practice.

This is a fun app that enables learners to experience language through media and storytelling. I could see a teacher having a single subscription and sharing the media on a projector, pausing when a student or students identify an unfamiliar word. This app could have great potential with French or any international language app.

Mondly

Mondly is Pearson’s contribution to the language app world, and it does not disappoint. Educators will feel comfortable using content from such a well known publisher, and the website does indeed offer purchasing options for schools and boards. Mondly presents basic vocabulary and phrases for multilingual students, and students can learn the target language using instructions and prompts from their home language (ex. there is an Arabic interface for those learning English as the target language; you could learn Romanian from Turkish, or French from Chinese). The app produces a daily lesson, and students can complete that lesson or move forward if they’d like. The app can be used on both mobile and desktop devices.

Another great aspect about Mondly is that there is a version for young kids with child friendly graphics. My daughter in grade 1 enjoyed playing it!

I could see this app being used widely by multilingual learners of different ages. It is a great way for students to practice at home, or in school during periods of independent work. In my dream classroom, my entire class would using it to learn the language of their choice!

Lexia for English Learners

Lexia, whose reading app has become widely used and praised, also has created a program for English learners. This app is designed for desktop use, and has culturally responsive characters that appeal to kids through storytelling and subject based learning. Students do not require literacy skills in the target language to start the app, as it is focuses on building oral foundations for students: much of the initial part of the app is based on listening and students speaking to the app.

To support its methodology, Lexia has published a series of rather informative and useful articles explaining the pedagogy of the program. As you might expect, the app is rather costly. However, the subscription package does offer some flexibility so educators can make the most out of it during the school year.

Which App is the Best?

As with all technology, it is more than worthwhile to give it a good test run before making the investment. Much of the effectiveness of the app will depend on how it is utilized and the extent to which it compliments the ongoing language instruction happening in the school.

Coloured felt letters on a black felt background.
Colleen Elep English As Second Language (ESL), English Language Learners (ELLs), General

On Supporting English Language Acquisition in the Mainstream Classroom: A Blog in 2 Parts

This summer I will have the privilege of facilitating a workshop with new teachers in my board at a New Teacher’s Conference. The topic is one that I know has stymied many teachers for a long time, including myself: how do you support newcomer students in acquiring English in the mainstream classroom?

Answering this question is a challenge – even with all the policy documents and resources out there, the reality is always more nuanced and complex than it seems.

In my own conversations with teachers, I have noticed a trend where there is decreasing support for English Language Learners (ELLs) in schools, as ESL support staff are being utilized all too often to cover classes in schools where there is a supply teacher shortage. Support for ELLs is critical, especially for newcomer students who need accelerated instruction in English to build vocabulary, speaking, and listening skills.

Another element that makes teaching ELLs a challenge in Ontario is the fact that ESL programming in elementary school is based on accommodations and modifications to the curriculum. Yes, accommodations and modifications are essential to adapting the learning environment to ELLs. These adaptations create an entry point for ELLs and make equitable assessment and evaluation possible for teachers. But there is still a missing piece: how do we actually do the work of teaching the essential, oral foundations of English?

Additional or Foreign Language classes are typically focused on teaching students the basics of the target language: how to greet others, to interact in practical situations, build vocabulary, or how to use different verb tenses. While the secondary curriculum offers specific courses that address the usage and mechanics of English, there is no specific ministry resource that provides a scope of learning expectations that address the unique needs of elementary English language learners. Sure, we have the STEP continua – but this document is more of a list of look for we might see as ELLs acquire English, and not a comprehensive list of learning expectations.

What I often see in schools is the expectation that newcomer students will acquire the oral foundations of English from interacting with other students or being immersed in the English saturated world of Canada. And for the most part, this is largely what happens. For younger children in Kindergarten and the primary grades, English acquisition happens through structured play, the explicit teaching of foundational literacy skills, and texts and lessons that are highly visual and graphic. Teachers may incorporate practices like language experience approach and picture word inductive model that support academic vocabulary acquisition for English learners.

Older students in the intermediate grades are in a much different position. Older ESL students may have completed the majority of their learning in another language, not to mention in another school system with a curriculum different from the Ontario’s. Entering a new classroom can be exciting for newcomer students, but also difficult if they perceive that their prior learning and language skills have no place in their new learning environment. Many students go through “silent phases”, or appear disconnected or disengaged from classroom activities. As a result, many classroom teachers often feel at a loss of what to do, especially if they are unused to working with newcomer students. In my discussions with many classroom teachers, they are often wondering:

  • How do I teach them to start speaking and understanding English?
  • Are they bored?
  • What more can I do for the student?

While I wish there was more specificity to ESL programming beyond modifications and accommodations, there are many strategies teachers can use to make the work of teaching ELLs feel more purposeful and intentional without adding additional weight to the current workload. In the next blog, I will focus on unpacking some ways educators can integrate English language instruction into their regular classroom teaching.

Cover Image Source: Magda Ehlers, Pexels
Sharon Ethier General

Book Choices

In the classroom, I spend a lot of time with my students on how they could choose books for independent reading. We go to the library or I set out our classroom library books and then we unpack the “IPICK” method from The Daily Cafe resource by Gail Boushey and Allison Behne. I love their framework for my literacy program and this method helps to give me the language to encourage children to make thoughtful reading choices. The acronym “IPICK” uses friendly language to elicit reflection when selecting books.

I – I choose a book (look it over inside and out)
P – Purpose (why do I want to read this book?)
I – Interest (does this book interest me?)
C – Comprehend (do I understand what I am reading?)
K – Know the words (do I know most of the words?)

I intentionally do a lot of modelling and practice with the students on how to select a book. For example, I show how I might open the book and read the first page to see if I understand the story; we talk a lot about what interests us (genres, topics, etc), and I model how I choose the same authors for my own reading choices; ones I know that I love their style or their genres. I do all of this to try and develop students’ desire to become lifelong readers and to have the skills to choose books that they will be able to feel successful reading.

Lately, I’ve been wondering whether my teaching does create lifelong readers; surely, the logistics of teaching students how to choose a book for themselves must make it easier to make a selection when looking at all of the vast possibilities that the library holds. Then why do I hear from parents the struggle to encourage their teens and pre-teens to read independently outside of school?

Recently, I read an Edutopia article by Kasey Short (https://www.edutopia.org/article/favorite-writers-middle-school) who was wondering the same thing. In this article, she writes that most engaging texts for upper elementary students:

– have the power to show early adolescent readers that they’re not alone in their feelings and circumstances
– provide positive examples for how readers can speak up for themselves and others
– offer understanding of those who are different from them
– provide insight into real-world situations
– serve as a mental health break and escape from the real world

This made sense to me and outlined some of the missing pieces in my thinking. I needed to think about the books that I was highlighting for students in my classroom. I needed to consider modelling my own, I’ll call them ‘emotional’ choices for reading as opposed to focussing on ‘practical’ choices for reading. Not just modelling the mechanics of looking at the first page to see if I could read the words, but thinking about what I think makes a book a ‘page turner’ for me and how that might change depending on my mood or interests. These criteria for engaging texts explain a little more explicitly the Purpose (why do I want to read this book?) and Interest (what do I want to learn about?) for which I was missing the language as a junior or intermediate educator.
As I begin planning for September, I keep these criteria in mind, and consider how to create space for these types of conversations about reading with students. Getting to know them as readers and helping them to reflect on their own identities as readers will be an interesting journey!

Iyanuoluwa Akinrinola Before School Starts, General, Great Gifts for Teachers, Inspiring Teachers, Mindfulness, Wellbeing, wellness, Wellness, Year End Reflection

Summer

Photo by Mariam Antadze

 

In the summer’s warm embrace, we find reprieve,
Teachers, once tireless souls, now stand at ease,
Amidst the sun-kissed days and skies of blue,
A tranquil haven for hearts and minds anew.

A well-deserved respite from the classroom’s heave.
Beneath the warm sun’s glow, they shed their weight,
And embark on journeys to rejuvenate
Seeking inspiration as time flies.

In gardens, teachers tend to bloom with care,
Nurturing life, compassion, they will share.
As flowers bloom, so do their hearts renew,
With gratitude for all the children’s crew.

Amongst the pages of a favourite book,
They lose themselves in tales that kindly hook.
Imagination soars on wings unfurled,
As wisdom from each word begins to swirl.

For even in repose, they still impart,
The wisdom sown within each student’s heart,
For teachers’ nurturing never truly ends,
Their love of learning, like a river, wends.

As the sun sets low, painting skies aglow,
Teachers breathe in summer’s tranquil flow.
For in these moments, they find the grace,
To prepare their hearts for the next school’s embrace.

So, let us savour this summer’s delight,
Relaxing, unwinding, and taking flight.
For when autumn arrives, we’ll shine anew,
Our souls invigorated, ready to inspire once again.

Brenda MacNaughton General

Summer Reading -Focusing on Indigenous Authors

Reading outdoors on a summer’s day is one of my favourite activities and this year one of my goals is to read more books from the perspective of Indigenous Peoples so I can better understand my students and our community. Today I’ll share a few books by Indigenous authors for learning and pleasure.

Both Braiding Sweetgrass and the TRC Summary are books I am rereading because they are packed full of information and stories that are valuable to teachers. These texts are very helpful if you’re like me, a settler who had very little exposure or education about Indigenous ways of knowing and/or residential schools.

Daughters of the Deer was recently recommended by a friend.  I have read the author’s picture book, Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox to many classes so I’m very excited to read her first novel. When doing research for this blog I saw that Danielle Daniel has a new picture book, Sometimes I Feel Like a River, so I’ll be reading that one too!

Miichi Saagiig Nishnaabeg: This is Our Territory is a book that really speaks to me because I have lived in this territory all my life. I’m sure readers around the world will enjoy this book but also check and see if you there is a book published specifically about the territory where you live. 

These books and many more are available from Goodminds which is a First Nations owned bookstore in the Six Nations of the Grand River in Brantford. Please check out their website and follow on your socials.Goodminds – First Nations Métis and Inuit Books

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants (2015) by Robin Wall Kimmerer  Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. Milkweed Press

Daughters of the Deer (2022) by Danielle Daniel In this haunting and groundbreaking historical novel, Danielle Daniel imagines the lives of women in the Algonquin territories of the 1600s, a story inspired by her family’s ancestral link to a young girl who was murdered by French settlers. Penguin Random House

Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Volume One Summary Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015) by The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

This is the Final Report of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its six-year investigation of the residential school system for Aboriginal youth and the legacy of these schools. This report, the summary volume, includes the history of residential schools, the legacy of that school system, and the full text of the Commission’s 94 recommendations for action to address that legacy. James Lorimer and Company Ltd.

Miichi Saagiig Nishnaabeg: This is Our Territory (2018) by Gidigaa Migizi (Doug Williams) In this deeply engaging oral history, Gidigaa Migizi (Doug Williams), Anishinaabe elder, teacher, and mentor to Leanne Betasamosake Simpson recounts the history of the Michi Saagiig Nisnaabeg, tracing through personal and historical events, and presenting what manifests as a crucial historical document that confronts entrenched institutional narratives of the history of the region. ARP Books

Whatever you choose to read, enjoy your summer reading, I know I will!

Diane Kim General

The grandness of July

I love the tree outside my window. I’ll look up at it from my chair while reading a book, or cast a quick glance as I’m vacuuming. I suppose it’s an unremarkable tree. Not too tall, a thin trunk. It’s a common silver birch. But there is a way it looks, especially in July and August, that has the ability to instantly pierce through whatever worry I am feeling and replace it with a little bit of serenity. 

The view through the glass only allows me to see the topmost branches of the tree, nothing else. The bright green leaves are glossed, giving their surface a bit of a shine. At the slightest breeze the little triangular leaves, like pointed teardrops, begin to wave and flutter in glittering celebration.  And the backdrop to this green and silver splendour is the mid-summer sky, usually clear and bright, its deep blue electrified by sunlight. 

Not bad for a little birch tree. 

Finding grand beauty in small moments is something I’m trying to do this summer. In noticing what is around me, what is wonderful, and what I am grateful for. It’s not unlike teaching, where the most incredible joys can come from those “small” moments: a student’s delight when they understand something for the first time … an unexpected perspective or piece of art created in class … hearing pride in students’ voices as they share important events and people in their lives … camaraderie with other educators as we work together to create the best learning environments we can for students. 

As I look back on this year’s blog entries, I see it was a long, wonderful year full of those tiny moments of joy: students recognizing and celebrating their languages, educators collaborating, conversations, translations, open houses, and pincushions …

I hope this blog entry finds you happily settled into your summer, finding those wonderfully-small, imperfectly-perfect beautiful moments throughout. 

Brenda MacNaughton General

Indigenous Peoples Day 2023

How was your celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day? We are all at different entry points as far as Indigenous education goes.  I think 99% of my learning has happened in adulthood and I still have a long way to go. I read, watch and listen to Indigenous Peoples so I can move forward as a settler in a good way but it’s not always clear what I should do next and I admit, I stumble along the way.  In 2021, the discovery of unmarked graves at residential schools confirmed the horrific stories I had heard previously.  It left me feeling guilty, hollow, and unsure how to help. When attending webinars and presentations I heard Indigenous people saying that education is a critical factor in improving relations.  We are educators and we can make a difference.

Indigenous Peoples Day gives us a chance to celebrate the joy, humour, music, art, dance and storytelling of Indigenous Peoples. This year we formed a committee to create a slide deck with some suggestions for the various grades in our school. I’ve included some of the links below.

It would be better to have people present in a live, interactive format rather than relying on video.  This is an improvement I would like to see made in the future at my school.  Dancers, storytellers, artists, musicians, scientists, writers and other guest speakers who are First Nation, Métis or Inuit have given fantastic presentations to my students in the past.  If you want a speaker for June 21st, you have to book months in advance and be prepared to offer alternate dates.  For example, I noticed that our local municipality offered a celebration of Indigenous Peoples on June 25 at the local library and the event included drummers, beading and food.  

Another part of our day included encouraging classes to spend time outside and reflect on their relationship with the land.  What does the land look like where you live? How is it used? What can we do to protect and give back to the land?  Similarly, what can you do to protect water where you live?  Our relationship with the land is the key part of the land acknowledgement that our school reads every day and our students can benefit from outdoor experiences that help them become more aware of the interdependence of all living things. 

I hope you were able to learn, laugh and celebrate on Indigenous Peoples Day. There are numerous events throughout the summer to celebrate with Indigenous Peoples and reconnect with the land. Hopefully we will all have plenty of opportunities to do so!  Here are some links that our staff and K-8 students used this year:

CBC Kids – What is Indigenous

Molly Of Denali – Northern Lights 

DJ Shub feat. Northern Cree Singers – Indomitable

Métis Red River Jig with Hip Hop fusion

Inuit String Game Story

ETFO Going Beyond the Land Acknowledgement

ETFO First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Education 

Diane Kim General

Moving across

Inna* walked into the library confidently. She had very recently arrived in Canada and was, like so many multilingual language learners, a hands-down amazing communicator. She greeted me in both Ukrainian and English, and sat down to get to work. As we conversed, she continued speaking in Ukrainian and then added some of the English she knew to express herself, and sometimes gestures. I did the same. The conversation progressed this way naturally, as we shared our likes, dislikes, and some of our interests and hobbies. 

The classroom teacher and I had collaborated just prior to that session, a quick yet impactful dialogue about what he was teaching, and how he might make it accessible to everyone in the class. He explained his lesson, which was new learning for me, and I in turn shared some possible strategies and multilingual adaptations that might work to ensure Inna could participate as well. He chose the adaptations that worked best for his set up, and I offered to show Inna some of them in a withdrawal session.

And in this way, I found myself sitting in an empty library across from this resourceful student, using all of the tools at her disposal to communicate. I got out her teacher’s questions, prepared to show her some strategic translation tools that would help fill in anything she didn’t understand, as well as some sentence frames in English and Ukrainian for offering answers. I placed them on the table in front of her.

She regarded the questions on the paper, and then me, with calm awareness. As I reached for my iPad, my finger hovering over that familiar little icon, she gave a quick shake of her head. She swiftly took out her own device, and before I knew it had snapped a photo of the text, skillfully read the translation in Ukrainian, and concluded with an assured nod of the head, “Yes.”

I put my iPad down with a smile.

Translanguaging is a wonderful tool — not only for learning and expanding all languages the MLL speaks, but for accessing curriculum and creating inclusive learning environments. From the Latin word “trans”, meaning “across”, translanguaging is moving “across” and back and forth between languages in order to communicate, think, and learn. This intelligent student demonstrated all of this in just a few moments of interaction. She used both Ukrainian and English to express herself, to check the meaning of words, to access the classroom task, and begin to form answers. 

How much of this learning, this communication, would have been possible had we been using English exclusively?  How much of her personality, how many of her thoughts and contributions, would have been silenced? When you think about it that way, why would we want a school environment that demands answers and learning be conducted in a single language? A learning environment that posits, even unintentionally, a single language as the norm? 

We know that for learning spaces to be equitable, all students’ identities, knowledge, skills — and languages in which they are encoded — need to be centered and affirmed. As Inna demonstrated so powerfully, translanguaging is one indispensable element of such inclusive classrooms. 

*names have been changed 

Will Gourley Building Inclusion, Celebrating Success, Challenging Topics, Class Size Matters, Constant Learning, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, General, IEP, Inspiring Students, Learning to learn, Making a Difference Through Education, self reflection, social emotional learning, Special Education, Student wellbeing, Wellbeing

that kid

Created by DALL-E
a-class-photo-of-faceless-students-in-the-styles-of-Monet-Rembrandt-Kandinsky-and-Warhol prompt by author

I was thinking about that kid and I found myself getting emotional. 

You know the one. We all do. Whether the name(s) or face(s) you thought of are in your class this year or not. We all have one or two students who popped in there almost immediately. I am not going to sugar coat this either because it got emotional. When I think about that kid, my feelings range quite widely here. Anger, joy, sadness, peace, et al have all staked their claims in my amygdalae and other rose coloured spaces in my emotional thought centre.

My first “that kid” came when I was quite new to teaching. I probably owe them an apology for pushing too hard about their studies without considering how hard it must have been to be truly trying their best, but not meeting the expectations of which I was thoroughly* convinced were so clearly taught and put within reach. Like I mentioned above, an apology has been uttered on a couple of occasions for that learner into the universe. 

There are two other feelings that happens sometimes, relief and angst. Relief that you were able to make it through a year together and grow. Angst over what I missed or, straight up, got completely wrong. My most recent that kid reads like this: 

Is quiet – too quiet.
Sticks to the sidelines as if crazy glued there.
Struggles to start something, and struggles even more to finish.
Whether it is a transition, a sentence, or a math challenge mine has got me thinking about what I need to do differently next time because there will be a next time no matter how hard I work to learn the lessons from the past to use now and in the future.

As teachers, I’ve noticed that we tend to be pretty hard on ourselves much more often than we realize or care to admit. It’s who we are as reflective practitioners who seek to make things better for our learners. I have noticed that we fret far more about any flaws in our work even when there are few if any cracks in our foundations. We are constant works in progress alongside our students and we wear it on our sleeves when it doesn’t go well. 

Sometimes, that kid gifts you some victories too. You see, all that time spent investing in that kid can turn out to be a life enriching moment for you as an educator and even more so for that kid as a scholar. Since my first that kid nearly 15 years ago, I have marveled at hearing from students who are completing degrees at amazing schools and starting to write the next chapters of their lives. This week I ran into a student who will be doing just that.

To be honest, it wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops with this particular that kid. If poor choices, bad behaviour, and work avoidance were credit courses, this learner would be top of the class. Fast forward 6 years and they are about to begin a very challenging degree program at a top university. That could have only happened with significant support, responsibility, accountability, and commitment. In other words, the exact opposite to where they were back then. So what turned this scholar around? How did the switch get flipped, and who did the flipping? I was certainly thrilled to receive such news knowing that there would be more good things to come as a result of them finding their stride as a student. Whoever helped this “that kid” turn over a new leaf has changed one young person’s life not for good, but for great. 

I am also aware that there are some who will never get to experience an about face like the that kid above, and I need to take ownership of that and work to improve going forward. Maybe my next that kid will not fall through the cracks through their education? I know that there is always room to improve what and how we do this job of ours. I know that teachers have countless conversations in order to find and fit the complex puzzle pieces we know as students together. I know that there is no single strategy or approach that will reach 100% of our students. What we need to remind ourselves is that we come pretty close to perfection, and we do it across a decade plus of siloed collaboration, between the panels, whether we realize it or not. 

When you think about it, each of our students could have as many as 50 teachers over their K to 12 careers. Of course homeroom teachers occupy the bulk of those first 10 years yet that still means there are countless points of influential interaction to be had between an entire cast of educators all working in concert to make sure each that kid gets and gives the best. 

This job asks us to accept and understand that we often will never know how the work we put in with our students will support them in the future. Closure is not a luxury many elementary teachers ever have once our students move onward and beyond our schools, but that should not bring us down because there is always that kid who takes the time, after several years have gone by, to reach out and connect again: to share how much they appreciated what was taught to them in and out of the classroom all those years ago. 

 

*On a random note: the word thoroughly breaks down into tho roughly. So now my idea of thorough will always be considerate of whether I was thorough or tho rough

Diane Kim General

Beginnings at the end

As I write this blog, there are two school days left. It is that strange time of year when I feel like I can finally, finally start to come up for breath — just a little bit — after a frenetic month of deadlines and demands. 

This June seemed particularly busy … then again, I think I always say that. At any rate, it is inevitably four weeks of non-stop final assessments, transition tours, summer camp sign-ups, parent interviews, presentations, and report cards. By the end of the month, exhaustion makes itself known.

Early this morning, as the sun was just starting to colour the sky, I sat with my coffee at the kitchen table and flipped open my laptop. Weak bluish light from my calendar illuminated the still-dark room, and as I stared at the familiar daily schedules I realized that, all of a sudden, the seemingly endless list of items to complete had dwindled to just a few. The monumental tasks that had stared me down at the beginning of the month, that kept me awake at night and charging full throttle during the day, had all but been taken care of. 

In that moment, I felt that first small calm before summer. And that feeling stayed with me through the day, as I went about finishing off the final errands of the year. After school, as I walked into the sunny afternoon, I could feel the warmth slowly start to pull at the the tangle of deadlines that had matted in my thoughts, unravelling them to complete. Calm.

With school ending for another year, I am looking forward to welcoming more of that calm this summer. Whether it is spending time with my family, meeting with friends, walking in the woods, or simply taking time to listen to myself, to what I need … those are the wonderful beginnings I want to focus on now.

May you also find beautiful beginnings this summer, that the months ahead bring you what you need to rest and restore.