Crowns of Glory Project

April 19, 2018 The residents were ready and eager to continue sharing their life stories with my students when we showed up for our second visit today. It was simply amazing to see the life in their eyes when they were asked questions about their school years and young adulthood. At one point, as I wandered from group to group to hear bits of the interviews, one resident looked up at me and said, "This is like exercising my brain! It's amazing what memories start to come back to me when the girls are asking me all these questions!"

  April 9, 2018 Transcribing a recorded interview is much harder than it appears! It means finding a quiet spot to put in some headphones, listen to the questions and answers that were shared during the hour-long visit with our resident friend, filter through background noise from the recording, and type notes to use for writing our stories. Although tedious at first, the process was one that students realized is necessary in order to recall the important and valuable details of the stories that residents shared about their childhood this past week.  If there's anything that stands out to me about student learning at this point of the project, it's how important an authentic audience is. I can't count how many times I heard questions from my students about how they can make their writing as accurate and exciting and honouring as they can, so that the residents will love to read their stories when they are finished. Their resourcefulness and creativity amazes me a

April 5, 2018 We packed our recording devices and our courage today, as we prepared for our first visit to meet the residents of Village Manor. In our morning meeting time, we shared our excitement and our nervousness, and were reminded that we don't have to rely on our own strength.  First, in the morning, our class was given the opportunity to present our project to a group of visiting principals from Christian schools in the region. We shared about the various things we've been doing so far - our entry event, blogs, scrapbook pages, etc. It was validating for everyone to hear the excitement and encouragement from other school leaders before we boarded the bus to Village Manor.   It was amazing to watch how quickly the residents and students bonded. The residents loved looking at the photo pages and listening to the descriptions that my students shared. They were eager to start answering questions about their own lives when given the chance. I overheard bits of