Articles by Melanie Stonebanks
Teacher Profiles: An Interview with Kerry Ballard
This week I invite you to join a conversation that I had with a dynamic teacher as we discuss a Literature Circle project that she undertook with her Cycle 1 students.
Teacher’s name: Kerry Ballard
School: Lower …
Game-changers: Teachers who changed my life
Mrs. Stevens was strict. Mrs. Stevens scowled. Mrs. Stevens got after her students. Mrs. Stevens had fiery red hair. Mrs. Stevens was not some people’s favourite grade 2 teacher but…she was mine because Mrs. Stevens loved …
School Life in Malawi: Mitigating the Challenges
In their last blog post, Sophie and Mr. Lemani wrote about the challenges faced by primary school teachers in Malawi. To follow up, they felt that they should discuss various ways of mitigating some of …
Memories From the Field: Part III – Rainbow of Dreams
by Melanie Stonebanks
By looking back and by remembering the past, I have attempted to bind my past experiences as a professional educator in several contexts and roles to create patterns of my professional development in …
Memories From the Field Part II: “Dear Prime Minister”
By Melanie Stonebanks
The unexamined life isn’t worth living. – Socrates, 450 BC
A few weeks ago, I wrote about my early teaching experiences in inner-city Montreal. This entry builds on that previous post and will hopefully contribute …
Memories From the Field: Looking back on a teacher’s experience
by Melanie Stonebanks
Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient continuing, hopeful inquiry (we) pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other. – Paulo Freire
In the fall of 1992 a …
A Critical Conversation About Literacy Part III: A Place to Start in Today’s Classroom
by Melanie Stonebanks
You don’t have to have all the answers. You only need to know the questions to ask.
As has been discussed in the previous two postings on this topic, critical literacy is a way …
A Critical Conversation About Literacy, Part II: Critical Literacy Defined
by Melanie Stonebanks
My husband and I have spent years discussing and debating our perspectives and understanding of every aspect of the field of education. We met when we were in high school, and went our …
A Critical Conversation About Literacy: The Start of My Literacy Life
by Melanie Stonebanks
This blog post is the first in a series of three looking into the world of Critical Literacy; an instructional approach that encourages readers to actively analyze what they are reading in order …
