SAGE

Every year in Manitoba SAGE is held. This is a day where all teachers from around the province get together to learn things in their chosen field.

This year I attended a session put on by MELIT (Manitoba Early Literacy Intervention Teacher) and I really enjoyed it. They had Regie Routman and her colleague Sandra Figueroa come to Winnipeg to speak. For those of you who have never heard of Regie Routman and are teaching writing the. You need to look up her stuff. Se has become a very well known writing guru.

Our school division has done some work with Regie's work in the past so it was really amazing to see and hear her in person. She is very passionate about what she does and it really shows in her work. She holds every child to a high standard and believes that they can achieve no matter what their label or past history with writing.

Throughout the day listening to Regie and Snadra speak my mind was racing thinking of how I can change the way that I teach writing for the better. I came away with a few things that I would like to try with my students. One such thing being to take the time and have public conferences with students so students can learn for each other. I also need and want to take the time and share and celebrate my student's learning. I know the this will take time and that's why I haven't really done it up until now but the things that will come out of sharing and celebrating should be well worth the investment of time.

If you ever get the chance to hear these ladies speak or have them in your school then count yourself lucky and enjoy! This is the first SAGE in a long time or maybe even ever that I have truly enjoyed and am excited to put some things into action!