Sunflowers are a striking symbol of beauty and resilience . Here are some interesting facts about sunflowers  🌻: Heliotropism : Young sunflowers exhibit heliotropism, meaning they track the sun across the sky from east to west during the day. Mature flowers, however, usually face east permanently. Native origins : Sunflowers are native to North America, where they were domesticated by Indigenous peoples around 4,500 years ago for food, oil, and dye. Height record : The tal

DAY 1 Finding Meaning... “Mentoring is the antidote to the Sour Kangaroo — it protects unseen potential from the voices of doubt.” In Horton Hears a Who! , the Sour Kangaroo represents: Cynicism Social pressure Groupthink Mockery of belief in unseen potential Mentoring does the opposite: Sees what others don’t see Stands firm in uncertainty Amplifies quiet voices Provides courage before confidence exists Beyond the Strength-Based Approach https://www.netminder.ca/resources "S

“A young person not embraced by the community will burn it down to feel its warmth.” This African proverb captures the reality of today’s youth: without guidance, mentorship, or meaningful opportunity, disconnection breeds frustration, disengagement, and even despair. We are living through what global leaders have called a restructuring of the global economic order. Supply chains are shifting. Geopolitics is reshaping markets. Capital is consolidating. AI is accelerating chan

“We are measuring people against goals they never chose.” -Ray Bennett Recently, our new Minister of Education asked a deceptively simple and deeply provocative question:   “Why are teachers unable to work?”  Only sheer ignorance or rare brilliance can produce a question that clean. I would add another: Why are so many children refusing to go to school at all? We talk endlessly about burnout, absenteeism, an

“The poor are not poor because they are lazy, but because they are powerless.”— Martin Luther King Jr. Around this time each year, North America’s industry leaders ascend on the nation’s capital for the annual Cannexus Conference. It is a gathering of some of the sharpest minds in career practice, workforce development, innovation, and policy. Industry leaders, thinkers, builders, problem-solvers, and innovators come together to focus on what is often framed as society’s most

Becoming a child and youth care (CYC) worker is one of the most challenging and rewarding careers you can choose. The work is deeply emotional, often messy, and rarely straightforward. Here are 11 hard truths about the job that no one really tells you before you step into it. 1. You’ll Have to Give Bad News Delivering bad news is part of the job, and it’s never easy. Children in care have often faced constant instability, moving from placement to placement, struggling in scho

My dad never counted shots. What he did do was drape me in Montreal Canadiens attire. I played out for the first couple of years, but...

How One Person Can Make School Matter "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people...

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of...

YESP Mentoring Session #5: Next Level Mentoring Creative Problem Solving Creative Problem Solving is a method of approaching challenges in innovative ways, going beyond conventional solutions, and encouraging new perspectives. It involves identifying a problem, generating ideas, and implementing solutions that may not be immediately obvious. Creative Problem Solving emphasizes thinking outside the box, engaging diverse voices, and empowering participants to co-create solutio

“I’m not saying I’m gonna change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world.” — Tupac Shakur...

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” — Albert Einstein When you type “disabled” into a thesaurus, you’ll get words like defective , broken , impaired , flawed , dysfunctional , incapable , limited , inadequate , and weak . Learning disabilities are presented as signs of brokenness , innate flaws or impairments to be treated, managed, and ultimately owned  by the child. My q

We’ve been witnessing a quiet revolution, not in the streets, but in the hallways of schools, in the back kitchens of fast-food...

“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to...

“ Different sores must have different salves. " English proverb In her powerful critique of compliance-based systems, Dr. Lorraine Fox...

Mentorship vs Manipulation and Micromanagement The foundation of empowerment is belief. When a mentor or leader believes in an...

Charlie Appelstein’s No Such Thing as a Bad Kid  is a strengths-based guide for working with children and adolescents who exhibit...

“The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.” - Alvin...

"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." - Socrates The Future of Education The shift toward self-reliance and...

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."