Category: From The Teacher’s Desk

  • From the Teacher’s Desk: The Letter in the Universal Mailbox

    From the Teacher’s Desk: The Letter in the Universal Mailbox

    By Leonard Quilty           Whatever we think about and thank about we bring about. ~ John Demartini Do you realize how incredibly powerful the above words are? Dr. Demartini’s quote is one of many included in the awesome book by Rhonda Byrne called The Secret. Of course, if you have read this book you will…

  • From the Teacher’s Desk: A Golden Class

    From the Teacher’s Desk: A Golden Class

    By Leonard Quilty Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. ~ William James On Tuesday, June 14, we had our last Collaborate (virtual) class in my grade seven Language Arts course. As the final exam was fast approaching, on that day I decided to review the use of figurative language in…

  • From the Teacher’s Desk: Sweet Serendipity

    From the Teacher’s Desk: Sweet Serendipity

    By Leonard Quilty Trade your expectation for appreciation and the world changes instantly. ~ Tony Robbins For two days in mid-February, our two day teacher convention took place in downtown Calgary. These two days offer a great opportunity to network with fellow teachers and gain some valuable information to improve our teaching practice. One of…

  • From the Teacher’s Desk: From Success to Significance

      By Leonard Quilty             In a gentle way, you can shake the world. ~ Mahatma Gandhi Just before the Christmas break, the students in my LA 7 class had to write a poem on the topic of change or transition. As part of the assignment instructions, a previous teacher of the course had included…

  • From the Teacher’s Desk: Building an Inner Citadel

    By Leonard Quilty If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry That’s how I see my job as an educator. To somehow spark in…

  • From the Teacher’s Desk: A Wonderful Education  

        By Leonard Quilty The primary concern of education is character. A school should be a model home, a complete community, an embryonic democracy.   ~ Colonel Francis W. Parker It’s hard to believe we are already nearing the end of the first month of the school year. During our first week back at school,…

  • From the Teacher’s Desk ~ The Essence of Teaching and Learning

      By Leonard Quilty Strip away the noise. Only two things matter in life: what you’re becoming; and who you’re helping. ~ Robin Sharma On Friday, June 5, we had the annual graduation ceremony at our school. Students and their families came from all over Alberta to join in the festivities. This year’s ceremonies were…

  • From the Teacher’s Desk ~ Pride in the Pursuit of Knowledge

      By Leonard Quilty I slept and dreamed that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. ~ Rabindranath Tagore Over the last few months, I have been working on a book about my teaching practice during the past thirty years. My purpose for writing…

  • From the Teacher’s Desk ~ Raising Our Standards

      By Leonard Quilty The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems. ~ Mahatma Gandhi Recently, I read an interesting article in the Calgary Herald about a young social entrepreneur from Vancouver, Taylor Conroy. Conroy has come up with an intriguing…

  • From the Teacher’s Desk: On the Path to Success and Significance

      By Leonard Quilty People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them. –       George Bernard Shaw Last week I…

  • From the Teacher’s Desk ~ Finding Joy in the Craft of Teaching

    By Leonard Quilty We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world. – Buddha One of the things that drew me into the teaching profession thirty years ago was that I felt I had something important to say to my students. Of course, my…

  • From the Teacher’s Desk ~ Attracting Abundance

    By Leonard Quilty If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy. If a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you. If the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive. ~ Eleanora Duse As I write this, I’m…

  • From the Teacher’s Desk – Living Life on Purpose

    From the Teacher’s Desk – Living Life on Purpose

    [break][break][break][break][break][break][break][break][break] By Leonard Quilty Know that the Creator lives and moves and breathes within you. So those dreams? Risk them. Those words? Write them.  Those hopes? Believe them.   Elora Nicole Ramirez Lately, I’ve been reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Apple Computers co-founder, Steve Jobs. It’s a very interesting tale of a visionary leader building…

  • From the Teacher's Desk: Chasing Perfection

    By Leonard Quilty Life is pure adventure and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art. – Maya Angelou In almost three decades of teaching (and learning from my students), there have been many highlights. As another school year draws to a close, it is giving me…