Our guest tonight is Alexa Charles who is a Mentoring Support Teacher for the Coquitlam district. She leads us through her journey of “Learning with Purpose and Place in SD43” and how she infuses an ethnography lens with her documentation. 

Alexa Charles Information:

She curates a blog entitled, “Learning with Purpose and Place in SD43.”

Follow her on Twitter @MsCharlesSD43

Other Inspirational People We Chatted About:

Megan Zeni @Roomtoplay

Dr. Gillian Judson (Walking Curriculum) @perfinker 

CBEEN (Columbia Basin Environmental Education Network) @CBEENetwork and www.cbeen.ca

Inspirational Quotes:

“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.” John Muir

One of Alexa’s personal mentors, Collen Castonguay, a middle school VP in Coquitlam, once said to her…. “Anytime anyone anywhere shares a story, a story you know they are passionate to tell, you will find a connection to it.” That is her offering today, on the podcast. Her hope that through our conversation, you will find something to connect to with, big or small.

Novelty Nature Note:

*Hummingbirds: They are the only bird that can fly backwards, their legs are only used for perching – well they can move sideways when they are perched but they can’t walk.  They have no sense of smell, but colour vision is amazing – which is why feeders are bright red.  And they are the smallest migrating birds, but they don’t migrate in flocks.  

*Crows – commonly viewed as a nuisance so are often overlooked. The best thing about these birds is that they can be easily observed in rural and urban settings.  Go observe them! We can learn a lot from them 