But First, Joy.

On the last day of school in June, we found ourselves with a little bit of time together as a 2026–27 staff team. It's been a challenging year for educators here in Alberta, and I wanted our teachers and education assistants to head into their summer break feeling excited about the year ahead.

The challenges aren't going away. Teaching is complex, demanding, and sometimes exhausting. But that doesn't mean there's no room for joy. In fact, I think the most joyful classrooms are often created by teachers who know those challenges well and intentionally make space for curiosity, play, wonder, and connection alongside them.

When students experience joy, they're more likely to be curious, take risks, persevere through challenges, and develop positive relationships with school. Joy doesn't mean learning is easy or entertainment replaces rigour. It means creating experiences that invite wonder, belonging, creativity, and meaningful engagement.

With that in mind, I created a series of Joyful Learning Stations.

Each station featured something different—a short video, an instagram highlight reel, a presentation, a children's book, and so on. Rather than sharing strategies or telling people what they should do, I wanted to fill the room with possibilities and let people discover the ideas that resonated with them.

As staff moved through the stations, they captured ideas on sticky notes. We sorted them into themes and in August we will look for patterns, and decide what will become part of our classrooms, our grade teams, and our school.

One station introduced our school's anchor text for the next year, Be a Good Ancestor. It encouraged us to think beyond the next lesson or unit and consider the experiences our students will remember long after they've left our classrooms.

It was a simple way to end the year, but it felt like the right way to begin thinking about the next one.

I've shared all of the stations in the link above in case they're helpful for your own school. Feel free to adapt them, add your own ideas, and make them fit your context. If you do, I'd love to hear how they go.