Elisa Waingort

I am currently a grade 5 teacher in the Spanish bilingual program in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I have been teaching for more than 30 years in South and North America. I love working with kids and adults. I am a teacher who reads voraciously. I love adult, YA, MG and picture books equally. I am a proud teacher writer. Every day I look forward to the challenge of learning to be a better teacher and a better human. Join me.

Elisa Waingort has written 9 posts for Cooperative Catalyst

Accountability vs. Responsibility

Posted by Elisa Waingort ⋅ May 1, 2012 ⋅ 16 Comments

The following post has been cross posted from my teacher blog, A Teacher’s Ruminations. Disclaimer: The tentative conclusions found herein are not what I initially intended, hence tentative. As I wrote, my ruminations took me in an unexpected direction. I hope readers will add sense to what may be nonsense, after all. Whatever happened to … Continue reading →

Recess…for teachers

Posted by Elisa Waingort ⋅ March 18, 2012 ⋅ 11 Comments

I distributed report cards to my students on Friday. And although I didn’t keep track of how long it took me to write report cards, it wasn’t a quick and dirty activity. In fact, writing report cards begins weeks before they are actually due. And, I’m referring to the act of writing comments and/or determining … Continue reading →

Corporatization of Daily Life

Posted by Elisa Waingort ⋅ October 31, 2011 ⋅ 9 Comments

Traditional (read: corporate) approaches to medicine, education, religion, and the economy are wreaking havoc on people’s emotional and physical health and well-being. The intent, in each of these domains, is to take power away from the individual by depositing blind faith outside of oneself into an external authority that tells us what to think, how … Continue reading →

Press Release: Out of the Box Doll Project (July 27th, before the SOS March and Rally in Washington, DC)

Posted by Elisa Waingort ⋅ July 24, 2011 ⋅ Leave a comment

OUT OF THE BOX DOLL PROJECT WHERE: THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. IN THE PLAZA ALONG MARYLAND AVENUE BY THE BOG SCHOOL BELL DATE: WEDNESDAY July 27th TIME: 12:00-2:00 The purpose of this event is to call attention to educators, students, parents and community members who have been facing increasing restrictions on their rights to a … Continue reading →

A Teacher Responds to Her Teacher Data Report

Posted by Elisa Waingort ⋅ May 3, 2011 ⋅ 12 Comments

The following letter from New York City teacher, Lynda Costagliola, first appeared on the NYCoRE listserv. The urgent tone of Lynda’s plea to be recognized as other than the sum of her students’ test scores caught my attention. I wrote to Lynda and asked her permission to publish it here; she graciously consented and had … Continue reading →

Pedagogy of Fear – Guest Post by Morna M. Mcdermott

Posted by Elisa Waingort ⋅ April 2, 2011 ⋅ 6 Comments

At The Learning Network listserv http://bit.ly/fZdb6v members have been engaging in thoughtful conversations about the current educational policy climate. But, we haven’t stopped there. We have also committed ourselves to do whatever it takes to reverse the damage that has been inflicted on teachers, students, and families. Some examples are: posting on various social media outlets, … Continue reading →

Stand up for public education

Posted by Elisa Waingort ⋅ March 28, 2011 ⋅ Leave a comment

This has been edited and revised from a previously published post at http://bit.ly/hwQkl7 In the current climate of teacher bashing, increased high stakes testing and teaching, and the push to use student test scores to evaluate teachers in order to determine individual teacher rewards and punishments, it is imperative that teachers, families, and students stand up and say, … Continue reading →

The Dip by Seth Godin, Part 2

Posted by Elisa Waingort ⋅ January 25, 2011 ⋅ 5 Comments

First, thank you to everyone who posted a comment on my post last week about The Dip by Seth Godin. Your comments, and the rest of the book, are forcing me to take another look not only at how I use my time (and money) but also at what I see as my “long-term … Continue reading →

The Dip by Seth Godin

Posted by Elisa Waingort ⋅ January 17, 2011 ⋅ 5 Comments

I just started reading The Dip by Seth Godin and although I’m not sure if I am ready to embrace all of Godin’s ideas, if I stop and think about it then what he says starts to make sense. And, I’m left wondering if agreeing with Godin’s ideas goes against my core beliefs. So, even though I’m … Continue reading →