Bridge Builder: 'Go in with an open heart,' says Tesa Fiddler
Literacy teacher helps students, parents and teachers better understand each other
Tesa Fiddler's job takes her into eight schools, and even more classrooms, helping students and teachers work together.
"I think that really all of the work I do is about building bridges," said the 34-year-old English literacy development teacher.
In addition to helping children in the Thunder Bay District Catholic School Board, Fiddler gives professional development workshops for teachers about "how to successfully teach Aboriginal education and Aboriginal students."
"We talk about many, many things," Fiddler said. "Not just the negative things, but also the resilience of Aboriginal Peoples.
'Understanding our own stories'
"So teachers will come and they will say, 'wow, that was pretty powerful."
Fiddler said teachers can then take those 'powerful' lessons into their own classrooms, to the benefit of all students.
"I think that it's really important to go in with an open heart and an open mind," she said of cross-cultural work. "It's really about understanding our own stories and where we come from and what gifts we have to contribute to our roles and not laying judgment on each other for anything lacking."