Category: Innovation
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Mayhem and Metacognition
Forget March Madness, its end of semester mayhem! The time of year when I question my assessment methods, mostly because I am swamped with final essays, culminating projects, and exams to mark, in addition to writing report card comments and tabulating final marks — all in a very short timeline. Invariably I ask myself, “is…
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Once Upon a Time…
Once upon a time, in a land far, far, away, there lived a teacher who was torn about how to reach her students and help them remember important information. She journeyed far and wide to speak to sages and scholars and what she found made her happy; for it underscored her own beliefs. So the…
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The Walking Dead…at a School Near You?
People talk about the idea of a zombie apocalypse and if it could ever really happen, funny thing is it already has! Our children are being turned into veritable zombies everyday that they sit and do uninspired work at school or are expected to fit into a one-size fits all cookie cutter style of education.…
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Tweak It!
Katie Martin’s thoughts on tweaking learning experiences and the way we do things resonated with me this week, particularly as I am in the midst of doing just that. A couple years ago I asked my grade 11 English students what could be improved or changed in the course. What did they love? What impacted…
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Be Revolutionary: Focus on the People
There’s a revolution going on all around us. An innovation revolution. And an innovation revolution is just what we need to support our students and ourselves. If we truly want to do the best for our students we have to innovate. Teaching the way we were taught isn’t going to cut it anymore. We need to…
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Innovative Messages
What messages are you sending? Let’s consider the messages we send when we innovate in the classroom. We show our students that learning is ongoing, a process and something to embrace – always. Innovation enhances everything we do. It makes life interesting. It creates passion. It’s contagious. But most importantly it says we think enough…
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The Seven ‘One’ders of OneNote
I’m sure you’ve heard of the Seven Wonders of the World… Wonders of the Ancient World: Colossus of Rhodes Great Pyramid of Giza Hanging Gardens of Babylon Lighthouse of Alexandria Mausoleum at Halicarnassus Statue of Zeus at Olympia Temple of Artemis at Ephesus NEW Wonders: Great Wall of China Petra Christ the Redeemer Machu Picchu…
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Bikes, Balance & Gravity
“Look at him go! I think he’s got the hang of it!” “Hmm, maybe not quite yet.” It was the umpteenth time my son had fallen that day learning to ride his bike, but it looked like the frustration was getting to him at this point as I watched him get up and give his…
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Moments to Find Your People and Your Beat
The Elusive Perfect Moment from The Educator’s Sandbox (theedsandbox) was the first blog post I read in IMMOOC. It was also the moment that I knew I was hooked. ‘This person TOTALLY gets Me’ is all I could think as I read. I too have been gripped by fear of ‘doing it wrong’. I’m so glad that…
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The Antidote to Fear
“I don’t think loneliness is a locational thing. I think loneliness is a feeling of disconnect, of not feeling like you’re doing something worthwhile and not feeling like you’re involved in something that has purpose.” Chris Hadfield Two years ago I was fortunate enough to hear Chris Hadfield (@cmdr_hadfield) at the canConnectED conference in Niagara Falls.…