With a handful of our grade tens offering thoughtful reflective posts on the turning of a new year, I have been thinking the last few days about the dawn of 2010. It seems as though I have been headed here in my mind for some time. I can remember standing on the pool deck at […]
Read more "A New Year (…and my love of teaching grammar)"Today is the first true day of my holiday, as I lay in bed until ten before slowly preparing coffee and a light breakfast before settling down to lazily catch up with my digital goings on. There are still presents to make, or piece together from stops at the mall or other local shops, and […]
Read more "Holiday Reflections"My sister showed me a quote from David W. Orr she came across during an Environmental Education course this summer. When study is meaningful, the subject is often not what is learned. The goal of education is not mastery of subject matter, but mastery of one’s person. Subject matter is simply a tool. Much as […]
Read more "David W. Orr's "Goal of Education""It has only been the last few weeks that I have begun to feel as though I am a card-carrying member of the (edu)blogging community. For whatever time I had ceded while I studied French and creative writing, running track in the Deep South and moonlighting as an amateur rock critic, I have since made […]
Read more "Edublogs Awards Nominations"This afternoon I was sitting in the wonderfully rustic Minnekhada Lodge, discussing Formative Assessment with my colleagues for our school based professional development day. And as the day drew to a close, and our pro-d hosts encouraged the “continued discussion” of the day’s aims, I thought, “How I wish that everyone at our school used […]
Read more "Twitter Week for BC Educators"Friends of mine, Ian MacKenzie and Sean Aiken, have put their lack of direction to good use – and a good cause – with their One Week Job project. One Week Job: The Documentary from Ian MacKenzie on Vimeo. “Instead of take the first job that came along, he found a unique way of figuring […]
Read more "One Week Job"Apparently when one is X-rayed while swollen – as one might be within 24 hours of being struck with an eruption of propane tank – the additional soft tissue can cloud the clarity of the image. And so we have this new panorex, taken Friday morning in Kitselano, which prompted my dentist to say something […]
Read more "The Life & Hard Times of My Lower Jaw"After a busy weekend I finally have a minute to share an experience with the sheer logistical aid offered by social networks – chiefly blogs and Twitter – during one student’s journey in writing her eminent person speech on Margret Rey, author of the Curious George books. During our conference last week concerning her plans […]
Read more "If a student asks a question in a classroom, how many people hear it?"It’s taken a while for me to begin to see the extent of what Mr. Dave Truss is getting at here, but it’s beginning to happen.
Read more ""Why I Blog. Why Blog with Students?""With my ears still ringing from one of our program’s cultural outings, this one a benefit concert put on by local bands – including TALONS ’09 alumni Jeff Huggins’ band the Knots – at Centennial Secondary, organized by grade ten student, Kiko, I am compelled to report on a few highlights in the class’ interview […]
Read more "The Interviews Take Flight"