I thought I was going to spend the long weekend reading my book for our book club, but I had a Whole New challenge instead: Putting together a million piece puzzle for my kids to play on in our back yard…. swings, monkey bars, slide, fort, climbing wall, and picnic bench all neatly packed in […]
Tag: creativity
Phosphorescent Posts: metaphor surfing for bright ideas
My most recent post, “I’m a mop not a sponge” , highlighted a metaphorical epiphany that one of my students had about his learning style. This post will look at metaphors I have found on my journeys through the blogosphere since then. 2 rules to my quest: 1. The post title must contain a metaphor. […]
“I’m a mop not a sponge”: Metaphors all the way down
A well-known scientist once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the Earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the centre of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got […]
WOW: Bringing Science Alive! (wiki)
What happens when you: Allow students to determine what they need to learn, and then enable students to manage their own learning activities? I recently started a wiki space for my Grade 8 Science classes called Science Alive! The concept is to let students choose their own topic to explore, and then demonstrate learning on […]
on being a blogger…
How is a post inspired? Where do the seeds of thought that blossom into these very words come from? The seeds • I have a student in my class that is currently on a very unhealthy diet. I know that I cannot convince her to get off of it without replacing it in some way. […]
Learning Conversations
Learning Conversation_ Part I It was refreshing to hear Maureen Dockendorf, our staff development co-ordinator, (Director of Instruction), speak at our Building Leadership Capacity (BLC*) series introduction. She encouraged us to become ‘intellectual companions’ that enter into ‘learning conversations’. The part I liked most about her talk was the direction of the conversation. She spoke […]
Acceptance of Mediocrity, Web 2-point-oh-oh!
{I was just chatting on-line with a past student, telling her that I was having difficulty writing this post. As it turns out, she wrote a similar post just hours ago. Rather than continuing my tedious process of writing, deleting and re-writing a mediocre introduction, I thought I would start, and finish, with her eloquent […]
Synthesize and Add Meaning
Going back to Time, (See Square Peg, Round Hole) Wesley Fryer’s ‘Moving at the speed of creativity’, refers to the Time cover story, How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century, in his post, 21st Century Education reform. In reference to this quote in the Time article: “In an age of overflowing information […]
Square Peg, Round Hole
A composition of other people’s thoughts and ideas… with a theme. How to Bring our Schools Out of the 20th Century by Claudia Wallis, Sonja Steptoe, Time Magazine cover story Dec. 18, 2006 “For the past five years, the national conversation on education has focused on reading scores, math tests and closing the “achievement gap” […]
Three Quotes- Servant Leadership, Creative Tension & Vision, Knowledge Sharing in Schools
This one is on Servant Leadership – providing students with capacities and competencies… “Through their programs schools can provide the opportunity for the development of capacities and competencies, that enable young people to get started on the path of acting with a sense of civic responsibility. Through programs of community and “service” learning, student leadership […]