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. […]

Vandals, Vulgarity and Victims

Until last year, this odd negative/neon image was the only public image you could find of me on the web. In fact currently, many of my online sites still have this image. I like the photo, people who know me recognize me in it, and it was taken on a hot air balloon trip with […]

Assessment & Rote Learning: Math Conundrums

Thanks for visiting! Look at the sidebars on the right to find a variety of posts about education, technology and learning. You can also check out some other Math or assessment related posts, or connect with me at one of these sites: Multiply Two Negatives and You Get a Positive. So, I take ‘Rote Learning’ […]

Reflections: Visit Counts, Technorati, Comments and Ego: A Good, Bad, and (almost) Indifferent Post

An honest look at my blog. The Good: • This site, elgg.net, is not going to be called EduFilter (seems my e-mail wasn’t the only complaint). Elgg is now EduSpaces, a name a number of us recommended – though I bear no claim to my voice being listened to since I also offered a dozen […]

SUCCESS(full) Presentation

success: Richard St. John (From TED) This isn’t only a presentation about what leads to success… it is also about presenting successfully. It is about how to use Powerpoint (or another presentation tool) effectively: Simple graphics, purposeful movement/animation, a single key word, effective use of bold font, a minimalist quote, good pacing, simple humour, and […]

The Web2.0 Prophecy: An Adventure

Originally posted: March 13th, 2007 Reflection upon re-reading and re-posting: Until now I have been adding my reflection at the end of these re-posts. However, I thought with this post it should come first. Why? Because it is important that I share the date of the original post before quoting other bloggers who were expressing […]

it brought tears to my eyes

The power of the human spirit at its’ best! “CAN”: World’s Strongest Dad, (read this first). Originally posted: March 12th, 2007 Reflection upon re-reading and re-posting: We see so many horrible things in the news… why aren’t stories like this one ever the headlines? We really need to re-evaluate why a troubled kid who shoots […]

Marking What Counts and Reporting on Report Cards

“Just because something can be counted, doesn’t mean it counts, and just because something is difficult to count, doesn’t mean it doesn’t count.” Subbaraman Iyer In my first year of teaching, another first year teacher on my team, Ken Andrews, designed a marking system for Humanities (English and Social Studies combined). In his system students […]

Licensed To Pill: We live in an over-prescribed (and over-labelled) society.

Licensed To Pill Comedy or social commentary? – – – – New voices: #3 of 7, this blog is probably better read than mine, but again I think it is invaluable for educators to read: The Genius in All of Us by David Shenk. In a recent post, Labels and Limits, David quotes a Washington […]