Here is the write-up for the 2 hour Professional Development seminar that I ran today for 9 dedicated teachers who showed up on a sunny Saturday, after a full day of Pro-D on Friday. Start Your Own Blog A practical session that will introduce you to blogging. You will see how others use their blogs […]
Category: education
“Some Assembly Required”
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 […]
“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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Portal Needed to Connect Classrooms to the World: Global Citizens can Share Talents and Skills with Students
Originally posted: February 21st, 2007 [Update: Fieldfindr on Ning-October 3rd, 2007] Here is an idea that has been brewing in my mind for a while: FieldFindr A space where teachers can meet global citizens who have skills that they are willing to contribute to a class. Teachers can find people in a field of interest […]