When I moved into a predominately Greek and Italian suburb of Toronto, from the small tropical island of Barbados, one thing was obvious… I didn’t fit in. The Greeks thought I was Italian, the Italians thought I was Greek. I spoke English, but my accent was so strong that I actually had to change my […]
Training and Coaching
I’m at my daughter’s synchronized swimming Provincials. She just finished her combo routine and there is over an hour wait for her Team routine. Having trained for water polo just one pool bulkhead away from National level synchronized swimmers, I’ve always had high regard for their athleticism. With my daughter training 22+ hours a week […]
Finding Balance
My original title for this image and this post was ‘Impossible Balance’, but it was too defeatist. I also realize that many more ‘rocks’ (or maybe ‘roles’) could have been added to the right side of the scale: Spirituality, Alone Time, Commuting, Hygiene, and (Social) Networking, to name a few. No matter what occupies your […]
This and That
It has been over a month since I’ve written in my blog. It has been a couple months since I meaningfully engaged in learning conversations on Twitter. And I’m still feeling like I’ll be disconnected a while longer. And so I chose now, when I’m tired, and have been up for over 20hrs to sit […]
Students Talk about Learning at Inquiry Hub
I’d like to thank Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey at PersonalizeLearning.com for inviting some our our Inquiry Hub students to present in a Webinar. I asked for their permission to share their post here and again want to thank them for allowing me to do so. I hope you enjoy the presentation and would love to […]
keep it simple
I’m going to share two seemingly unconnected videos. The first one I found by searching for the origin of this story, which I have been thinking about recently, after hearing it years ago: What Is “The Good Life” Parable – Mark Albion The second one is Ramsey Musallam’s TEDTalk, 3 rules to spark learning What […]
What Did You Learn at School Today – Parent Presentation
Here is the ‘Parent’ version of my #RSCON presentation: Shifting Learning – What Did You Learn at School Today? I did this presentation just a couple days before the Reform Symposium and it really is similar… Shorter, and with questions at the end geared more to parents than teachers, but essentially the same presentation. You […]
Networked Chambers Do Not Echo
I haven’t blogged or been on Twitter nearly as much as I’d like to be recently. Nor have I been reading as much blogs as I have in the past. My world hasn’t fallen apart as a result… But I miss it. I don’t just miss the connections to my PLN (Personal Leaning Network), they […]
Shifting Learning – Presentation for RSCON4
Shifting Learning – What Did You Learn At School Today? We hear a lot these days about project based learning, inquiry based learning, etc… What does that mean? What does it look like when schools shift away from “drill and kill” learning towards big ideas, questions, and “no right answer” kind of learning? And what […]
Learning and Failure
Failure can be very unproductive. It can stem from a lack of effort, resources, support, knowledge, and reflection. Failure can also be an amazing tool for learning, and perhaps one that every student should experience before graduation. Stephen Whiffin, who conceptualized the Inquiry Hub, suggested that every student should have ‘My Epic Failure’ as […]