The following was written to be shared as part of our application to the Cmolik Prize for the Enhancement of Public Education in BC. It is an exploration into the ways in which our model has ‘fit’ nicely with the new BC Curriculum, and to share some of the influence that we have had in our […]
Tag: inquiry
Excellence is a Habit
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. ~Aristotle I think that we sometimes lose sight of what is important. We focus on individual acts, or in schools, individual assignments, and on praising final products and presentations. We often lose sight of the continual work, the tireless editing […]
Questioning Your Inquiry
As educators, we often refer to ‘Wait Time’ as the time between when you ask a question and when you expect an answer. Cast out a question to your class and if you don’t provide wait time, then when the first student begins to answer (takes a bite), all your other students are ‘off the […]
Renaissance Revival
A couple weeks ago, I received an invite to a ‘Renaissance Fair‘ at a neighbouring Middle School. It was an honour to be invited, since the reason for the invite was that they based the fair on the model Don Gordon wrote about in the paper I linked to above. It was an even greater […]
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 […]
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 […]
A framework for inquiry
On Monday at the Inquiry Hub, when students come to school this Points of Inquiry image is going to be in all classrooms and learning spaces. Here is where the image comes from: The Points of Inquiry – A Framework for Information Literacy and the 21st-Century Learner – BCTLA. In year two at the iHub, […]
The Inquiry Hub – Bright Ideas Gallery
On his personal blog, Greg Miyanaga wrote this on a post about innovation: For the last eighteen months, I have been investigating innovation in my school district. I interview teachers who are trying interesting things in their classrooms. Greg is losing this part-time position due to some budget cuts that, in my opinion, have completely […]
iHub Garden Build
[Cross-Posted on the HUB Blog] Last Friday three students at the Inquiry Hub Secondary School, in Coquitlam BC, organized a garden build. It started with Grade 9 student, Shauna, applying for and getting a World Wildlife Fund grant. This led to some inquiry questions around the best soil, water and temperature conditions for growing lettuce. […]
7 Ways to Transform Your Classroom
I’m honoured to have been invited as a guest on Classroom 2.0 Live this Saturday morning, September 29th, 2012. I joined the Classroom2.0 Ning back in 2007, and I think it is a wonderful network to help new and seasoned teachers engage in a meaningful social network. [UPDATE: Here are audio & video recordings of […]