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 […]
Tag: pairadimes
Behaviour Modification
Last year I wrote Classes of Donkeys, about a tool called ‘Class Dojo’. Just recently Karen Langdon wrote Thinking About Classroom Dojo – Why Not Just Tase Your Kids Instead? It basically approaches the same concerns I have, but from a different angle… and it adds further value by suggesting alternative approaches to dealing with […]
Share:
Perpetual Beta
A while back, I wrote that best practice is still just practice. Teaching is a practice. We practice teaching. We have an obligation to do our best, but that will ultimately change as we… practice. If we want to apply ‘best practice’ to teaching, then we need to look at ourselves as role model learners. […]
Share:
Risk and Reward
I've been reading Seth Godin's Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, and he wrote this: How to be Wrong: “The secret of being wrong isn’t to avoid being wrong! The secret is being willing to be wrong. The secret is realizing that wrong isn’t fatal. The only thing that makes people and organizations great […]
Share:
Looking Back
It’s just after 6am on my last day of work before summer, and I’m in a Starbucks having a coffee. I had to drop my daughter to her synchronized swimming practice and decided to just wake up a little early and head to school. Only after getting my coffee did I realize that the school […]
Share:
Leadership and Capacity
“I’ve come to realize that I’m not the only one that wishes I had more capacity to do the things I really want to do as a leader.” I said that on a post about Leadership and Management back in October. Two weeks ago, as my school year for the Inquiry Hub was coming to […]
Share:
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 […]
Share:
Godin – The cost of neutral
In a compelling blog post, ‘The cost of neutral‘, Seth Godin says, “Not adding value is the same as taking it away.” The short, poignant post is directed to you, the individual reader, and urges you to step up, participate, and do more than what you are expected or told to do. Godin is essentially […]
Share:
A Lesson on Win-Win
After years of teaching this lesson I finally wrote it down for my masters terminal paper for the University of Oregon: DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT LEADERSHIP PROGRAM. Yesterday, I revisited this with current Inquiry Hub students and incoming students for next year. I should have spent more time on the debrief, but I […]
Share:
Lessons on living life
Two days ago Zach Sobiech died. He was 18. It was expected. I just sat with my wife and oldest child watching this 22 minute video. It says more about how to live your life than anything else that I’ve seen. Watch it now. Here is Zach’s full song “Clouds“. Here is the celebrity lip […]
