In our grade 9 classes we have an alternative approach to final assessments in June. Rather than exams, the students engage in day-long activities for each subject. Not quite project-based assessments but somewhat similar; I’m going to call them projects…
One of the adaptations to the schedule that began last year at school was the addition of an hour of “meeting time” available every Wednesday morning. Now, it is often consumed by department meetings, a (incorrectly named) PLN and faculty…
Teachers try to be efficient with their use of time; like first responders, teachers are dealing with situations that are often dealt with immediately, in the moment. They want to provide opportunities for students to show their learning, and then…
One of my biggest goals this year has been to ensure that people have the information they need, when they need it in the form that they find usable. We’ve made some great steps forward using Excel to re-package a…
The School has been trying to leverage OneNote and its sharing and syncing capabilities ever since OneNote was introduced in 2003 … in a 1:1 tablet computer environment it’s a natural fit for both teachers and students. Each page that…
I had a nice conversation with a colleague here … chatting with teachers in the summer is always fun because everyone is relaxed but at this time there is also the anticipation of getting back into the classroom, so there’s…
When I was interviewing for this position, one of the things I wanted to make clear was that when it comes to teacher-change, I wouldn’t proceed too aggressively until I had dealt with the issue of time-and-space. Teachers at our…
(I thought I should squeeze this in given a link from a popular blog, Continuous Everywhere.)I closed off my teaching this June for a year; in the fall I’ll be returning to life as a PhD student at OISE, the…
Okay, I didn’t quite make it into print… but the electronic version isn’t half-bad. I was working on the waterfront when, during one of those brief-but-violent thunderstorms, a sign fell onto the walkway, narrowly missing a number of pedestrians. So…
While I admit to being quickly on board most things (except the iPad, that is… that’s a tool for my 65-year-old Mom) I’m disheartened by the slow pick up of online learning networks (via Twitter, Ning, Facebook, etc) by my…