by Donna Miller Fry (@fryed)
Have you ever driven to your school on 3 hours of sleep, sucking back coffee all the way, mentally rehearsing lessons and memorizing “to do” lists, knowing it would be a line-up at the photocopier and wondering how you could get everything done before the bell? Does teaching have to be frantic? We can be […]
Recently I have been fortunate to be asked to present at two different venues (Refresh2016 in North Bay, and the DSBONE Professional Learning Day) on the importance of understanding how digital identities impact mental health in teens, and where we as educators can find resources. Here are the reading slides for this topic.
Podcasts have been a primary source of professional learning for me for many years. I have always wanted to use this tool, and this week, I found two teachers in WRDSB who use podcasting regularly. Karen Blaak uses podcast conversations with her father to set the themes for her online English 3U course. The personal […]
Note: CATC (Computers Across the Curriculum) Camp is a Professional Learning Opportunity for Educators in Waterloo Region District School Board. About 125 teachers meet at the Kempenfelt Conference Centre each summer to share and learn about how to integrate technology into their curriculum and to use technology effectively in their practice. This year we celebrate […]
I am continuing to work my way through “Most Likely to Succeed“, the book by Tony Wagner and Ted Dintersmith. On p. 223 of “Most Likely to Succeed”, the Tripod of Learning for the 21st Century is described. This is a summary of that thinking. The three points of the tripod are: 1) content knowledge, […]
It was an incredible honour yesterday, to hear Dr. Tony Wagner speak about his work in rethinking education for today. Being able to ask my question about how we work with a system that still defines graduates by 2-digit numbers, and ranks them individually, was enlightening and empowering. I am a huge fan of Dr. […]
This year’s Technology Enabled Learning and Leading Symposium for Principals is wrapping up today. Yesterday we had the opportunity to have conversations with Dr. Tony Wagner about how the current pathways for our students are no longer leading to success. Creating that Compelling Case for Change is so critical. We are in times of exponential change, […]
As we think about the needs of learners in online environments, there is one dichotomy that we often forget. Some students take online courses because they need a credit or qualification for a life pathway, not because the want to learn. I was first introduced to this thinking as a secondary online teacher , and […]
“eLearning may not be for everyone.” Really? What if you are the only student at a high school needing a credit in SPH4U? eLearning might be your only option. As educators, are we really saying that eLearning might not be for this student? Or should we be saying, eLearning is just learning, and we will […]
Recently, in my Primary/Junior Math AQ course, we examined process expectations in the Ontario primary/junior math curriculum document. Of particular interest to me was the process expectation around “selecting tools and computational strategies”. The Ontario math curriculum document was written in 2005, five years before the first iPad was released, and two years before the […]
