by Donna Miller Fry (@fryed)
For a long time in Ontario, we have relied heavily on standardized test results, and the tested ideas and strategies grounded in research to inform our educational practice. But does this kind of thinking short-change our kids? Dr. Chris Dede talks about the importance of spreading pockets of excellence and adapting successful practice into our […]
#uLead15 was an opportunity for educators to hear from some of the leaders in education where PISA scores are consistently the highest. It was obvious that the leading PISA countries do not use strategies like practicing test writing, teaching to the test, focusing on “moving the high level two students to level three”, data walls, […]
After attending a learning opportunity like #uLead15, there is an imperative to share the learning fully and quickly. I am still travelling – not quite home from the event yet – so my first share is a Storify of the twitterfeed during Pak Tee Ng’s presentations. I know you will be fascinated by his thinking, […]
In Ontario we know we have pockets of excellence when it comes to Technology-enabled learning and teaching. When I refer to “pockets of excellence”, I mean schools and classrooms where learning to do this, digging into doing this well, and supporting the understanding of how learning needs to change to meet the realities of today’s […]
Earlier today, I read a post on the importance of the language we use when we talk about education. It made me think about some of the listening I have done this year when I ask educators why they are not using social media for their professional learning. At the OPC/CPCO/ADFO Symposium in November, many school […]
This month, most of my writing time has been spent on a daily blog for OSSEMOOC, the project I co-lead with Mark Carbone in our current roles with OSAPAC in Ontario. We say that “connected learners need connected leaders”. We work every single day trying to convince education leaders in Ontario that they need to become […]
The very first article I read on Zite this morning was a blog post written by Dr. Chris Dede (incidentally the keynote speaker last week at #on21Clearn in Toronto). Dr. Dede begins by reminding us that the knowledge and skills of teachers and classroom educators are the most important factor in student learning. Having said that, […]
We have problems. Big problems. Our world is warming up at an alarming rate. Child poverty is still a reality in spite of “promises” to end it. Who will solve these problems? What are we doing every day to move toward solutions? Commander Hadfield asked this question recently as host of the CBC Radio program […]
Why would we want to exclude other educators from our professional learning network? Stephen Katz, in his book Intentional Interruptions, discusses the problem of confirmation bias when it comes to professional learning. It is our tendency to “only look for things that confirm rather than challenge our beliefs and practices“. We need to make […]
She hated me. I didn’t know a lot about her, but I knew this for sure. She hated me with every stare down as I walked through the halls, with every glare when I entered one of her classes, and with every silent meeting in my office – me talking, and her projecting her hatred […]
