by Donna Miller Fry (@fryed)
“This is a profound shift to view the child as a capable, competent, rich in potential rights-bearing individual rather than as an empty vessel waiting to be filled.” Dr. Jean Clinton How do we shift our image of the learner? Recently I had the privilege to listen to Hailey Noseworthy, a Grade 12 student from […]
Why do we have to follow the rules? Schools are full of rules. We need rules, but we also need to re-examine how school rules (often based on assumptions about what school is, what it is for, and what it should look like) work against learning. We need to be willing to challenge our deeply-held […]
In 2018, why would students take conventional schooling seriously? According to Fullan, Quinn and McEachen (Deep Learning, 2018, p. 3), there is no reason for the majority of students to do so. The current school structure is oppressive to many young people. How many educators have experienced a school day from the place of […]
This post: Relevance Unfound is based on Chapter 1 of Deep Learning: Engage the World, Change the World by Fullan, Quinn and McEachen Scrolling through Twitter postings of how applied science is changing our world helps me to remember that outside of the structure that is school, our world is changing exponentially. For example, this new car will be […]
Sharing learning is a core value of my professional practice. This space – this blog – is my rough work. It’s a place to put out the raw thinking and learning and invite comments and challenges so that I might continue to learn and to rethink how we do education. In a nutshell, here is […]
At the end of #YRDSBQuest, Michael Fullan told the educators in attendance that they need to go back and challenge the status quo. I am documenting the ongoing conversation about how to do this safely. We rarely talk about it, but in our work, many educators have told us they won’t blog because they are […]
Thank you to #YRDSBQuest for streaming keynote presentations and encouraging the sharing of learning on Twitter. It makes it much easier to learn from a distance. While working near Thunder Bay on Wednesday, I was able to keep in touch with much of the learning. I also spent time last Sunday and Monday following the Tweets from […]
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 […]
2014 is coming to a close, and as I read the many excellent reflective educator “end of the year” blogs, so many are asking how to move forward in 2015. There is no simple answer to that question. What will it take to transform our schools into the centres of learning our children need? What […]
