by Donna Miller Fry (@fryed)
Saying that it [corporal punishment] is not allowed, isn’t going to change a school culture entirely. We don’t know what other forms of discipline will come in. I think really in the simplest forms when I talk with families, I remind them that our goal is no pain — so that’s corporal punishment– no shame, […]
How can we help parents get as excited about the quality of learning in schools as they do about the quality of the football?
Over the past few days, mostly while shovelling snow, I have been listening to one particular podcast from the CBC Ideas Program: Knowledge and Democracy. The program examines the interaction between science and society, looking at the “position” of the discipline “science” in a democracy. It is of particular interest to me because of our […]
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 […]
I wanted to tell a funny story on this Labour Day. I will share this entertaining piece instead: Teachers Don’t Sleep on Labour Day by @albertfong I have plenty of my own crazy tales, of course, having spent nearly 30 years of Labour Days ignoring my family in spite of it being my daughter’s birthday, our wedding anniversary, a […]
Today is my day to participate in the #OSSEMOOC Pic and Post, where we encourage learners to pick ONE piece of learning, take a shot of it, and share it with others. Got something to share? Of course you do! Here’s how to make your learning visible so others can learn too: http://ossemooc.wordpress.com/2014/05/29/collaborative-blogging-2/ If nobody shares, […]
It’s perplexing to me that as Canadians we can unite at ungodly early morning hours to cheer on our hockey team as a country, yet when it comes to education we live on seemingly unconnected islands. In my province, Ontario, we have just completed a “visioning” exercise, looking at how to move our public education […]
Recently, there was an uproar about math scores in Ontario. The media called the results of the PISA test “a crisis” and quickly blamed schools, teachers, the education system, and anyone else related to public education. Yesterday, we learned shocking statistics about the state of students’ mental health in Toronto District School Board. The response? […]
Recently I had a second opportunity to listen to the Director of Education for the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, John Malloy, speak at a conference (#NOELonline). Below are my notes (with personal annotations) from his presentation. What are our beliefs as educators? Photomatt28 via Compfight cc We have beliefs around what classrooms should look like […]
I am in my second last session of the OTRK12 Conference in Mississauga. As the twitter feed flies by me I am reflecting on how much I have learned and how much I need to share. Here are some of my notes from this morning’s chat with John Malloy, Director, HWDSB. Some of the other […]
