If There Has Been No Learning

If there has been no learning, there has been no teaching. As educators, we work in service of student learning. We ask where a learner is now (assessment), where a learner is going (curriculum learning expectations), how a learner will get there (strategies to ensure students construct that learning) and how we will know (monitoring […]

Sharing “Student Privacy” at Lakehead University Faculty of Education

Recently, I was honoured to be invited to share with first year B.Ed. students (aspiring teachers) at Lakehead University (Thunder Bay Campus). We began by thinking about why digital was important, and by examining Padlet as a tool to be used in classrooms.  Our thinking on digital has been captured below.  Please feel free to […]

Notes Instead of Thoughts – From 3 Rules to Spark Learning

When talking about Digital Portfolios, both Dr. Alec Couros and George Couros talk about the place where you do your messy work and then the place where you put your best work.  Below is some of my messy work. Sometimes you know you just need to keep things around to refer to and to think […]

Looking for the [Student] Learning Intention

  Online every day I see what appear to be amazing things that educators are doing in their classrooms.  As a connected leader and learner, I tend to be quick to praise, to share, to encourage and to promote practice. But is this my best practice? Do I know enough about what I am encouraging? Recently, […]

Exploring Digital Literacy and the Importance of Confidence

  Part of my current role in Ontario is working with teachers and education leaders to dig into what modern learning really looks like at the level of the “student desk”. Much of the work in this province is informed by the thinking of Michael Fullan, particularly in his latest publications “Great to Excellent: Launching […]

Thoughts: Labour Day 2014

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 […]

Who Are You Leaving Out?

  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 […]

What Does a “Lead Learner” Actually Do?

A few weeks back, I was asked to work with some educators who were at the senior management level in their board.  They told me that they wanted everyone in the organization to model the kind of learning they wanted to see at the classroom level. We were specifically working on ways to make thinking and […]

Is Linear the Right Approach?

I posted this short piece on the collaborative #OSSEMOOC blog this morning. Throughout June, the OSAPAC team is encouraging educators to share their thinking by taking a screenshot of something that resonated with them, and sharing it with a few comments. It’s a great way to get started, especially if you are thinking about starting […]

Are You Really Willing to be Disturbed?

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, […]