"Dad, what's your 3rd favourite colour?"  My youngest daughter is known for asking these types of questions. She has actually asked that one but usually the questions are more about a favourite part of a movie, what's your favourite vacation spot, etc. That's pretty typical for kids and even adults. We love to order and rank things. I have...

While many have lamented the death of blogging, I’m not one of them. In fact, I still am not convinced of a better way to personalize your web experience. As an educator, I view them as learning spaces where metacognition is king. That’s not the thrust of this post but I wanted to make that clear. My pre-service teachers are required to blog. I take great...

    Imagine it's 1991. A principal of a large school has students that are doing some really nice writing and art. Imagine of a large publishing company comes to the school and wants to try something different. They offer the principal a chance for every student in the building the opportunity to publish any or all works of their choice. They'll...

I began teaching in 1988. It was a tough job and thinking about getting better was superseded by survival instincts. Early on in my career, there were several documents that the province produced in support of improved professional development. I didn't pay much attention to these but one phrase I saw in those documents some 20 years ago stuck with me. Reflective...

Cross posted at The Tech Learning Blog This facebook/twitter posting by Chris Lehmann got my attention. It's hard to argue with that statement and it raises some interesting questions and implications. It reminded me this cartoon by Hugh MacLeod (warning, Hugh as an affection for the f-bomb) It's powerful statement warning about our ability to connect and...

Claire Thompson left this comment on a recent post pointing to Jan Smith’s classroom blog and the disclaimer that sits on the left sidebar of her blog. This is a huge issue for many teachers considering posting work online. Not only are the worried about controlling content and concerned about how others will view the quality of the work. Typically classroom...