Let’s innovate! We need an education system that provides us with students who are innovative and creative. To be successful in the future, students need to be adaptable and flexible. They need to be great communicators, collaborators and let’s throw in that they can get along with everybody they meet! That is exactly what our …
Category: Educational Updates
Mar 10
Adverse Childhood Experiences
The following blog post was printed in the Lethbridge Herald on March 8, 2017 Last week, as part of our ongoing professional learning, school and system leaders watched the documentary, “Paper Tigers.” It is a story about an alternative high school in the state of Washington and its turnaround due to a focus and understanding …
Feb 24
Learning for all staff
Yesterday morning, I addressed our support staff as they began their day of learning. It is an annual event that coincides with Teachers’ Convention and invites ALL of our support staff to come together for an opportunity to learn. You see, learning or being a learner is not owned by only the teaching profession. Learning or being …
Feb 12
Open to learning
Sometimes it is in the simplest of conversations or actions that we learn the most. But that learning can only take place if we are truly open to it. Our opportunity to learn should be constant and not encumbered by our own decision of whether the situation we are in, or person we are talking …
Jan 25
Connecting the Dots
The following blog was published in the Lethbridge Herald on January 25, 2017. I recently came across a visual from Marzano Research that illustrated the differences between the old factory model of schooling and the new paradigm we are striving for in education in Alberta. The old mentality had us simply collecting dots, placing high …
Jan 04
Teaching Grit
As an individual who grew up in a highly athletic environment, grit and/or mental toughness were almost natural byproducts. You played and worked hard, you didn’t quit and you earned what you deserved. I can’t ever recall just showing up and automatically winning a prize! But I also recognize that the attributes of grit and mental …
Dec 11
Keep it simple!
I grew up with a friend who was absolutely brilliant and he had a vocabulary to match. You almost needed a dictionary to understand the words he used on a fairly regular basis. When I did understand his vocabulary (which was usually rare), I would often tease him by rephrasing his statement in common and …
Nov 30
Why Change Curriculum?
The following blog post was published in the Lethbridge Herald on November 30, 2016. Alberta Education is undergoing the aggressive task of updating the curriculum currently being taught in our schools. While it may seem that curriculum changes are always occurring, the truth is that Alberta’s curriculum actually ranges in age from eight to thirty …
Nov 27
TRUST
Last week, my good friend and colleague Michael Chechile, Director General for Lester B. Pearson School Board sent out a tweet that asked Michael Fullan to summarize his day/ presentation/ approach/ strategy/ deep learning/ in one word to make it happen. It really should come as no surprise that Fullan’s one word was TRUST. One word, …
Nov 12
Alignment counts!
This week our senior administration completed our school continuous improvement plan reviews with all of our school leaders. The process is fairly simple in that each school administration team comes into the board office and shares their plan with our senior education leaders. While I understand that it can a little intimidating for our newer leaders, it is meant …