There is no doubt that public education in North America is under attack. The lack of confidence is more pronounced south of the border than here in Canada. But even so, everybody has an opinion on education and more often than not a ready-made solution for our ills. Just because you attended school or you are …
Tag: Transformation
Jun 24
Evolving Practice
I was struck by a conversation I was involved in with our leadership program participants last week. We began to reminisce about the teachers who had taught us and some of the practices that were considered the “norm” in those days! Each of us could recount many examples of those teachers who made such a positive …
Jun 17
Don’t forget to celebrate!
The school year in Alberta is coming to a close and it will coincide with my first year of blogging anniversary. What began as a desire to simply communicate from the my office has developed into an almost weekly personal education reflection. Upon reviewing my yearly blog posts, I would suggest that the vast majority …
Jun 13
Where lies the enemy?
There is considerable finger pointing in our world today. We’ve replaced responsibility with accountability. Too often, society is quick to blame somebody or something else for their own woes. This really struck a chord a couple of weeks ago when I was involved in a Twitter chat that blamed everything beyond themselves. Even trying to …
May 27
Educators need Twitter!
I read a message while following the chat at #connectedca that stated, “I’ve learned more from Twitter in the last year than in the last 5 years of PD activities.” This message was similar to one I provided at my opening address beginning this year. This does not imply that I have not attended some powerful professional …
Apr 22
A message to the government
Tomorrow, Albertans go to the polls. This provincial election has been one of the most intriguing in many years as there appears to be no clear cut majority. However, that decision will be left up to all of the people who cast their votes for the candidate and party of their choice. My blog today is …
Apr 01
From the Desk of the Superintendent- April 2012
April 1st means that there is less than three months remaining in this 2011-12 school year and that, is no April Fools joke. With only three months left in the school year, many plans are already well underway for next year. Our budget assumptions were presented at the March board meeting. These assumptions are based on …
Mar 25
Why Blog?
I would certainly say, that I began the process of blogging as another communication technique for our division. Last year, I produced a monthly e-mail message entitled, “From the Desk of the Superintendent” for our staff and school councils. The purpose of this mass e-mail was to inform our community about actions taken at the monthly …
Mar 11
Tortoise vs. Hare
This past week I led one of the worst meetings I’ve had in my career in senior administration. It wasn’t contentious and nobody’s temper blew but it left me and I’m sure the other twenty of my administrative colleagues wondering why we came together. The meeting was a joint meeting of our budget, curriculum and inclusive education …
Feb 12
Preparing tomorrow’s teachers!
On Friday, I had the pleasure of presenting to members of the Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge on the transformation agenda. I began my presentation with a quote that I took from a tweet by Dave Martin (@d_martin05) “If we teach today, the way we were taught yesterday no one will ever …