Two years ago I couldn’t have foreseen how facilitating teacher inquiry meetings would impact my own professional development.  I’ve invested approximately 240 hours as a facilitator, looking at student work and exploring next steps in student learning and teacher instruction.  But I didn’t learn in isolation; my colleagues were present for each one of those 240 hours.  They were at the table with questions, ideas and...

I’ve sat down to type my reflection on TedxOntarioEd every evening since it took place on April 9th. I’ve written about what it was like to get to know the amazing organizing team of Jamie Weir, Ben Hazzard, Rodd Lucier, Sharon Drummond and Colin Jagoe. I’ve written about the speakers, motivation and meeting people from my PLN for the first time. My words cannot do any of this justice. They seem dry and flat. So, inspired by Ben...

In an effort to improve student responses to lab questions, Peggy, a Science teacher at Stratford Central Secondary School, developed a strategy for co-constructing criteria. Instead of creating a large anchor chart or poster, Peggy had students create what she calls bumper stickers. These are small pieces of paper that students will use as anchors, but keep in their notebooks. Here are the steps Peggy used to co-construct criteria with her...

A recent episode of Spark on CBC radio made me think about the way we teach history. The program dealt, in part, with using digital technology to preserve memories, heritage and culture. In a particularly poignant story, Meryl Swiatek recalls finding a cassette tape of her mother reading children’s stories nearly nine years after her mother died of cancer. Meryl notes the importance of technology in preserving the memory of her mom and...

Last week I was at St Marys DCVI for one of our board’s teacher inquiry meetings. At the end of the session, Richard Farmer, an English teacher with an interest in technology and cooperative learning, asked me if I would like to see some of the structural changes he has made in his classroom. Richard does not have expensive, new materials in his room. He has salvaged tables from around the school, but the arrangement of his classroom...