Me: I have a crazy idea. You would be perfect. Would you consider doing something to honour #sd36learn teachers and their innovation as a community? If I needed you, would you consider doing an Ignite? Dean: Yes and yes. Me: The idea is that your Ignite would thank all the teachers in the district…
A Parting Gift: An Outsider’s Perspective
Guest Post: Special thanks to Sarah Garr (@garr_s) for being my assistant in organizing our Ignites for the Engaging the Digital Learner Series. She innocently offered her assistance last fall and I immediately put her to work! It is with appreciation for her service to all of us in #sd36learn that I asked her to…
Anticipating the Future
The future depends on what we do in the present. Mahatma Ghandi Our district is exploring our vision of Learning by Design. We are examining how manipulating the variables of traditional structures, simple & complex tools, and learning strategies can deepen the learning experience for students.We create these important conversations through the Engaging the Digital Learner Series….
Leap, Pull, Play: A Framework for Innovative Professional Development
NEW REALITIES Creating engagement is not about driving a particular set of behaviors. It is much more about creating an environment in which people feel energized to do the best work of their lives. Coles Hewett Massive and global changes in the ways that we learn, connect and live dictate fresh approaches to professional development…
Guess what? That’s us!
Prologue: The post below is reprinted with permission from George Couros and Jeff Unruh, a grade 7 teacher at Pacific Heights Elementary School. Jeff is the teacher that we are visiting and I am the colleague identified in the post. I had invited George to come to our district to do an environmental scan of…
The Sharing Continues
Our Engaging the Digital Learner: Learning by Design series continues to be a motivational, inspirational and informative event for the 280 educators that join us each evening. The sessions are designed so we hear learning stories through four Ignite presentations, with table talk in-between, dinner for more continued conversation and then an opportunity to hear a…
Share, Share, Share
“These are the things I learned (in Kindergarten): 1. Share everything… 16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first workd you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK.” ― Robert Fulghum, in All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten We learn from others. When we share it often requires us…
Engaging the Digital Learner: Learning by Design
Change is the end result of all true learning. Leo Buscaglia We were fortunate to kick off January 2015 with a return to our very successful Engaging the Digital Learner Series. Each year we try to find educational thought leaders that will challenge our thinking and encourage our growth as professionals. Participants attend in school…
Innovation in Action: Learning by Design
Not only should we encourage kids to daydream, but also to jump-in and build those dreams. Dreaming is largely lost among adults drowning in self-imposed realities. …
A Window into Learning
“We’re trying to boil it down to what do parents really want and need to know about a child’s progress in school? How can we give parents a window into class?…We believe traditional report cards are highly ineffective in communicating to parents where their children are in learning. If we can communicate this learning routinely…