"When one teaches, two learn"
Over the years, spending time with thousands of new or budding teachers – I’ve thought and thought and thought about the major factors that make a “great teacher”. It’s not an easy thing to pin down, given that there are so many different teaching...
This story comes from my time teaching at Bloor and Bay, 5th floor, N.E tower – Language Connections International. I was teaching new immigrants to Canada part of the day, foreign students the other half. Small classrooms with one wall all windows facing busy Bloor...
In the mid to late 90’s I was teaching new immigrants to Canada, downtown Toronto. It was a government program and all new immigrants with lower level language fluency would get paid for up to a year, if they regularly attended language lessons. I’ve written...
I had the luck to start teaching English at a school where I basically had free reign to teach as I saw fit. It was just after the fall of communism in the Czech Republic (then still Czechoslovakia), a beautiful spa city, Karlovy Vary. I...
If you’ve been to any of my training sessions, workshops, presentations – you’ll know I often start with a story They are a perfect way to frame conversation and get us thinking about our teaching. We are hard wired for narrative and I think for...
I recently got a barage of requests for “advice”. I really am honored and EVERY time try my best to give the most and most apt advice I possibly can given all the variables involved. This got me thinking and of course, “out popped a...
I attend quite a few conferences. The last year many as just a fly on the wall – attending sessions, taking things in …. I’m lucky, I know – able to travel and experience face to face professional development in many times exotic settings. I...
“Every journey begins with a simple thought.” – anonymous A new school year or semester on the horizon can be overwhelming. So much to do, so little time! However, don’t fret. Most can be done during the first crucial week in class – a...
A bit of a reflective post today while I pack and then head off to TESOL Toronto. Looking forward to seeing many “teaching friends”. It’s put me in a contemplative mood, about my journey as an educator. About saying who we are as teachers and...
I just finished up my school year, sending off a new group of teachers into the possibility that is teaching / education. This year in my course, my students did some reflective journal writing using my book Zen And The Act Of Teaching. I spent...
** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1. Assuming The Students Understand “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” ~George Bernard Shaw I’ve thought a lot about this and based on my own experiences as...
I’ve been digging through my old teaching diary from teacher’s college (1990). Interesting to note how much I still believe and how much has fallen into the dustbin of “doing it for awhile”. Part of writing a journal is this discovery of one’s teaching self...
I just gave a series of workshops on teaching teens and the considerations instructors must make when dealing with these “volatile” learners… Also, posted an article I wrote about teaching teens. What do you think of the suggestions I gave in the powerpoint below? Here...
We live in and by and through words. Baudelaire famously said, “Life is a forest of symbols”, meaning, we walk through life as we would walk through words. Yet, though on one hand “words are mightier than the sword”. On the other hand, “Actions speak...
I’ve long been a fan of very simple teaching ideas – the basic core of all good teaching. My Lessons in a Can are part of that. Now however, we’ve got a new Web 2.0 resource which you can be a part of – Teaching...
Exemplary Teacher’s Websites What makes a good classroom or course website? Are you thinking of starting your own (I think you should be, it is invaluable for students and their learning)? I just spent a wonderful 3 cups of coffee morning, browsing through a lot...
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