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...
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’ve been teaching a course to pre-service B.Ed. students – Schools and Education. I basically have a lot of room to “do my thing” and really just get students to challenge their set values, beliefs and preconceptions about what is school and what is...
This is a great activity for Christmas! Why not have your students write a letter to Santa! Here’s a nice template. Two options. They can either write a letter to Santa which someone in the class will write back to. OR Students can write a...
As many of you might know, I returned “home” to Canada, the north of Canada this year. After years spent wandering the globe teaching, decided to be in one place, with family and friends. The transition has gone better than I expected. Love spending time...
** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1. David Suzuki There are many great teachers in Canada. Are and have been. However, despite my love of Northrope Frye and having grown up on his intellectual bread – I have to voice without...
One thing that I’m very convinced of, is the notion that us teachers are “motivators”. It is our job to motivate our students, to lead our students towards becoming self directed learners, learning for themselves, intrinsically. Oh sure, we have to do all the regular...
I’m returning to my home and native land Canada in a few weeks and I’ve been thinking incessantly about “chopping wood”. Chopping wood isn’t easy! Most city folk who try it, look like bumbling fools. Even if they manage to do okay, they last only...
So often in teaching, we get caught up in ourselves. What we do and what we contribute. Me, me, me, us, us, us. However, it is often the case that once we get some distance, we see how much our students have given us. How...
I watched this part of 60 Minutes this evening. Whatever else, it stimulates the mind and gets one thinking about both A) Why some kids are not as “smart” and B) Who is responsible? A) My own opinion is that there are very large social...
Reader’s Comments