"When one teaches, two learn"
I’ve spent the weekend reading the Heidegger and a Hippo walk through those Pearly Gates, the sequel to the amazing Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar. Amazing books that combine commentary with jokes. As I’m reading, I was thinking of how jokes so...
** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1. The Freedom To Teach There is one thing I always wish for the teachers I’ve trained and taught and shown the door...
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...
GUS the BUS (Driver) full screenI want to thank those readers who’ve written asking me about when I’ll be blogging again. Honored. I haven’t been blogging for several reasons; marking students’ work (Philosophies of Education), my work with EnglishCentral (stay tuned for major developments) and just...
Marking is something teachers kind of dread. It takes hours and usually there is little pay off. However, on the other end are students who wait with anticipation for any feedback or comment. How to reconcile these two opposing forces? This dilema and “round peg...
These few meager, to the bone words, go out to all the teachers who are “unacknowledged”, under the radar in their magnificence. I’m sure we can all name many of them. They support us, encourage us. They don’t make a big splash, aren’t particularly memorable...
I published Teach | Learn about 8 months ago. A lot of what I’ve learned and believe about teaching English to students in a classroom went into this simple book. It’s simplicity can be deceiving and it is based on my own belief in SCC...
Time for some levity! It helps us survive our day in and day out teaching grind. It brings things into perspective. I’ve written previously some top 5 lists about teaching/studying English. Hilarious stuff there. However, I think I have some equally hilarious but showing...
This presentation has always been a fav. of teachers. Here, I add a voiceover and summarizing some of the main points (ever so quickly). Click on the presention to listen and use the slideshow underneath to go to resources highlighting each point (by clicking on...
I’m sitting in one of these chairs, in “god’s country”, lakes and rocks and trees, trees, lakes, rocks, rocks, rocks, lakes, trees, trees, no people. Divine. My last few days before beginning a return to the classroom. I’ve spent the evening, refreshed by the lapping...
Yep, time to get serious, school is starting! In keeping with this year’s promise to be more personal on my blog, I have some news of my comings and goings. I’ll be starting to teach at the university I attended for my own B.Ed. After...
I’ve been seeking inspiration for my own teaching. I’m still teaching online, working online, but will after a year outside “the regular classroom” be returning to the reality of 4 walls. You can’t replace F2F. I wrote a bit about missing this before and I’ve...
Which side do you generally side with when making decisions? Do you make decisions based on your expert knowledge and experience or do you lean towards the data and numbers? I’m asking because I’ve had some interesting conversations in this regard, with a colleague. How...
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...
Teaching a language isn’t as easy as it sounds – to do it well. Just showing up to a class and speaking (we call this modeling language) is only half the job. And that other half is an art form that one acquires over the...
** 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...
“Where is the life we have lost in living?” – T.S. Eliot As a teacher trainer and workshopper, I have had the honor and pleasure to interact with a lot of new teachers over the last 10 or so years. Energizing and invigorating. One thing...
The recent tragic events in Japan have brought back memories of the 2005 tsunami when I was teaching grade 4 at Rose Ave. P.S. in Toronto. I’ve previously written about this multicultural school and the impact it had on my own teacher development. The tsunami...
Let me start with a question. Which of the girls above speaks the most fluent English? Can you put them in order from best to worst fluency? Now that you’ve done that – note that these are the “Wondergirls”, a Korean girlband phenom. They are...
I get asked a lot, “how do you do so much?” or am labeled, “the hardest working ELT teacher”. I’m always somewhat lost as to how to respond. Baffled really. I guess I’m a fish that knows nothing about the water I swim in! You...
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