AER and Educational Reform: Makin’ It Work
From Free Info Society Whenever people start talking about A.E.R., I hear the letters being “sung” by Johnny Rotten. Somehow it seems to help. So we’re getting to a point…
Teaching
Just Legalize it Already
I spent a lovely extended weekend in Awenda and fell in love with Penetanguishene through a scenic bike ride. The sun filtered through the trees on either side of the…
On Categorization of Behaviours and Abilities
People are always looking for the single magic bullet that will change everything. There is no single magic bullet. – Temple Grandin Some people are quite upset about the recent…
On a Four-Hour Workday
Stephen Elliott-Buckley echoes Bertrand Russell‘s idea of the 4-hour workday. Russell in brief: Above all, there will be happiness and joy of life, instead of frayed nerves, weariness, and dyspepsia.…
Educating the Differently-Abled
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – widely…
Animal Testing: What’s wrong with education this time?
Okay it’s really about our kids. But this post was inspired, in part, by this cartoon gaining swift popularity: There’s a burgeoning rebellion against the way we teach. I’m all…
Silence During Tragedy
I went to a history conference, and one of the PhDs at the front was talking about the common occurrence of silence during tragedy. And, while those around me discussed…
On Boredom
I’m not talking about the “nausea of ennui” discussed from Seneca (“many who judge life to be not bitter, but superfluous”) to Sartre, that total lack of interest in anything…
Seniority Does Not Always Equal Merit
The title is from a line in an essay published in Friday’s Globe and Mail: “I’m a First-Year Teacher Who Will Automatically be Fired at the End of the School…
On Teacher Accountability
One criticism that Cooper and friends say is part of the problem with education is a lack of teacher accountability. I actually agree with this one. But how do we…
On Deducting Late Marks
I was going to list the pros and cons of taking late marks off assignments, but I had my students blog about it, and they hit on pretty much any…
On Misplaced Admiration
Damian Cooper’s out to reform education, and our board has come up with yet another a new assessment document as a response. The article of the day that he co-wrote…
On Hate Crimes and Sexual Orientation
I was reviewing for a test on theories of discrimination and hate crimes in Canada with grade 12 students, and one review question was, “When was sexual orientation added to…
Following Your Dreams or Living an Illusion?
Ken Robinson, Sir, you are killing me! I know you probably didn’t mean for people to interpret your words in a warped way. Nobody does. But that’s what happens when…
Regulation 274, Education Act of Ontario
I was just about to start a petition at Change.org about this, but, thanks to Angie Potts, there’s one already there. After, I’m guessing, about 5 day, it’s got 415…
Finding work a struggle for new teachers in Toronto
Flickr image by spDuchamp. *** Note: this piece was originally published with OpenFile Toronto on Feb. 10, 2012, but is no longer available online since their website shut down. ***…
On Education, Stress, and Success
I’m starting another run at the Futures Forum Project: three subjects over two periods with one teacher (two team-teaching this year) that emphasizes an intentional digital footprint as we write…
Thanks for the Contract, Laurel!
In a cab ride yesterday, I happened to catch Laurel Broten on the radio explaining how necessary it was to first deny teachers’ right to negotiate, then impose a contract,…
Binomial distributions and multiple choice tests
Readers of my blog know that I generally regard multiple choice tests (MCTs) as an adequate tool to assess student knowledge of, and proficiency with, a given set of topics.…
Online notes
Why do students who take courses with me (but colleagues tell me of similar experiences) routinely insist that I scan and post online my very own notes, the hard-to-read, disorganized…