Thoughts and reflections on teaching and learning – Cohort 21 Member Blog
Written by Garth Nichols
Or is this even a useful dichotomy? I’ve just finished Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath, an exploration of how perceived advantages can be one’s biggest disadvantage. In the context of education, it is an interesting exercise to look at one’s pedagogical, curricular, technological or even school’s biggest advantages and explore how they are disadvantages, and […]
Written by Garth Nichols
To keep doing what you’re doing? To keep using your hunches and experience as truth? To keep teaching students the same today as you did years ago? Did you join Cohort 21 for this? Probably not. But maybe… So think about this. And to help you reflect on this, here are some prompts: (1) From […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Have you ever been preparing for a meeting, be it with colleagues or students where you think “I need a different approach” or “How do I best work with this person to move forward in a generative way?”. This is a book for those looking to adopt a framework that moves beyond one-dimensional approaches to […]
Written by Garth Nichols
I’ve been curious about what some of us have referred to as “The Cohort Effect”. Those under the Cohort Effect report changes in behaviour as it pertains to risk-taking and increases in emotion as they pertain to a sense of belonging and vulnerability. In fact, the most complete diagnosis of the Cohort Effect was witnessed […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Where There Be Dragons can be considered the Gold Standard of experiential education. I travelled with three other colleagues to their “Rocky Mountain Seminar” to learn more about how we might begin to lean into risk and how we might deepen our ability to learn service before giving service. Nestled into the foothills of Boulder Colorado, it […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Reading this book is simultaneously inspiring, knowledge-building, frustrating and enlighting. Grant Lichtman’s latest book builds off of his previous #EdJourney, which I have reviewed here before; however, where #EdJourney is focused on examples and the “what” of lighthouse schools, Moving the Rock focuses on action. In fact. Young Zhao (read more HERE) reviewed this book […]
Written by Garth Nichols
The Monday versus Someday dilemma: If we plan for a great, ambitious goal to happen in two, maybe three, or even five years, we can forget about getting started. If we implement new initiatives every Monday without a vision for what it will look like in two, maybe three, or even five years, we lose […]
Written by Garth Nichols
I took up this book in an effort to contribute understanding to a shared language around school transformation. This book, written by James Rickabaugh and Tony Frontier, was published in 2014, but much of what they say still has important implications to educational transformation, and the forces acting on education’s systems and structures. This book […]
Written by Garth Nichols
U2 is one of my all time favourite bands. Beautiful Day is one of their biggest hits. We are hoping that our version of “Beautiful Day” in education is just as successful in our community! This year, my school is attempting some new – we are calling them “Day 9”s. These are 4 calendared days […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Project Based Learning is far more than simply setting students on a path to complete a project on a given date. Rather, Project Based Learning is a complex pedagogy that requires attention, a shift in one’s role as a teacher and one’s mindset. I believe that Project Based Learning is a combination between student skills and […]
