Thoughts and reflections on teaching and learning – Cohort 21 Member Blog
Written by Garth Nichols
“The Future is Analog” (2022) is David Sax’s follow up to “The Revenge of Analog” (2016). In this very readable, incredibly well researched, with a wide diversity of people referenced and interviewed, David Sax offers a welcome version of the future based on the tough lessons that we’ve learned through our experiences of the pandemic. […]
Written by Garth Nichols
As part of an upcoming PD experience, I am reading this book by Richard Barrett, and thought I would share some of the learnings. The subtitle of this book is “Cultural Health and Employee Well-Being as a Pathway to Sustainable Performance”. This alone makes this book compelling, as a resource to offer some answers / […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Stolen Focus, Why you Can’t Pay Attention – and How to Think Deeply Again, by Johann Hari, is a game-changer for me. It captures the tension, the friction, the challenge, opportunity and hope that faces education in the face of diminishing ability to think deeply, pay mindful attention, and to learn deeply. This book explores […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Jo Chrona is an educator, philosopher and Two-Spirited woman of RTs’msyen and European Heritage, and this book is the latest in her efforts and passion for creating systemic change to build a truly inclusive experience for all learners. In this way, the book focusses on Indigenous Knowlege (IK) through a larger lens of anti-racist education. […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Recommended to me because of their useful analogy of: “The Rider” (logic and reason), “The Elephant” (emotions and relationships), and “The Path” (the environment and context), this book is a great source of inspiration, reminders and ideas for initiating change, for change management and it provides tools & language to support and lead others through […]
Written by Garth Nichols
In organizations such as Independent Schools rich in history, precedent, tradition and long-standing community members (faculty and families), there is a lot of inertia to move these schools into position of agility, responsiveness and ‘new’. “New Power: How anyone can persuade, mobilize and succeed in our chaotic connected age”, by Heimans and Timms, offers a […]
Written by Garth Nichols
“The word ‘resurgence’ means to “rise to prominence.” It is a fitting title for this book, which is a celebration of Indigenous voices, feature narrative, poetic, and artistic works…In contrast to reconciliation, which has been critiqued as “for the colonizers” and for failing to offer the multilayered changes needed to support Indigenous communities, resurgence signals […]
Written by Garth Nichols
“Potlatch as Pedagogy” was recommended to me by Mike Carlson, a teacher at Wandering Spirits school (TDSB) and an Indigenous educational consultant. This book strongly resonates with “The Nordic Secret” and “Ecological Learning“, in that the approaches are student-centred, holistic and reciprocal. What I really enjoyed about this book was the 9 Principles of “Sk’ad’a”, […]
Written by Garth Nichols
This book, by Julie Diamond, PhD, was recommended to me by Shakil Choudhury, after reading his book, Deep Diversity, as part of the CIS Ontario Book Club. This is a natural next read, focussing on the individual’s relationship with power, providing meaningful questions, and an “PowerPrint” exercise. You have this book in your hands because […]
Written by Garth Nichols
As you may have noticed from latest book reviews (The Nordic Secret & The Future of Learning), I am doing more research that dives into some historical and contemporary examinations on the purpose of education. in particular, education as preventative medicine: not learning about the conflicts and injustices alone; rather, (and at a very high […]
