Thoughts and reflections on teaching and learning – Cohort 21 Member Blog
Written by Garth Nichols
How can I help? What do you need? Where do your students need support? These are the questions I ask my teachers, and myself, everyday. A technology coach is part leader, part follower, part IT, part EdT, but certainly all “learner”. In a recent White Paper, entitled “Technology, Coaching & Community”, the issue of awareness […]
Written by Garth Nichols
How did my school go from almost ZERO twitter connections, to being part of a CIS Ontario-wide movement to connect on Twitter with other schools across disciplines and grades? What started as zero twitter chatter within my school, grew quickly to over 15 teachers, either starting new with Twitter or repositioning their Tweets to connect […]
Written by Garth Nichols
After reading the article that Allison Harding pointed us to, I can’t help but think of the invisible refrigerator analogy and subsequent discussion that we had about the role of Edtech in education, schools, and our classroom. The article that Allison posted is entitled “Our tools shape us.” So I wanted to try and square […]
Written by Garth Nichols
When introducing students, teacher and administration to the concepts of digital literacy and footprinting, there are few insights that I have gleaned from my experiences. Overcoming Digital Natives’ Complacency: This is a concept first created by U.S. author Marc Prensky in 2001 is emerging as the globe’s dominant demographic, while the “digital immigrant,” becomes a relic of […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Back in October, I launched my action plan, and even though Digital Citizenship Day is in the past for 2013, I am looking forward to the first week of October in 2014. There are some great conversations throughout Cohort 21, as well as the CIS Ontario community about online safety and the role of students, […]
Written by Garth Nichols
There is a sea-change happening in the realm of educational leadership. I feel that Cohort 21 is a big part of that change. Sarah McKibbon’s article in ASCD’s publications is entitled “Following Lincoln’s Lead“, and it resonates with many of the actions that I, and others, are taking in their schools towards a more open […]
Written by Garth Nichols
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLTZv2NFkLI[/youtube] “This is me in Grade 9 Baby, yeah, this is me in Grade 9” – great lyrics from a great band. But they make me think about what we do, as grown-ups, to help us find out who we are. This song is about a picture, but it leads to memories. Memories of […]
Written by Garth Nichols
As the month of August continues to march forward, the dawn of a new school year lies ahead. This year, one of my personal goals is to really push the envelope with digital literacy. So, naturally, I’ve been doing some 21st century research: looking at YouTube, visiting blogs, and looking at infographics. I’ve stumbled upon […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Susan Davis writing for “Getting Smart” begins her blog post on “Teaching Authentic Writing in a Socially Mediated World” with this idea: “…I don’t know where to start. You see, I’ve completely bought into the idea that what we teach our students should be authentic, that is, tangible and real in ways that are meaningful and purposeful for […]
Written by Garth Nichols
With the myriad of social media tools, teachers must be very careful with the one(s) that they invest themselves in, and especially what they ask their students to invest in as well. This past week Diigo was hacked and its services were down. Many of us are already using Diigo, and I’ve been using it […]
