Thoughts and reflections on teaching and learning – Cohort 21 Member Blog
Written by Garth Nichols
This book came highly recommended to me because of the way it applies the concepts of Individualism to the self, the workplace, corporations and education. It is not another book about education and personalized learning. Rather it is a book about the fundamental question: “Do we want a system of higher education that compels each […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Revisiting Creating Innovators 4 years after it was published was both inspiring and reassuring. Indeed, this book continues to be a call to action for all involved in the education realm: parents, students, teachers and administration. I highly recommend this book as a read (or reread if you haven’t read it in a while) because: – […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Next year I am taking on a new role at a new school, and I couldn’t be more excited. I am the inaugural Vice Principal of Student Engagement and Experiential Development at Havergal College – an all girls Independent School in Toronto. Their mascot is “The Havagator” – a green and gold alligator, so I’m […]
Written by Garth Nichols
I am always asking my students to engage with their learning. I am often asking of my students to focus, and expecting them to pay attention during the learning activity. However, how often do we, as educators, allow our students to develop and practice the skills of paying attenion? I’ve been inspired over the last […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Building on my review of #EdJourney, I sourced this podcast from TeachThought. It is an interview with reknowned author Yong Zhao, who talks about the future of education, and – more importantly – HOW to get there. It’s a 40mins podcast – perfect for driving in traffic! – so here is a quick run-down of […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Grant Lichtman’s book was the right medicine at the right time for me. I’ve been wrestling with innovation in shifting landscape of education. The target is becoming clearer for what education has done right in the past, and what changes are needed to continue to do right in the future. Books that I’ve read in […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Fear of Missing Out… Fear of being left out… Fear of being left behind… As an educator, do we need to feel this fear? Do we need to feel a drive for growth? Now, maybe fear is not the greatest motivator. So how might we rephrase this: Desire to be on the leading edge… Desire […]
Written by Garth Nichols
As I’ve written about before, I took part in the first installment of The Teachers’ Guild, run by IDEO. Its mission is to build collaboration amongst teachers to solve challenges in education. This particular iteration had this challenge prompt: “How might we create rituals and routines that establish a culture of innovation in our classrooms […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Making something routine can be taken as making something ordinary, something we do without thinking. However, what I have learned over the summer from my work with The Teachers Guild and with Future Design Schools, is that Innovation as Routine is anything but ordinary, and requires deep thinking. I first heard about the Teachers Guild […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Sir Ken Robinson’s latest book “Creative Schools” is not a simple rehash of what we know so well about his ideas and theories; rather, this builds on his previous work to present insights in to how to bring creativity into our schools. Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value. (Robinson) We face […]
