What My Puppy is Teaching My Family…

About three weeks ago, my family of four grew to five. We got a puppy!  Her name is Penny, and she is a mini-French Bassett Hound. I’m in love. She has so much energy, curiosity and so much to learn! She’s brought a lot to our family so far, but not without a disruption to…
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Who is Education’s David and Goliath?

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…
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Did you join Cohort 21 for this?

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…
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Book Review: Co-Active Leadership

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…
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Analog answers to Digital Learning

Many of us struggle with the role of technology in the lives of our students and within the culture of our organizations, and even in our own lives. I’ve been thinking about this throughout this year, and was able to capture some of my earlier thinking in this BLOG POST of an Email conversation with @edaigle….
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Diagnosing the Cohort Effect: “Daring Greatly”

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…
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“Good Enough” vs. “Completely Awesome”

“Just good enough” is one of those sayings that reminds me of Facebook’s “Done is better than perfect.” It’s something that is meant to tell me when I can think of something as ‘done’, or ‘complete’, or at the very least, something that I can move on from. But each of us will have a…
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I SEEN, I SAW, I Wondered…

I have just returned from a great conference of educators held in beautiful Victoria BC, hosted by St. Michael’s University School. ISEEN is the Independent Schools Experiential Educator’s Network. Founded 13 years ago with about 10 people, it has grown substantially – there were over 150 participants this past week! I state that if only…
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A Conversation about Social Media

I read @edaigle’s post on Google+ about social media, and this started a very generative conversation – one that I hope keeps going! – that I am now taking back to my the hallways and offices on my own school. It centers around Rousseau Lake College’s Social Media policy. Rousseau is a smaller school than…
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