Thoughts and reflections on teaching and learning – Cohort 21 Member Blog
Written by Garth Nichols
“What skills will be needed in the future?” “What does it mean to be future ready?” As educators we ask, or are asked these questions often – what is your answer? I think that the body of work that Brene Brown has amassed over her years of researching vulnerability, has the most compelling answer. On […]
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
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
UPDATE: on Dec. 2nd @sethgodin published this on his blog: I’m reading a book – by all accounts a great, award winning book – but I just can’t get into it. I don’t see the greatness, and I don’t connect with it. Is it the book, or the fact my kids are jumping around me, […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Last week, 8 Havergal students and some 4 faculty took part in the 6 Degrees Toronto Conference. This conference was put together by the Institute for Canadian Citizenship to answer the challenge put forth by Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson: This was a three-day experience to explore the greatest social and political issues of our time: climate […]
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
We at Cohort 21 have written before about the different places that technology can occupy in a classroom. We’ve talked about leveraging it to check-in on student learning, Louis has reflected on how use tech to engage students in the learning process, and even allow students to use technology as a demonstration of their knowledge. […]
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 […]
