Thoughts and reflections on teaching and learning – Cohort 21 Member Blog
Written by Garth Nichols
“School is an institution that is deeply, systemically, designed for compliance. The whole apparatus of rules, punishments, timetables and bells, syllabuses and set texts, marking and examination requires and rewards the disposition of diligence, obedience, conscientiousness and correctness: of willingly doing what you are told regardless of whether it seems senseless or untimely. Student choice […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Fellow educators, please read this book…or at least this review. Stuart Shanker sets out to reframe our understanding of ourselves and others in a way that enlivens our call to action as educators – it can reinvigorate our practice and our craft. That our future, of education (pre, during and post Covid19) , or ourselves […]
Written by Garth Nichols
Are you afraid of Artificial Intelligence? Does it conjure up a scary version of “The Singularity”, mass unemployment, or worse: The Terminator?! I’ve blogged before about the acronym VUCA and the present and future (that theworld is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) and AI and XR play a role in making the future and […]
Written by Garth Nichols
The latest book from Todd Rose, co-authored with Ogi Ogas, entitled Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment, captured my imagination. It is not only about how individuality leads to fulfillment, and ultimately why fullfillment can lead to success, it outlines – more significantly for educators – the paradigm shift as the world […]
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
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 […]
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
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 […]
Written by Garth Nichols
U2 is one of my all time favourite bands. Beautiful Day is one of their biggest hits. We are hoping that our version of “Beautiful Day” in education is just as successful in our community! This year, my school is attempting some new – we are calling them “Day 9”s. These are 4 calendared days […]
