Thoughts and reflections on teaching and learning – Cohort 21 Member Blog
Written by Garth Nichols
Many educators and parents will ask how they can best prepare our children for the future. Tony Wagner and Ted Dintersmith’s book “Most Likely to Succeed” is a great place to begin to answer this question. Having just read Creating Innovators, and The End of Average, this book was the perfect end to a […]
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
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 […]
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
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, reading and exploring about educational leadership over the summer in preparation for my new role as Director of Teaching and Learning. There are some things that I really want to make sure I make habits of mind. The first is to be a Learning Leader. For me, […]
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
It is the time of year to begin doing some deeper reflections on where I’ve gone in my journey this year. You may recall that I set out to explore the concepts of educational leadership in the 21st century, as well as trying to create a culture of blogging at the school. In many ways, […]
Written by Garth Nichols
I wanted to write this post as an inspiration to all my fellow Cohort 21 members as we head into March and towards the end of our energy and capacity for the year! I just read this great article on leadership by Workplace Mojo entitled “13 Thoughts for Discouraged Leaders“. Despite its title, it actually […]
