Be Humble. Be Brave. Get after it.
Written by Jason Wood
Necessity is the mother of invention. -English Proverb Paint rollers, insulin, butter tarts and life jackets. These are all Canadian inventions and the main theme of Governor David Johnston’s and entrepreneur Tom Jenkins’ new book called Ingenious: How Canadian Innovators Made the World Smarter, Smaller, Kinder, Safer, Healthier, Wealthier and Happier. “We want that eight-year-old […]
Written by Jason Wood
Ever find a mirror that makes you look outstanding? We all have these mirrors in our homes. It’s that one mirror you look in before you leave the house to make sure you’re rockin’ it. The ideal reflection. We often take professional reflection as a vanilla, monotone, one-dimensional action. What did you just learn? How […]
Written by Jason Wood
How might we determine the impact and effectiveness of using video games in a classroom? Beyond the idea of game-based learning, I’m looking to understand the effectiveness of video games to communicate and inform elementary age curriculum. My science mantra: I aim to inspire, inform and delight grade 3-6 science students. As we know, video […]
Written by Jason Wood
“The third paragraph of your essay just didn’t tie in the thesis as strong as it should.” How many literary scholars are you creating in your class? It’s likely that only a very small percentage of students will go on to academia or become classic literary scholars. Why do we focus so much time on […]
Written by Jason Wood
Imagine showing up to class one day without any lesson plans. Does the thought make you squirm? What would your day look like? Would you hastily have students read or fill out a worksheet? Mad minutes for math or videos from Youtube? We need to face more days without lesson plans. In the past teaching […]
Written by Jason Wood
43% of post-secondary graduates are holding jobs that are outside of their specialty. Even scarier is that these jobs are often low paying and hold very little opportunity for advancement. Everyone has heard about the Starbuck’s barista who has 2 masters degrees in English Literature but can’t find a ‘real job’. Why is this happening? […]
Written by Jason Wood
How much of your professional time is spent in meetings? According to Psychology Today, 30% of the average professionals day is spent in meetings. If that person works an 8 hour working day, 2.5 hours are spent in meetings (including lunch) reporting, brainstorming, debating, creating action plans and whatever else happens there. Corporate meetings originally […]
Written by Jason Wood
Are you a gamer? You probably are whether you know it or like it. In the open, games are competitions between people, groups, organizations or countries. Doesn’t really matter, as long as it is a competition. In schools, we compete based on grades. It’s a measuring stick and the carrot at the end of the […]
Written by Jason Wood
Can you learn creativity? Is it possible to develop the creative prowess of a Rembrandt or the elegant equations of Einstein? Some educators and entrepreneurs think so. The entrepreneurs behind tech start-ups are convinced that you can turn creativity into a process (I sarcastically see no connection between coding and processing creativity). By developing a […]
Written by Jason Wood
The power of community is breath-taking. The synergy created by like-minded individuals has the capability to implement real change. That’s my first impression of Cohort 21. Sure, it felt a little cultish at the start as we talked extensively about the amazing journey we were about to embark on. But when the dust settled, the […]