Re-thinking learning for the 21st Century
Written by Jennifer Weening
Sometime in mid-July, I finally finished reading Tony Wagner’s book Creating Innovators, which had been recommended to me by several Cohort 21 members as a starting point for re-imagining my classroom. While I planned to write a full review of the book, Garth beat me to it (see his review here). Instead, I began copying … Continue reading “What Olympic diving judging has to do with grading in schools”
Written by Jennifer Weening
Distraught at the idea that the Cohort 21 F2F on April 22 represented the official end of the year for this incredible professional development experience, I signed up for an online AQ course on Technology Integration with Queen’s University which began this month. I figured it would be a natural follow up to the growth … Continue reading “A Blended Learning meta-exploration”
Written by Jennifer Weening
When you break it down, my action plan can be summed up with this: Restructure Comm Tech to provide more and better opportunities for personalization and project-based learning. It’s amazing how simple it can seem when you break it down to its essence, isn’t it? Even too obvious? And yet it’s incredible the amount … Continue reading “Lights, Camera, Action Plan!”
Written by Jennifer Weening
Although it’s possible that I haven’t yet articulated it as such, my action plan is centred around the idea of implementing project-based and personalized learning in my Grade 11 Communications Technology class. I realized after our third face-to-face session in January that my plan of attack was a bit misguided (see “Keeping the cart behind … Continue reading “Taking the first step toward personalizing learning”
Written by Jennifer Weening
Back in the groove again. It didn’t take long, did it? March Break is already a distant memory, and for me, it seemed like the benefits of the break, and the feeling of being rested and caught up, were quickly swept away with the first bell last Tuesday. That said, despite the third term busyness, … Continue reading “Be better than you were yesterday: words to live by”
Written by Jennifer Weening
The winter term at school has been a crazy one. Between teaching, grading, reports, coaching, and all of the other things that tend to accumulate as the year goes on, I was literally counting the seconds until my March Break began. And no, I was not headed off to some warm, exotic destination to sip … Continue reading “Getting Geeky with Google”
Written by Jennifer Weening
Whew! Another F2F almost done and I’m once again feeling inspired and overloaded with ideas. Thanks so much to all of the coaches and facilitators – @jmedved @lmcbeth @ddoucet @gnichols @shelleythomas – who planned this day for us and put so much time, energy, and thought into creating a space for collaboration, reflection, and inspiration. The storyboarding … Continue reading “Keeping the cart behind the horse”
Written by Jennifer Weening
After November’s inspiring F2F session, I was raring to go. I checked my TweetDeck several times daily, I was reading and saving articles to read later on Diigo, and I was planning my blog posts in my head on my drive to and from school. And then… snowboard season started with all of its paperwork … Continue reading “Thoughts on my Action Plan”
Written by Jennifer Weening
It has now been almost three weeks since my first Face 2 Face session with Cohort 21, and I can honestly say that I am still in awe of the entire experience. Like most people, when I drive, I listen to the radio. When I left The York School on Saturday afternoon and got in my … Continue reading “Reflections on the 2nd F2F”
Written by Jennifer Weening
I joined Cohort 21 a little bit later into the year than most, which meant that, along with lots of catching up to do, I had missed the first F2F session. I missed meeting all of the other Cohorters, and the coaches and facilitators. I missed getting the run down on everything that would be involved … Continue reading “Hello, world!”
