Students are not plants!

I created this video in the same way I created Instructional Coach, via Garage Band, iMovie, and with my own photos and videos. This time I did not rap, and for this we are truly grateful. This video tells the story of my son’s Geranium adequately. What I did not put into the text was […]

On becoming a scheduler.

Once upon a time, Cheryl Bissonette (RLC’s Assistant Head of School) had a vision for what she called an end-of-semester ‘personalized week.’ Her exact words may very well have been: “What if we set up exam week so that students have a mix of required items, such as presentations and exams, and options such as […]

Making connections with planned obsolescence.

Rosseau Lake College recently hosted Senior School Alumni Mentor Day during which Grade 11 and 12 students had the opportunity to work on their Discovery Days project pitches with the guidance and support of alumni, board, and community members. I supervised afternoon sessions during which I had the pleasure of meeting Kim Aitken, founder of Aitken […]

So I did my homework.

Step 1: Back when we were all riding high on the good vibes of our first face-to-face encounter I was sure that the urgent needs of the learners in my charge boiled down to skills development: problem solving, resiliency, and making connections. The inability of students to troubleshoot problems with their own computers stood large […]

On scaffolding mint reflection.

What does it mean to reflect? It can be difficult to articulate what exactly it means, and thus even more difficult for students to understand what a teacher might be asking for when they say, “Please write a reflection about your cell biology project.” I have asked my students to reflect many times over the […]