Lifelong learning, one reflection at a time.
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 […]
Written by Leslie Farooq
I meant to say a few words about this last week when it was fresh. I assigned a quick creation activity that combined stoichiometry learning with the theme of the day: Hallowe’en. I called it Spooky Real Stoichiometry and my instructions were originally handwritten on the whiteboard. Instructions: Choose a chemical reaction that is relevant […]
Written by Leslie Farooq
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 […]
Written by Leslie Farooq
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 […]
Written by Leslie Farooq
Happy Mole Day, everyone! Did you celebrate Mole Day today? In Chemistry 11 at Rosseau Lake College today was the kick off for our exploration of chemical quantities, the topic also known as stoichiometry. It was serendipity that we started this unit exactly on Mole Day, and I only realized what day it was when […]
Written by Leslie Farooq
It has recently been drawn to my attention that the first 20 elements of the periodic table are ripe for the picking when leaders explain why educational reform is both necessary and important. Let me first admit that I am a product of my time. I fondly remember my Chemistry 11 teacher, Mr. Berry, and […]
Written by Leslie Farooq
Google Apps for Education, or #GAFE as they are known on Twitter, include very powerful tools to help educators help themselves get faster at algorithmic tasks. This frees us up to spend more time focusing on heuristic tasks, the ones that require adaptive, responsive decision making in the face of ever changing conditions. At least […]
Written by Leslie Farooq
When a school sends one of their teachers to Cohort 21 as a participant they may not know what to expect to gain from it. Is it professional development for the educator, their department members, the whole faculty, or all of the above? I have agreed to share what I learn with my colleagues at […]
Written by Leslie Farooq
I shared a fairly personal example of a professional failure at the first Cohort 21 face to face session. If you were there you will possibly remember it, so the purpose of this blog post is not to rehash what has already been said. I wouldn’t want that in writing anyway. I want to talk […]
Written by Leslie Farooq
After cross country practice I returned home to the place we often still call “Eric’s House” and parked myself on the discombobulated sectional. As I sat in my favourite spot looking out the window over the back deck I noticed something spectacular. The cloud cover had broken over the setting sun and the forest behind […]
Written by Leslie Farooq
I listened to Celeste Kirsh‘s podcast yesterday and got the clue to begin work on my introductory Google slide. As I scrolled through the “look book” I noticed just how many educators there are in Cohort 21 Season 7 and I became excited by the possibilities of connecting with so many other Ontario educators. So […]
Written by Leslie Farooq
This weekend I finally had a chance to catch up on my non-essential, non-imminent or occurring emails, including all the emails relating to being new to Cohort 21. I clicked on the “set password” link only to learn that it had expired. No big deal, I was able to quickly reset it and get onto […]
Written by Leslie Farooq
