Re-thinking learning for the 21st Century
Written by Mackenzie Neale
How many times have I started a blog post, saved it and then not posted it until weeks later? How many times have I looked at my never-ending “to do” list and then spent my half hour prep time scrolling through Twitter? And how many times have I left report card writing right down to … Continue reading “The Positive Side of Procrastination”
Written by Mackenzie Neale
My goal for this year’s action plan was to increase student confidence in speaking French, to avoid hearing “I can’t” and replace it with “I can”. On Thursday I introduced the CEFR to my Grade 4 students: they watched a short video explaining that the CEFR is a tool used across Canada, Europe and many … Continue reading “Building Confidence or Inflating Egos?”
Written by Mackenzie Neale
When I was brainstorming my first HMW question a few years ago, one of my biggest frustrations was with hearing students constantly say “I can’t speak French”. Or even worse… “I don’t speak French so I don’t know how to do this”. Since my first year of teaching I have been working to build students’ … Continue reading “Building Confidence”
Written by Mackenzie Neale
George Couros, author of the Innovator’s Mindset, had an interesting post on his blog yesterday about teachers valuing students input on their education while balancing teacher experience and expertise. He commented on another post by Dean Shareski who critiqued the idea of fully-personalized learning where the student makes all of the decisions about learning. Simply … Continue reading “Student Voice vs Teacher Experience”
Written by Mackenzie Neale
This week, I have been considering the concept of connections. During a lovely little Google Hangout on Wednesday night with fellow coaches & facilitators, @gnichols said that our goal (as coaches) this Cohort21 season is to help the participants feel “inspired, supported and connected” when they leave each F2F. When I think about my favourite part about … Continue reading “Connection: The Heart of School Life”
Written by Mackenzie Neale
My last blog post for Cohort21 was a couple of years ago: I’m ashamed to admit that between my participation in the program in the 2016-2017 year I have been slacking off on blogging. But I will say that the learning I experienced was not lost on me at all. I was invigorated each face-to-face … Continue reading “It’s been a while…”
Written by Mackenzie Neale
That’s a wrap on becoming Cohort21! is a reference to an MTV show I used to love called “Becoming” where an average person could re-make a music video and become their favourite pop singer. In a way, I could compare my experience with Cohort21 to this concept, as I have been wearing the hat at each F2F … Continue reading “That’s a wrap on becoming Cohort21!”
Written by Mackenzie Neale
Action Plan Update “How might we help boys identify what engages them in French classes so that they are intrinsically motivated for second-language learning?” Ok, so at the end of the 3rd F2F in January, I had decided that my Action Plan was really going to focus more on helping to shift the cultural attitudes … Continue reading “A work in progress…”
Written by Mackenzie Neale
Do you ever feel like you are looking down at the world from the highwire? Tip-toeing across a tiny little wire, attempting to balance your professional and personal lives without coming crashing down on your family, friends, coworkers and students in a heaping pile of failure? I’m sure every teacher feels this way at least … Continue reading “A Message From The Highwire”
Written by Mackenzie Neale
I promise to no longer say that I am not creative. I promise to have creative confidence! Creating and innovating does not have to look a certain way, or be perfect whatsoever. It involves trying something new, asking questions and taking risks with the hope of learning something wonderful, which is exactly what I’ve been … Continue reading “Creative Confidence…”
