Authentic Audiences
Innovative practice in schools suggests that students are more engaged with their studies when teachers give them the opportunity to share their work with “authentic audiences.” Authentic audiences are...
View ArticleEmbrace Failure – A Response to Amy Chua’s “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother”
Well, I feel that I must weigh in on the debate over Amy Chua’s book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother which has received press in the Globe and Mail and The New York Times recently. The very short...
View ArticleFrom Community Service to Global Capability
Today I would like to report on Havergal College’s Forum for Change, part of The Havergal Institute, which very successfully works toward making service an integral part of their students’ lives. To...
View ArticleA Case for Social Media in the Classroom – Today!
Many journalists and Egyptian citizens were on the ground in Tahrir Square and other parts of Cairo and Alexandria - posting on Twitter. Their view of events was markedly different from that presented...
View ArticleCreativity – Are We Failing Our Kids?
The Toronto Globe and Mail of Friday, Jan. 28, 2011 featured an article by Anne McIlroy titled Neuroscientists try to unlock the origins of creativity. In this article Anne poses the question “Does...
View ArticleAre Schools Creative Environments?
Creativity appears to be the attribute that we can develop in kids that will enable us to prepare them for their place in the 21st century. Emerging economies, such as those in China, emphasize rote...
View Article“Flow” Parenting – A Checklist
I am in the midst of reading “Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihayli, the section that I believe is of particular relevance to parents is based on a study conducted at The University of Chicago that “......
View Article“It’s for You” – in School!
In a previous blog post I spoke about the case for using social media in the classroom today and that post elicited a comment regarding the lack of solid evidence that using social media would lead to...
View ArticleSchool Rankings – A Perilous Path
It’s that time of year again. Spring, yes, but also the time that the Fraser Institute releases its rankings of Ontario elementary schools. George Briggs is philosophically opposed to this type of...
View ArticleSocial Networking and Political Action
Can social networking make youth more politically and socially active? This is the question partially answered in a recent California study which suggests that the internet leads to kids becoming more...
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