I Wonder…

I came home from work tonight to find this… Rerolled toilet paper (again). I hate this on many levels but my six year old son has a habit of sometimes “taking his time” in the washroom and this tends to be the focus of that time. Finding this after a frustrating commute and a long […]

My One Word: Create

The one word challenge was set by Chris Kennedy a month ago. It has taken me a little time to put my thoughts down but my one word is Create. This year I will be working to create opportunities for professional learning, innovative learning environments and a strong sense of community. Create Opportunities for Professional Learning […]

TEDxWestVancouverED

After a year of planning, TEDxWestVancouverED became a reality on Saturday, September 27. At 8:30am three hundred educators, parents and members of the community began their day at the Kay Meek Theatre in West Vancouver, Canada to hear how our speakers were Rethinking Education. We broke the day into four sessions with an incredible array of speakers: […]

We’re Going Inquiry!

The events of last Friday brought the Kool and the Gang classic Celebration to mind as I began this post because this year’s hard work and collaborative efforts are bearing fruit. On Friday, our school’s journey towards inquiry became more concrete. During our professional development days this year we engaged in a number of activities […]

Guess Who’s Teaching Us About Government

In a previous post, Connecting to Inquiry, I stated Kath Murdoch’s assertion that “quality inquiry is active…with students being actively involved in ʻdoingʼ the learning with an emphasis on first hand, real world experiences”. In our classroom this term, one of the components to our learning on government has been the opportunity for students to engage in authentic […]

Why Learning Connections?

I was asked a number of months ago why I chose to title my blog Learning Connections. The name actually comes from a Wiki that I created a couple of years ago that was intended to be a collection of web-based resources I could access anywhere. There have been too many times I have placed […]

Connecting to Inquiry

Last year, I had the opportunity to experience teaching within the IB Primary Years Program at Tokyo International School. I found that although I had always considered myself a teacher who effectively used inquiry, the PYP framework allowed me to take student learning to a place where students were making personal, cross-curricular, and world connections […]