Help. My Professional Growth Plan

I am the principal of a school with 326 students. This year, like every other year, those students were grouped by age and then broken into divisions within what might be called the factory model of learning. I already knew that each class would have: a broad range of skills; a broad range of maturity; a broad range of interests. […]

What’s my Possible?

Last week I participated in my first Ignite session as a speaker. It was a very inspiring night with a host of wonderful ideas being shared. This blog post is what I presented over 5 minutes (20 slides set at 15 seconds each). I used to live in Kitsilano and while I was there the phenomenon of […]

Dare to Go Further

I love this video because we have all been there. Maybe not looking down from the top of a ski jump, but doing something that instilled an element of “hesitation”. No matter the scaffolding of skills or amount of experience, when something new and challenging arises, that fear of the unknown, that fear of failure […]

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: […]

Leaving a Lasting Impression

A couple of days ago I saw a few former students who I had the pleasure to teach when they were in grade four – during my first time at Caulfeild Elementary. They were at the school to play four-square and see if the rumour was true, Mr. Cantlie was the new principal. In our conversation they told me […]

10 Thoughts

I always enjoy Elliotte Friedman’s 30 Thoughts opinion piece on CBC Sports so I thought I would try my own version as I reflect back on the first three months of the school year. 1. Inquiry continues to deepen its roots throughout the classrooms at Ridgeview. Our foundations of time, collaboration, and trust have allowed […]

What Makes a Difference?

What brought JOY to your learning when you were a student? My wife Charity has returned to school this year seeking her British Columbia Teachers Certificate through Simon Fraser University PDP. Though her Child Studies degree from Concordia, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Simon Fraser University, four years of IB (PYP) teaching experience, level […]