It is no secret that I have some strong opinions on using awards and rewards to “motivate” our students to be better behaved and achieve more in schools. Instead of using carrots and sticks to bribe and punish students, we… Continue Reading
Assessment For Learning… Flipped Classroom… Project-based Learning… 21st Century Learning A few years ago, I was in a learning series and we were learning about the power of shifting our assessment focus from summative (grades, events) to formative (feedback, ongoing). The facilitator, Yrsa… Continue Reading
Chris Kennedy and I are excited to host an upcoming Twitter chat with BC educational leaders and authors Judy Halbert and Linda Kaser. The chat will focus on key areas from their latest book “Spirals of Inquiry” (see below) and… Continue Reading
I continue to hear how certain educational practices are harmful to kids. Things like homework, desks in rows, multiple choice questions, worksheets, and tests are stated as being “toxic” and “educational malpractice”. I think as educators we need to be… Continue Reading
This is the second part of a series on motivation called “Creating the Conditions”. For part one on student discipline, click here. No charts. No stickers. No pizza parties. No awards. No certificates…. and LOTS of reading! Following the post by… Continue Reading
“The proper question is not, ‘How can people motivate others?’ but rather, ‘How can people create the conditions within which others will motivate themselves?’ ” — Edward Deci In the past number of years we have gone through a very… Continue Reading
Since I wrote about our school’s decision to end our awards ceremony and change the the way we honour students, I have been asked a few times how people could start the conversation in their schools. I realize that most… Continue Reading
Through my participation in a few EdCamps, I have had the complete pleasure of meeting and chatting with North Surrey Secondary senior humanities teacher Jonathan Vervaet(@jonathanvervaet). I knew about his contagious passion for inquiry and assessment for learning; what I… Continue Reading
I recently spent 3 days in Seattle at the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) annual conference. The 3 days were jam-packed with keynotes and plenary sessions by some well known thinkers and speakers like Diane Ravitch, Douglas Reeves,… Continue Reading
During the past few years I have been involved in a number of conversations around the topic of assessment. One key struggle that I have is the many ways in which the term “formative assessment” is defined. For some educators,… Continue Reading