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Arriving in Calgary
Thomas and I flew Air Canada to Calgary and had to wait at the airport for 3 hours to meet Howard’s plane flying in from LA. Luckily there is lots to see at the airport as there are statues and...
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Calgary Day#1
Spent today getting over the long travel day by walking round the streets of the city. Calgary is the largest city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in...
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Calgary Day#2
Walking round the city I have been amazed by the amount of public artworks around the place- it started with the scupltures at the airport (see Arriving in Calgary post) and has progressed so that it...
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Preparing for the stampede
The annual Calgary stampede is being held here at the end of next week- in a way it is a shame we will miss it but the city has been quieter this week to look around and next week we are told that...
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Reimagining Professional Learning 2016
The way educators are engaging in PLD is changing. As the school year begins teachers and leaders are crafting inquiry goals and considering their professional learning foci for 2016. For many...
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Hoki atu ki tō maunga — Return to your mountain
Taranaki is my pou. When I look to my mountain I feel connected, I feel grounded, I feel strong. Taranaki is my tipuna, my identity. When I travel away and return, I see my maunga and I know that I’m...
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Do we need to change the mindset of ‘school reunions’?
I have recently had cause to reflect upon school reunions. I know, some people love ‘em; some people hate ‘em. But what is it that causes the desire to reconnect with people from our past — or not...
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Feeling you need to have that conversation?…Help is here
Photo: Allie Lehman The other day I asked a scientist from a research company about what was important to him in employing new people. Unhesitatingly he replied: “More and more, I’m finding that the...
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The inevitability of change, and how virtual mentoring can help you work with it
Ka whati te tī, ka wana te tī, ka rito te tī ‘When the cabbage tree is broken it sprouts and throws up shoots’ This fabulous whakaktauki (proverb) encapsulates the idea that even when things appear to...
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Learning through play
“Play is the highest form of research” (Albert Einstein) I find myself increasingly interested and engaged in the changing landscape of education to one that intentionally considers the context of the...
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A musical metaphor for personal professional learning
Metaphors are frequently used in education to explain a concept, to aid in the understanding of new ideas, and for clarifying complex frameworks, systems, and so on. Teachers naturally use metaphors to...
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Conversations with a Gen Z teen
I live with a Generation Z teenage boy. Aged 16 and in year 12 at secondary school in New Zealand. He is Māori, ko Tainui, ko Ngāti Hauiti ōna iwi. He loves sport, food, music, and socialising (on...
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Ten Trends 2016
We’re regularly reminded that, in today’s world, the only constant is change. So, how can we best prepare ourselves and our organisations for this change? And, more importantly, how should we be...
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Remember the days of the old school yard — moving into a new school yard
Walking out of my son and daughter’s school on the first day of the school year, a great song by Cat Stevens popped into my head. The song was “Remember the days of the old school yard” — you know,...
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Can I use it? Can I share it? Is it legal?
Creative Commons Licences, Copyright, Open Education Resources These terms may or may not be new to you, but in an ever-changing world, even if you have a basic grasp of what they mean as a citizen of...
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Red Teaming school change
I wrote a while back about getting out of the ‘education echo chamber’ and challenging ourselves with people who may think differently or come from a different perspective than us. One of the links in...
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The goldfish and the gate
You might have seen the study last year that claimed our attention span was now less than that of a goldfish. You may have also watched a movie for over an hour. How does that work? We all know,...
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School charters — walking the talk
In recent months all New Zealand schools have been reviewing and developing their charter document for 2016– 2019. The charter is the Board of Trustees’ number one policy document, and sets the future...
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Computer science and the benefits of learning to think like a computer
Programming a computer means nothing more or less than communicating to it in a language that it and the human user can both “understand”. And learning languages is one of the things that children do...
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Weaving passions with work
A continuous personal goal of mine is to follow my passions so that work isn’t work. Work became fulfilling for me when I began visualising myself doing the kind of things I enjoy — being creative. I...
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