Well I’m now officially retired as a school principal – no really! I’m sleeping well, planning holidays and of course playing more golf. But what about my mind – it’s not ready to give up as an educator. So I’m now consulting with schools, employed by a university to mentor… Read more“Dirty Data!”
Category: Video Clips
Songs can hold our memories!
Certain songs or voices can bring many memories flooding back to us. It’s 1970 and the happy and even melancholic memories flood back to me when I hear Simon and Garfunkel sing their classics. Its been over 45 years since they split over “professional differences about a film” so their… Read more“Songs can hold our memories!”
A School Farewell
This week I was very humbled to attend my farewell assembly at school. There were students, teachers, parents and some returning parents of former students, former and current colleagues, representatives from the Department of Education and my family. Farewell’s are a mixed bag of emotions and I imagine people will… Read more“A School Farewell”
young people’s anger – here’s one thought.
I’m fortunate as a school leader that my teachers share their ideas and thoughts with me. This is one teachers share last week that resonates so strongly with me – how does one promote young people’s conversations about dealing with emotions (in this case anger). If your running a classroom… Read more“young people’s anger – here’s one thought.”
The Power of Ummmmmm!
This is a video of Kath Murdoch, an educator we have a long association with at EPS, taken in at a Ted X talk in Canada recently. Her presentation features young people from my school. I must say hearing them “wonder” something made me feel proud. It’s something to… Read more“The Power of Ummmmmm!”
Ice Bucket Challenge
Recently the students at my school set the school leaders a challenge. If they walked more than 6000 laps during the school walkathon and collected their sponsors money we had to do the ice bucket challenge. Well they walked 9000 laps and collected over $12,000 some of which is being… Read more“Ice Bucket Challenge”
terra-cotta warriors
I stumbled upon this short clip on the Terra-Cotta Warriors yesterday which I think gives a great short overview on this natural wonder I visited last year. It’s worth a view for those interested in history.
School timetables are factors in lesson structures!
I have a wondering whether a school timetable influences the way instruction is planned in classrooms? Now I know the answer is obviously yes from a practical perspective but the deeper question I’m pondering is do those timetable influenced instructional decisions enhance or detract from learning.? Primary school timetables are structured on… Read more“School timetables are factors in lesson structures!”
What might Benjamin Franklin have to say to our young students?
At Monday’s school assembly I used Benjamin Franklin’s story to talk about the importance of effort and persistence as we strive for personal excellence. “energy and persistence conquer all things” Benjamin Franklin I talked about his childhood days in Boston some 300 years ago where as one of 10… Read more“What might Benjamin Franklin have to say to our young students?”
“I am eleven” a tremendous resource to explore intercultural understandings.
I just had to share this resource which I have just ordered for my school. I and I should say we are really just starting to get immersed into the intercultural understanding space in schools. It’s an really interesting space to explore. We have just trialled e-pals with our sister… Read more““I am eleven” a tremendous resource to explore intercultural understandings.”
A crash course in Chinese History.
As crash courses go and allowing for a few mistakes like the great wall was started by the Qin dynasty and the Ming dynasty, like the others, just expanded and fixed the Wall or that Chinese recorded history is 5000 not 2000 years old this short clip is worth viewing for… Read more“A crash course in Chinese History.”
flipping classrooms?
I’ve been thinking about the concept of “flipped classrooms” now for a while and the great thing about holidays is that it frees up time to do just that – think and in this case write, share and hopefully promote further discussion. Before proceeding I thought a small video to… Read more“flipping classrooms?”
Data Wise: Summer Institute: Day 1
This series of posts are being written by three teachers Erin, Jess and Sarah and Penny the Assistant Principal who are all attending or part of the teaching team at the Harvard University Data Wise Institute. Well, we’ve just finished day 1 of the Summer Institute course here at Harvard,… Read more“Data Wise: Summer Institute: Day 1”
hire people who believe what you believe
I was listening to this Ted Talk by Simon Sinek on inspiring leadership and one line he said was the title of this post “hire people who believe what you believe”. He talked about a connector between inspiring leaders being “they answer the why question first”. All the data in the world… Read more“hire people who believe what you believe”
Data Stars
At a recent staff meeting we were busy celebrating some new data which showed improved student learning results for the first semester this year. This clip shows a small part of those celebrations and I think the importance of humour.