Never … like, ever … fall for the trap of thinking that education is something that you deliver. Learning isn’t a pizza, an app, on online purchase, a new washing machine or a used car. Learning isn’t a product at all. Done right, it’s a transformational process. Through this metamorphic experience, we don’t merely acquire tools and…
Every part of my moral code tells me I shouldn’t laugh at the rude and so politically incorrect plotlines in the cartoon South Park. But I do! My favourite character is the incorrigible Eric Cartman. Click below for a little sample! Eric is enamoured with authority. The problem of course, is that his lust for…
Mindful as I am of the miniscule amount of content that any human is willing or capable of absorbing, then storing in long-term memory and then committing to a practice change from any PL day, I strive to maximise my limited opportunity. The temptation is to cover more content, to design better PowerPoint slides and to…
I’m a keen observer of people and their foibles. Even the word “foible” is kind of hard not to spend a little time observing. But what I notice even more than individual foibles is when these habits and rituals become the traits of whole staffs, and even of industries. One such foible that educators have…
I read a fabulous and somewhat confronting quote this week by Zora Neale Hurston who said that “Research is formalised curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” This got me to thinking a little about some of the verbs we use in the learning and development space and whether they have allowed us…
In his best-seller “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” Stephen Covey wrote a story to illustrate his 7th habit – sharpening the saw. He spoke to two woodcutters. One would rise early and get to work sawing down trees in the forest. He could rack up a large number of trees sawn down, but his dull…
“Of all the things which nourish the imagination, humour is one of the most needful, and it is dangerous to limit or destroy it.” – John Millington Synge. Public conversation around what we need more or less of in schools is so predictable. Whether we’re on the sides of coding, decoding and teaching emotional intelligence…
I was thinking recently about some of the traditional ways in which we’ve learned and the extent to which technology has transformed the ways in which we do it. The inclination, of course, is to marvel at the toys, devices and gadgets that we’ve developed in the name of work efficiency and conclude that the…
Last week, I was having a chat with a Wellbeing Coordinator at a large secondary school that we Partner with. Her school is implementing Restorative Practices as a foundation of their whole school culture and it’s been a challenging and rewarding ride for them … and that’s just so far! We’re often impatient when it…
Renowned historian Daniel J. Boorstin was onto something when he mused that “The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance – it is the illusion of knowledge”. Boorstin’s words are a not-so-subtle reminder to continually question what we know … or that which we think we know. In fact, now presents as a worthy time…
