The Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) began in the late 1990s, as a “bold approach to supporting the improvement of student learning and performance by encouraging teachers, parents, and the community to work collaboratively to introduce innovative and creative initiatives based upon local needs and circumstances” (Davis et al., 2012, p. 374). One AISI …
Teaching can be a difficult process, as we desire our students to get the most out of their learning. We want them to experience transformational changes, whereby they begin to change the way in which they “know” things (Kegan, 2008). We want them to challenge ideas, pose questions, and be creators. In order for this …
Have you ever had that moment in your classroom where a student questions something you have said or taught, which causes you to redesign your way of teaching? Have you ever had an experience in your personal life where you question and reform your current values system? Either of these experiences can be described as …
“Educators often talk about the importance of higher-order thinking skills, but educational programmes that emphasise thinking skills are often not based on scientific research. Instead, they are based on one or another intuitively-based taxonomy of thinking skills, with almost no scientific justification of why this specific set of skills should be taught in schools.” (Sawyer, …
In the first chapter of Contemporary Theories of Learning, by K. Illeris, he outlines the four types of learning that individuals can experience: cumulative, assimilative, accommodative, and transformative. The one that peeked my interest and the level that I would like my students to attain is the transformative, as this is where reflection, perspective changing, …
Recently, I have been exposed to a number of books and articles for my master’s program, and have been intrigued by the notion of the science behind learning, and how we can help learners and our students succeed. In the first two chapters of The Cambridge Handbook for the Learning Science by R.K. Sawyer, there …
In preparation for starting my masters next week, I have an extensive list of “pre-readings” to complete by Monday. I starting reading a couple of them today, and was thoroughly intrigued by one article in particular, All I Really Need to Know (About Creative Thinking) I Learned (By Studying How Children Learn) in Kindergarten by …
This year I set the goal for myself to try to give more choice for my students within my classroom. I was feeling I was making decisions for students, in terms of their projects, seating plan, novel study, etc… and after reading numerous articles about the benefits of student choice in the classroom I decided …
On Monday night, my district hosted our first ever twitter chat, run by our fabulous Director of Technology, Salima. For some, it was their first twitter chat to date, others were solely lurkers, more active twitters participants, and several new to chatting but participated. Overall, it was a great learning experience for everyone involved. Our …
Over the past school year, twitter has become a great friend of mine. Not only does it allow you to connect with others, but I have found that I have learned an immense amount, mainly through the source of participating in twitter chats. I try to participate in one weekly, sometimes up to three, and …
Out With Erin 