How To Integrate Technology in the Classroom

The integration of technology in education is an essential component for students to thrive in today's digital world. With the advancement of technology, teaching in a new era of technology requires teachers to adopt new ways to enhance students' learning experiences. Ontario schools have been quick to adapt to this change, and teachers are now... Continue Reading →

The Pros & Cons of E-Learning

How The eLearning Industry Has Fared During The COVID-19 Pandemic Within a year of its deadly presence, COVID-19 has infected close to 50 million people worldwide and claimed the lives of almost one and a quarter-million people. Perhaps the biggest impact COVID-19 has made is on the economy worldwide because of the lockdown imposed to... Continue Reading →

Key Trends In Education – 2022

The world of education continues to evolve and transform with the advancement of technology, and this has been furthered amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This has had a tremendous impact on the educational sphere internationally and locally within my school board. And that leads us to my Top 5 Key Trends shaping our Learning Environments in... Continue Reading →

Who Are Companies Targeting?

It’s no secret that companies market online (and everywhere else for that matter!), but how is this changing over time? Patricia Redsicker discusses this change in her guide: The Social Media Examiner and illuminates some important and changing trends in marketing. Billboards, buses, washrooms, magazines, TV, radio, Internet, and the endless list of tools marketers use... Continue Reading →

Project-Based Learning – Toronto Waterfront

A Local Community is a great way to engage in project-based inquiry. Each group of students will walk and observe their local community and critically reflect on the level of environmental degradation as well as sustainability that their neighbourhood is currently operating under. The sustainable framework that will be used will be offered by the... Continue Reading →

Follow our Fearless Leader

As a teacher, I see that my profession is often compared to the private sector. Metrics including wages, hours, pensions, and contracts are measured against private corporations. While there is certain value that can be ascertained from specific comparisons, it must also be recognized that public and private services are notoriously difficult to adequately compare.... Continue Reading →

How People Learn

How do people learn?  There's a lot of information out there, so it's difficult to filter out the myths from the facts on how to best facilitate learning. It's a seemingly simple question - how do people learn? - with an intricately complicated answer. Educational psychology and behavioural and cognitive sciences attempt to guide pedagogy... Continue Reading →

The What and How of Teaching

Curriculum is ever-changing, so why aren't our methods? Curriculum and teaching as a field of study has been laden with debate on a variety of superficial and deeper issues. Kieran Egan, professor at Simon Fraser University, explores this deeper in his article published in the Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies entitled What... Continue Reading →

The 6 Secrets of Change

Michael Fullan offers tremendous insight into leadership and elements of change and achievement. One of the most influential works entitled, The Six Secrets of Change: What the Best Leaders Do to Help Their Organizations Survive and Thrive, explore organizational change in a school system as opposed to a hard and fast approach. Fullan refers to... Continue Reading →

Transitioning to University

Elated. Proud. Confused. The general sentiment felt by many students in grades 11 and 12. Elated that summer's here. Warm weather anyone? Proud that they've completed high school. Acceptance letter in hand, the world is their oyster. Confused. How does this whole university thing work? Let's put our students a step ahead of the pack... Continue Reading →

Math Anxiety – A Disabling Reality

Guest Blogger: Maria Andriano, MT, OCT Secondary School Teacher: Toronto Catholic District School Board  Math Anxiety - "Sudden death where everyone knows that I don’t understand." What is Math Anxiety? The perception of “being good” at math does not fall on a continuum – students either feel relaxed and competent in mathematics, while others feel... Continue Reading →

Medical Apps for Patients and for Teaching

Guest Blogger: Dr. Stephen Chow, M.D. University of Mississippi Medical Center Division of Gastroenterology "Our patients are craving these new, innovative ways to manage their wellbeing." As medical apps change the way patients view their health and wellbeing, physicians must adapt and pivot with this consideration in mind. Patients and consumers are using fitness measurable... Continue Reading →

The Pros and Cons of Medical Apps

Guest Blogger: Dr. Stephen Chow, M.D. University of Mississippi Medical Center Division of Gastroenterology "Physicians and patients are approaching healthcare differently due to the rise and popularization of medical apps" More and more I’m seeing that the way physicians and patients are approaching healthcare is evolving due to the rise and popularization of medical apps. There... Continue Reading →

Medical Apps: To be Trusted?

Guest Blogger: Dr. Stephen Chow, M.D. University of Mississippi Medical Center Division of Gastroenterology "False assurances and false panics add to patient anxiety and jeopardized patient well-being." 3:00 AM approaches, and I’m paged for a new admission with hypertensive urgency (very high blood pressure). In taking the patient's history, we had a great conversation about... Continue Reading →

BYOD: Technology NOT just a Tool

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) More and more school boards are adopting their own BYOD policy. Although there are a few cautions to this type of policy, such as security of property, but the advantages are tremendous. BYOD policies allow for collaboration because students can share devices, it adds extra tools to make lessons engaging through... Continue Reading →

Want to Help Someone? Shut Up and Listen!

We tend to offer our help in a way that we want help, but not necessarily how the receiver wants the help. Ernesto Sirolli, founder of the Sirolli Institute, created an international non-profit institution that teaches this doctrine. It helps community leaders understand, establish, and maintain sustainable economic development projects, specializing in developing areas like Kenya and... Continue Reading →

Social Media in the Classroom

Imagine a world where resources were limited to what was found in the classroom or the school closet known as the "Curriculum Materials Room." Picture a world where students wrote letters with pen and paper to communicate with other students and adults outside of the building. Due to postage costs, the teacher either sent the... Continue Reading →

Social Media in Education

“The term social media refers to user-generated content that is shared online through technologies ‘that promote engagement, sharing, and collaboration”  Examples: Micro-blogging (Twitter, Maang) Social and professional networking sites (Facebook, Edmodo, Pinterest) Video and photo sharing websites (Instagram, YouTube, Flickr) Weblogs or ‘blogs’ (WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr) Wikis (Wikipedia) Forums and discussion boards (Google Groups)  ... Continue Reading →

8 Key Factors of School Effectiveness

A recent study by EQAO confirms 8 key factors that can provide a foundation to guide principals in their school-improvement efforts. It was taken from over 25 years.   1. Strong and Effective Principal Leadership Puts children first by placing a strong belief in capabilities of students and teachers. Leaders are highly visible, actively supervising... Continue Reading →

Best Facebook Practices

I came across this Facebook Best Practices deck and the gears immediately started churning in my mind. How wonderful this is, I thought, that private business are educating their employees on the best practices of usage and engagement on social networking like Facebook, easily the largest of them all. How much better would it be,... Continue Reading →

Infographics in Eduation

Infographics are visual representations of information, data, and/or knowledge. The purpose of an infographic is to break down complex information and present it in a clear and concise way. For students, infographics are useful because it allows them to deconstruct information in another format while retaining their attention because of visuals. For teachers, infographics offer a... Continue Reading →

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