Giving and receiving quality, timely and specific feedback is truly a lifelong and transferable skill. When students have taken risks and poured a significant amount of themselves into their demonstrations of learning, receiving feedback can at times be a challenging and off-putting experience. Receiving feedback needs to truly acknowledge our students personal investment in the... Continue Reading →

At Good Shepherd, we have a process for helping students arrive on time for class with the necessary equipment for their lesson. The first bell rings just 5-minutes prior to the lesson giving students 5-minutes to finish up their lunchtime activity, gather their equipment from their lockers, and make their way to their timetabled lesson.... Continue Reading →

Just like conceptual knowledge is never to be assumed, likewise, students having mindful approaches to their learning cannot be assumed. These two important elements of powerful learning, need to be taught and nurtured. The modified '10 Things' visible thinking routine allows the students in our classes to not only calm and center themselves at the... Continue Reading →

At the start of this year, I read the book LAUNCH: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student by John Spencer and A. J. Juliani. It was a useful read that built on my growing repertoire of readings that broaden and challenge my views on inquiry-based, interest-driven approaches... Continue Reading →