Staff & Students Completing STEAM Challenges to Encourage Self Reflection

 Students (grade 2/3 & 6) built Rube Goldberg machines and self reflected on their Learning Skills.












Teachers completing their STEAM challenge during an in-service on the TLLP STEAM & Learning Skills project. We had teachers from Kindergarten all the way up to grade 8 going to to their classes and trying their own STEAM challenges and see how this shaped how their students thought about the Learning Skills.

Finally a picture of our teachers buying resources for our STEAM/ Maker lab at Holy Spirit. Exciting things to come.

Family Math Night

Last night I was fortunate enough to give my first keynote address to a group of over 200 parents and at a Family Math Night at St Gregory's. The staff and parents were amazing and really passionate about exploring Play-based Learning. The presentation is below and really focuses on how we need to highlight students natural curiousity and making learning tangible for students.
I argue games are a rich starting point that helps students develop a growth mindset around their learning. Students play games and are more likely to take risks, try different strategies and make strong connections to the work. Games must be supported with higher order and meta cognitive questions if we want our students to consolidate their learning. Without these questions games can be great activities, but the learning doesn't last if students are not able to communicate and process their learning.
Take a look see the power of what Play-Based Learning really means.

AQ Inquiry

Last year I was able to take a fantastic AQ Certification through York University in Creating an Inquiry-based Learning Classroom. I loved the course and felt it blended beautifully with the work I was doing around Project-based Learning (PBL).

Several months ago I received an email from York University asking if I was interested in teaching the course. I jumped at the opportunity and started preparing.

The course is a blended course and utilizes Moodle and a face to face session. It has been incredible seeing the sharing and learning unfold in the moodle. Just as remarkable was the discussions that erupted at our in-class session at York.