I also think that David Truss’ original comments about math assessment are spot on. I remember having several discussions with colleagues about how a student had demonstrated sound mathematical skills despite a small error early on in solving a problem. If I simply mark the question wrong because the final answer is nowhere near the correct one, am I really assessing the student’s skills? I still know many colleagues who are more concerned with designing an assignment or test that is easy to mark rather than one which goes into great depth. I know it takes a little longer, but looking carefully at the process followed by the student gave me a much greater insight into the student’s abilities.

Boy I miss math!

I can do this, but I still can’t pick out clothes without my wife’s help.

Now I have something to show my principal when I go off on a tangent about how the way kids learn is changing. Thanks, George!

Key quote: “Education is in the heart of the listener, not in the voice of the teacher.”

• Very interesting
• There are a lot of similarities between Blackboard and Moodle. Bb does have a few more tools available, but I do like the open
• source nature of Moodle. I really enjoy the quick development and modules that are available in a project like Moodle.
• I would like to put board- or school-developed documents into a wiki and allow individual teachers to modify tasks and rubrics.
• This would allow teachers to have input into the process. It would also allow those who make the final decisions to see what the classroom teachers think about the process. This could be done in Moodle.
• Desire2Learn is licensed through OESS, but only for courses that are completely online.
• OCDSB has an “Intro to elearning” course for 7,8,9 students before they move into high school. What a great way to get the kids ready for those learning experiences that they will encounter as they progress through secondary and post-secondary learning!
• Use LMS as a vehicle for teacher PD.
• Professional Learning Communities could be organized in Moodle with PD courses for teachers. Teachers could also have the opportunity for sharing, asking questions.

The Images Canada site has thousands of archive photos of various places across Canada. My thought was to have the kids pick a particularly interesting photo (of our community? perhaps another place?) and have them write a story (letter? travel brochure?) using the photo as the setting. I wish I could find a good narrative voice and write a story about this one.

Wil’s story reminded me of the possibilities of this exercise. While I’m sure you’ll never see this, thanks Wil!

In education we often hear that we need to think outside the box (an expression I loathe, by the way). I wholeheartedly agree that we need to be adaptive and find strategies to be effective problem solvers, and to help the students develop similar strategies. What if, as Gladwell states, it is not just a matter of all of our thinking outside the box? What if it is also a matter of changing the way we do business?

While we still work within some pretty rigid confines, there have definitely been some moves toward more progressive changes in the system. I ofetn read people lamenting the fact that education does not seem to keep up with the bleeding edges of technology and societal changes. Inertia is a hard force to overcome. Many of the old “inside the box” strategies are still very effective, but differentiation of teaching and assessment strategies can certainly allow for greater freedom of student learning.

Where am I going with this? I am not sure, but I find Gladwell’s statement to be quite provocative. I am still trying to pull together pieces of my own understanding of these issues. The more I read, the more I think, and the more I realize I don’t know!

God, I love learning!