The most compelling documentary I have viewed this year by a long shot is ‘Garbage Warrior’, profiling the remarkable career of maverick architect Michael Reynolds. Reynolds has long staked out a niche creating architectural designs incorporating various things the rest of the western world considers disposable, like tires, aluminum cans and discarded glassware. Living atop […]
Make lemonade with FSA Lemons
(Vancouver Sun; published May 20th) I agree with many of the criticisms of FSA testing made by BCTF president Irene Lanzinger. I am an experienced (Independent school) administrator of the tests and I concur that the style and substance of these tests is highly flawed. Accordingly, drawing conclusions about a child’s intelligence let alone a […]
How many ways are kids smart? – Take a few tips from Howard Gardner …
If educators read but one book this year, I’ve got a recommendation: ‘Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons’ by Dr. Howard Gardner (Basic Books, 2007). Believe it or not, it has been 25 years since Dr. Gardner penned ‘Frames of Mind’, and (tentatively) circumscribed a theory of Multiple Intelligences. It was a seminal moment that galvanized educators, […]
Wireless Technology and Children’s Health
The increasing use of wireless technologies for accessing the internet seems to have happened in the blink of an eye, and it has become near-pervasive. Last fall, I wished to become better informed about any health concerns related to the use of wireless routers and computing transmitters WR-CT) in homes for two reasons: I use […]
FSA Testing Kerfuffle – Part II
It’s exactly one week to go to the start of this year’s Foundational Skills Assessment (FSA) testing in British Columbia, in which upwards of seventy thousand Grade 4 and 7-level students will spend a total of 4.5 hours completing standardized tests in the areas of Reading Comprehension, Writing and Numeracy over the course of two […]
FSA Testing Kerfuffle – Part II
It’s exactly one week to go to the start of this year’s Foundational Skills Assessment (FSA) testing in British Columbia, in which upwards of seventy thousand Grade 4 and 7-level students will spend a total of 4.5 hours completing standardized tests in the areas of Reading Comprehension, Writing and Numeracy over the course of two […]
Chimpanzees, Multiple Intelligences, China
This week the world has been jarred by the news that chimpanzees are able to outperform college students on some pattern recognition/memory tasks, according to renowned primate researcher, Tetsuro Matsuzawa. While this news inevitably leads to all kinds of giggles about college students and fears of a run on bananas at exam time, it strikes […]
Of note: Two New Books
Informal Learning, Rediscovering the Natural Pathways That Inspire Innovation and Performance by Jay Cross, Pfeiffer, 2007 Honouring the Child: Changing Ways of Teaching by Pamela Proctor Informal Learning, Rediscovering the Natural Pathways That Inspire Innovation and Performance “It is no longer useful to define learning as what someone is able to do all on his […]
More intelligent solution called for in Minister’s waistline war
(this essay published on self design in September 2007) This month, close to half a million kids returned to BC schools, ushered along with news from the Ministry of Education that all students are to participate in a ‘rap-attack’ plan against their bulging waistlines. Described by Minister of Education Shirley Bond as bold and aggressive, […]
Lessons of Open Source revolution lost on education bureaucracies
(this essay originally published on www.selfdesign.org in July 2007) I remember the night a friend first told me about Open Source computing. It was a gorgeous summer night in 1999, and I listened, rapt, as he extolled its virtues and asserted it would be the Next Big Thing emerging in computers. Programmers everywhere, he said, […]
Michael’s book, Learn Your Way! SelfDesigning the Life You Really Want, Starting Now is an ERAC-approved middle and high school textbook for career planning and health education courses (British Columbia), and it has received many endorsements. Contact Michael directly to obtain a pdf copy of the book.