The SHIFT Blog

Back when I started down this ever Shifting road, I learned that good Innovation starts with identifying a WHY.  Why might I want to let students access technology in class?  Why is building a positive classroom culture so important?  I spent the summer thinking about the direction I wanted to take my classes this semester and why I wanted to take them that way.  Neil deGrasse Tyson summed up my thinking pretty well. In school, curiosity is hardly ever taught or nurtured, breeding legions of students who’ve lost all love of learning. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) September 7, 2017 I’ve noticed that try as I might, the students I encounter lack a spirit of creativity.  It seems that many times they would prefer to be presented with the answer rather than seek out an answer on their own.  Thinking is difficult.  Many students say they enjoy learning, but that the stress of grades and assessments turn passion into anxiety. I want to cha...

So we’ve all survived our first week back!  Hopefully you’ve settled into some sort of routine with your classes.  We are hoping that you’ll make daily community building a part of that routine.  We all want our students to be risk takers and feel safe in our classrooms. By building a positive community daily your students will be more engaged and will be willing to meet challenges together. So our challenge to you is to take breaks daily to build community with your students.   Need some help getting started?  No problem!   Here are a few activities that you can try tomorrow!  Feel free to let us know how it goes in the comments or add some links to your own favourite activity. Why not tweet about your experiences using #HDSBInnovates. Here are some activities from Second City that we used at the Shift Summer Symposium . Here are the books we pulling from, check them out, ask your administrator to stock these at school. ...

Here we go, all set for another year playing this game called school!  Some of you undoubtedly have spent some time last week preparing for students’ arrival on Tuesday, some of you unpacking after moving schools, or perhaps arriving at your first school. Differentiated seating comes to life in this classroom just in time for a new school year #GettingReadyforSept5 #HDSBInspires pic.twitter.com/zxdz8p4e9q — ÉFT (@HDSBEFT) August 31, 2017 It is a time of transition, beginnings and reflection:  how are we going to do better this year?   Just finishing up a couple of great reads to best meet the needs of all learners. #gettingreadyforsept5 pic.twitter.com/uqzTe4eZqj — Mrs. Paci (@MPaci1) August 29, 2017 If you are like us, the inevitable nervous butterflies are settling in.  Imagine how our students must be feeling, especially if they are transition into a new school. Bateman LINK Leaders are hard at work training to support our incoming Grade...