The SHIFT Blog

  Hello Shifters!  The Shift has launched a new podcast, called "The Shift Show EDU"!  We will use this podcast aims to stretch our edges as we try, fail, learn and SHIFT together.  We will explore and highlight innovative practice in education, as well as look outside the bubble of education, seeking outside voices to get a nuanced perspective of what school could be.  We hope to have a little fun along the way doing so. In this intro episode, we introduce ourselves as coaches on the Shift team and explore a little about what we aim to do with this podcast series. Have a listen, and don't forget to subscribe! Listen to "Meet the Shift Disturbers" on Spreaker.

Matt and I are fast approaching our one year anniversary in this role.  When we started, last February , with the roughest of plans.  We were going to demonstrate how the Halton District School Board is building a shared culture of Innovation.  How we did that was left, for the most part, up to us.  No pressure. We both really wanted to create our own Podcast, but some advice from Phil Davison and Cindy Cosentino led us to believe that it might be better to start with a Blog first.  So we dove in, blogging and then eventually launching our “ Case For Innovation… ” video series, followed by a few Calls to Action .  We’ve Shifted at The Barn, we’ve presented at conferences both inside and outside Halton, we’ve been vulnerable and silly.  In short, we’ve tried our best to put our own individual learning on display. Matt and I have a lot of fun in this role.  We have a very fluid “to-do” list that gets pretty fuzzy around the edges. ...

Matt and I listen to a lot of podcasts.  I’ve recently gotten into a podcast called Gen Pop - A Pop Culture Podcast and I really enjoy the podcasts created by Bald Move around the television and movies I like to consume.  Matt’s go to podcasts are 99% Invisible , a podcast about design and The Art of Education , which is a podcast about art education (of all things). No judgement on this next statement please, but I’ve recently started playing Dungeons and Dragons with a small group of friends.  I enjoy playing board games and I try to use this passion as much as I can in my teaching.  Dungeons and Dragons was something I’ve always wanted to do in my youth but I could never find a group of others to play with.  Plus, when I was younger there was always a sort of stigma attached to certain types of games.  Now that I’m older...well, game on! Jamie on the weekends... So obviously I fell down the rabbit hole, as one does when they pick up a new h...