Everything has a story. It was a glorious day—truly glorious. I had a sneaking suspicion that the teachers that chose my session entitled #getoutside: Resources For Cross-Curricular, Place-Based Learning In Your Schoolyard shared the same wish: they really wanted to #getoutside as well! This walkshop provided participants with the opportunity to play with some imagination-focused place-based teaching […]
Poetry. Boring? Government. Ordinary? Math. Lifeless? We think not. I had the pleasure this week of working with a diverse group of 42 secondary school teachers. They came from many different schools and taught a range of topics in Grades 8-12. The session was entitled Emotion At The Helm Engaging Emotions and Imaginations in The […]
By Dr. Sandra Clark, Psychologist I have been working with anxious children and teens for over 20 years and have been impressed with how well they use their imaginations both in maintaining anxiety and in reducing it! The power of imagination, use of metaphor, heroic quests, story telling, and play are essential to helping anxious […]
“Walking… is how the body measures itself against the Earth”. (Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking) By Denise Curi Although I have a strong background in Science, since I have started practicing Yoga I have been looking for a more integrated and holistic approach to education, a way that does not separate body from head, […]
By Carrie Antoniazzi (Grade 4/5 teacher; Wannabe astronaut) This September, as students returned to the classroom, so did I. I have spent the past 5 years as a District Teacher Mentor at the Conseil Scolaire Francophone (School District #93) working out of the school board office and travelling to support teachers in our 38 schools around […]
The last two days I attended and presented at the 9th Annual World Environmental Education Conference (#WEEC2017) in Vancouver, B.C. I want to write about one session that I found incredibly engaging–it left me feeling inspired and curious. The session was entitled Weaving Conversation Circles for New Understandings. Sharon Kallis and Rebecca Graham facilitated the […]
By Courtney Robertson (Vice-Principal/Teacher/MEd in IE) Here we are at the forefront of yet another school year! Many of us will have nervous tummies, restless nights, worries and excited moments in the coming days as we prepare to return to our classrooms and teaching loads. Amidst all of these different emotions come the reality that […]
This past week I spent a super day with the staff at North Surrey Secondary School (B.C., Canada) investigating various aspects of student engagement. In the afternoon we focused on the Walking Curriculum and ways walking-based activities could be used to take a more Place-based approach to teaching. I asked the educators to get outside walking. […]
I recently asked my social networks if anyone would be interested in doing a book study on Imaginative Ecological Education (IEE). The answer was overwhelmingly YES. You can consider the #IEEbookstudy CONFIRMED for November 2017. I created this google doc with all the necessary information about the book (including links for sample pages, ordering options etc.) […]
By Jailson Lima (Chemistry Department, Vanier College, Montreal, QC) I have been teaching chemistry to science students at Vanier College both in pre-university and career programs for the past 17 years. Since 2009, I have also taught History and Methodology of Science, a mandatory, fourth-semester course that is part of Vanier’s Liberal Arts program. From the […]
By Natalie Crowley (First Grade Teacher) I spent the first four years of my teaching career in urban public schools with rigorous academic schedules, high stakes testing, and extremely limited outdoor time. I loved my job and my students, but I grew frustrated by my first and second graders’ struggles to sit still, use their […]
“What is this walking? …What is it about walking that helps with learning, teaching, writing, education, and more?” (Hotton, 2015). Walking With Secondary Students The Walking Curriculum offers learning activities designed to simultaneously develop students’ sense of place and to enrich their understanding of cross-curricular topics and core competencies. It reflects principles and practices of Imaginative Ecological […]
By Judy Dabideen-Sonachansingh (MEd in IE; Retired Chemistry Teacher) Teaching teenagers is like growing a garden – hopeful, frustrating, body-shattering work, pure joy. My work as a high school Chemistry teacher has often brought to mind the ‘irresistible force meeting immovable object’ paradox, especially when trying to convince teenagers that a Learning in Depth project […]
By Dr. Tim Waddington Walk any sideline on a mid-October Saturday morning and they’ll all tell you… watching your kids at mini-soccer is an easy conduit to happiness. Everywhere you look, you’ll see a field of shiny uniforms and happy flushed faces, representing teams with intimidating names like the Spiders, Vipers, Thunder and Tornados. With […]
By Matthew J. Kruger-Ross, PhD (Assistant Professor, Educational Technology, West Chester University of Pennsylvania) I regularly teach an online graduate courses for educators on teaching and learning online. Unfortunately, almost every version of the course that I’ve taught or seen begins with the assumption that we can take what we know about teaching in the physical classroom and […]
