Does School Kill Creativity?

I was treated to this video in my Philosophy Of Education lecture. Be forewarned this video is 19 minutes long.; worth every minute of it, I believe. If you are only to watch a bit, start 4:14 into it. It's quite funny. Also, click the top right corner of the video area to toggle full-screen mode.

What Teacher's Make

I recently saw this video of Taylor Mali in my Theory and Professional Practice course. A poet and a teacher himself, he does an fantastic job of describing what a teacher makes. I enjoyed his linguistic skills so much I searched and found a second video that's just as good, called "Miracle Worker". Enjoy. If your a teacher you definitely (beautiful) will.

How I Got Here

We had an assignment in our philosophy class where we were to draw a life map; showing our journey in becoming an educator. The "map" is probably a good indicator of how your philosophy of teaching developed. As you can see I had fun doing this assignment.

CTV Placement Was The Bomb

During my placement at CTV I had the unique opportunity to see how the "magic" of television all comes together. I spent several days with crew members from pre-production, production and post production. I shadowed positions like technical directors, camera operators, production assistants, tape operators, Deko operators, audio technicians, equipment engineers, on-line editors, directors and even producers. I would espcially like to thank the following people who made it all worth while: Stephen Shepherd, Doug Kelly, Roy Janke and Sally Karim. I won't soon forget my time spent on set of the television show Forensic Factor; that's where I shot the above photo of the prop bomb exploding.

Lenticular Print

This is a lenticular print I created for my Curriculum class. It was an interpretative assignment where I was responsible for the final design of the project. The criteria for the assignment was to reflect on a personal experience and curricular issue that was important to me. On the back of the print was my rational and this is what it said: Some of the motivation I called upon during my process of becoming a teacher was to recall my experience as a student. I was a student that was often over-looked for help because I appeared to have understood. A student who suffered in silence because of pride and a lack of self-confidence, was also the same student who immediately behaved when guided to some success. During my practicum I made a conscious decision to seek out these silent students. First hand, I saw how a little success created a different student. It was fun watching those self-deprecating individuals become empowered bright lights in the classroom. Even when students gain minimal success, I will continue to use this strategy during my career because I remember what I needed as a student.

Up The River Without A...

Shhh. Don't tell my mother but I'm making her a paddle. Just one of the many projects here at Queen's to help you incorporate cool things into your own classroom.

Charity Community-Based Project

This is a fictitious ad campaign I did for a charity. The idea is to have these napkins accompany the coffee or beverage that a customer receives during a purchase. The concept was designed to attract the most amount of attention for the least amount of cost. The napkin on the left is the front side and on the right is the back side. After a little reflection I'm curious if it's a little too risky. What do you think? Click on the image to see a larger version.

VIdeo Killed The Queen's Student

This is a video I did for a Social Justice class. How did it go? The results look decent I think but the time it took; well let's just say I am now finished at 7:15 am. Arghhhhhhhhh.

Success In The Darkroom

After many long days of preparation; Angie and myself pulled off the impossible: Teaching the concepts of aperture, shutter speed, ISO, print making and film development all inside four hours. Whew, glad that one's over.

Totally Unrelated To School

The last four days has been quite exciting and revealing for me. I was happy to discover the Ontario College of Teachers called only to clarify a detail on my application. Not to deny me certification or any combination of wild ideas my imagination could dream up (Those blue pages haunt my dreams). I was graced by a visit from my girlfriend, on this my birthday weekend, without once an anxious thought of homework. I discovered today that I shared the same age as the extraordinary Lance Armstrong; who decided to make this day his return to cycling after 3 years of retirement. I've always known I shared my birthday with Martin Luther King day but I would never had guessed that it would be this close to the Inauguration of the world's new hope for change; Barack Obama.

Thanks to these little discoveries I feel a renewed sense of energy. Perfect timing.

Keep On Truckin'

I built this little Tonka for Taylor. Words can't explain how much it warms your heart when see something you've made (props to J.Chute) put a smile on little kids face. Words can't explain how anxious you get when she takes a plastic hammer to it. I love you Taylor.