Andrew Stanton’s line, “The greatest story commandment is: Make me care.” stopped me in my tracks when I first heard it almost a year ago. I was on my way to working with a couple of teachers in another area of Quebec and had a long drive ahead of me, so I plugged in my…
All posts in Storytelling
Why blog? (and it’s not about making learning fun.)
Blogging is not about making journaling fun for students. It’s not about trying to find a reason for students to spell correctly. It’s not even about connecting them to global others. I can think of no more horrible an exercise than forcing all of the students in my class to create a blog for the…
Truth about stories
Two very different stories about the same events. Story #1 Five police cruisers torched, 40 protesters arrested as native anti-fracking rally turns violent. The National Post Police. Torched. Protesters Arrested. Native. Violent. Story #2 New Brunswick fracking protests are the frontline of a democratic fight. The Guardian New Brunswick. Protests. Frontline. Democratic. A number of…
Flashback: seeking to understand
This post was originally written in 2009 and is still very relevant to me. I hope you think so as well. — A norm that I aspire to, however difficult it can be at times is this one: Seek to understand before being understood. I just read a story about an administrator who practices this…
Let me tell you a story … about teaching and technology
I’m teaching a class on creating a radio show and podcasting. I’m working with 11 enthusiastic and interested adult learners and I’m quite excited about it myself. Yesterday was our 2nd meeting. Let me tell you a little story about teaching and technology… My plan was 3-fold: Talk about commitment to the course Each person…