Pedagogy

Passion & Purpose

I do my best to guide my students in the process of finding purpose & passion in their lives at school. I encourage students to find what they enjoy, explore their talents, and connect these to what they learn in school, what the world needs, and what they might one day get paid to do!

EDUCATION INSPIRATION

Sir Ken Robinson discusses how schools kill creativity ... but they don't have to.

Sal Khan describes Khan Academy, and the value of mastery learning.

Dan Pink discusses motivation through mastery, autonomy, and purpose

Rita Pierson inspires teachers to get to know their students, to improve learning.

#UNGRADING

There are hundreds of books, articles, research papers, podcasts, and more that describe how grades, at scale, essentially measure a student's privilege. Mountains of education research over the past 100+ years indicate that grades increase anxiety and cheating, and decrease thinking, learning, equity, and well-being. Then why do we continue this practice? Momentum, accountability, and power / control. My colleagues and I are pushing the boundaries of #ungrading practices, and hoping to bring more humanity to education through progress-based, personalized learning. Stay tuned for more ...

Ungrading at Bishop Macdonell - Jan 2022 (PRINCIPAL/SUPER/TRUSTEE/MPP)

Going gradeless

I have been "going gradeless" in my classrooms, from teaching photography at Henry's, to visual communication with EVC, and in my elementary school at the TCDSB.

SELF-ASSESSMENT & FEEDBACK

Learning skills

In Ontario, teachers report on student "learning skills" - responsibility, organization, independent work, collaboration, initiative, and self-regulation. I like to have students assess their own learning skills before each reporting period - I do so in 1-on-1 teacher-student conferences, but also with the google form above, from which I draw quotes for report cards.

Teacher feedback

I ask students to provide a self-assessment on all assignments (what did you do well? where could you improve?), but I also seek periodic feedback on our classroom environment and my teaching. Above is a survey I use to get feedback from my students. They enjoy "evaluating" their teacher, and I receive important information that I might have otherwise missed.

Student Quotes

"The thing I like most about M Caverhill's class are the fun assignments and they way we learn in class. Assignments like the Arbres Genealogique (family trees), Paperolles (paper art), and Mots de Moi (word poetry) are all assignments that are interesting and fun to complete and work on. I like the way that M Caverhill runs the class, and how he makes the class work."

"My favourite thing about this class is that it's a little more relaxed and flexible. We, as students, are able to study and research things that interest us. I believe this is very important because students put more effort in and are more invested in work that interests them. Also, the use of technology in the classroom is great because it's innovative and better for the environment."

Class Procedures

I love the book "The First Days of School" by Wong & Wong - in it, I learned the value of class procedures in facilitating classroom management. After reading the book, I developed by own set of class procedures that students learn to follow, facilitating a calm, productive learning environment.

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