Lia from Partners in Learning invited me to speak at ECOO in Niagara Falls. I am to give 2 talks. The first talk is about the XenoTransplant project, the PiL Global Forum and then how my participation has changed my teaching and my path. The second talk is about the learning suite.

Getting ready for this talk allowed me to reminisce about my time with Team Canada in Cape Town. As cool as Cape Town was, I realized the importance some of the conversations that I had with my team members. Because of a talk with Trevor, I started to rethink English and why we take it in high schools. I wonder if the role of an English teacher should change to an language coach embedded in all the other classes and only a small portion of their time doing literature. Because of talks with Keli and Curtis, I started to rethink elementary education. Combine their work with the “Big World, Little Hands Project”, which was also introduced to me through PiL, and that is the foundation of my new high school philosophy. When high school looks like K-2, it will be a good day.

A talk with Norm Lee convinced me to write. I asked what I should do, and he said WRITE. But I am a terrible writer. Since I started writing, things have been growing. If nothing else, writing helps organize one’s thoughts. Now I am working on a book.

Encouragement from Jacynth and Lia have told me act on my dreams. Ken Robinson would say that Creativity is Imagination in Action. Thank you for helping me move imagination into creativity.

Not only did the Pil and the GIEF give me a reason to create the Xenoproject which has lead to seriously considering high school renewal to look like SHAD high,  but it gave me contacts and conversations that are chaning my perception. I am most fortunate to influence other teachers, because of the influence of PiL. Thanks Jacynth, Lia and Mario.

See you soon in Niagara Falls !!