Our image of the child

is rich in potential, strong, powerful, competent, and capable of complex thought and learning, most of all, connected to adults and other children. (cited in Dahlberg et al., 2007)

"Great is the human who has not lost his childlike heart." — Mencius (Meng-Tse), 4th century BCE

“The principle goal of education is to create people who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done – people who are creative, inventive and discoverers.”

— Jean Piaget

Students are active learners whose development takes place within

particular social and cultural contexts and is influenced by those contexts.

(C.Rothstein-Fisch, E. Trumbell, 2008)

“Educators need to understand what they can about the different social, economic,

and cultural contexts of their students and how these influence their efforts.

It is beneficial to view these differences not as impediments to overcome,

but as resources that can enhance learning.”

(Toshalis & Nakkula, 2012)

Knowing the students we are teaching is critical to designing engaging and

appropriate instruction and assessment that will result in significant student learning.

(Karen Hume, 2010)

Curriculum refers to what teachers teach or what students should learn,

instruction refers to how teachers teach and how students will experience learning.

(Carol Ann Tomlinson, Tonya R. Moon, 2013)

There’s a way to do it better – find it. — Thomas Edison

"There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns."

— Edward de Bono

“As teachers become more familiar with which ideas are more complex for students and why, they are better able to ensure that their instruction is at the appropriate developmental level for students, and that it challenges students’ mathematical conceptions in appropriate ways.” - Marian Small, 2009

“Effective teachers… know that a wrong answer might indicate

unexpected thinking rather than a lack of understanding; equally, a correct answer may be arrived at

via faulty thinking.” (G. Anthony & M. Walshaw, 2009)

“The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural

curiousity of young minds.” (Anatole France in Barell, 2003)

Do Brain-Based Principles Apply in the Digital Age?

• The brain needs multifaceted experiences

• The brain seeks patterns

• The brain searches for meaning

• Stress inhibits learning

• Learning is developmental

• The brain is social (Marilee Sprenger 2010)

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression

and knowledge. -Albert Einstein

“…an environment that speaks to young children’s inherent curiosity and innate yearning for exploration is a classroom where children are passionate about learning and love school.” (G. Heard & J. McDonough, 2009).

We seek questions that are likely to make students want to do two things: (1) actively pursue an inquiry and not be

satisfied with superficial answers (2) willingly learn content along the way

in service of the inquiry

(McTighe & Wiggins, 2013)

“The answer is to look forward, not backward. It is much better to anticipate areas of difficulty and begin thinking through how we will keep more of our students on track.”

(Robyn R. Jackson, Claire Lambert, 2010)

“If we accept that we are in a process of becoming, of constant change; then we must abandon our idea of a static, knowable educator and move onto a view of an educator in a state of constant change and becoming …The role of the educator shifts from a communicator of knowledge to a listener, provocateur, documenter, and negotiator of meaning.” (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al., 2009)

When I am in classrooms, I am both expert and learner. I continue to ask questions,

to try out, to stumble,

to seek new answers, to rethink.

(Regie Routman, 2008)

[The Universe] is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometrical figures, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it ...

-Galileo

Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.

- Albert Einstein

The essence of mathematics is not to make simple things complicated, but to make complicated things simple.

– S. Gudder

"Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun." - Mary Lou Cook

“So far, student voices have not been heard much in discussions about innovation in education…..Innovating to solve global

challenges is an idea that clearly appeals to many of today’s youth.”

(Suzie Boss, 2012)

Without motivation, there is no push to learn;

without engagement, there is no way to learn;

and without voice, there is no authenticity in the learning.

— E. Toshalis & M. Nakkula (2012)

Research tells us that

self-esteem and self-efficacy account for about 50 %

of students’ achievement.

(Thompson et al., 2005 in Jackson & Lambert, 2010)

If we want feedback to increase student learning, we have to make sure that the feedback elicits a cognitive response from the student rather than an emotional one. — Carol Ann Tomlinson & Tonya R. Moon, 2013

Inspired education is about the sorts of classroom experiences and lessons that we remember throughout our lives and that motivate us to want to learn more. — Student Identity and Engagement, Capacity Building Series, 2011

In the math reform literature, learning math is viewed as a social endeavour. — Student Interaction in the Math Classroom, Dr. Catherine Bruce, “What Works? Research into Practice” series, 2007

"Creative activity could be described as a type of learning process where teacher and pupil are located in the same individual."

— Arthur Koestler

"The achievement of excellence can only occur if the organization promotes a culture of creative dissatisfaction."

— Lawrence Miller

"To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science." — Albert Einstein

"The organizations of the future will increasingly depend on the creativity of their members to survive. Great Groups offer a new model in which the leader is an equal among Titans. In a truly creative collaboration, work is pleasure, and the only rules and procedures are those that advance the common cause." — Warren Bennis

"When all think alike, then no one is thinking." — Walter Lippman

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” -Friedrich Nietzsche

• "Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein

"You don't understand anything unless you understand there are at least three ways." — M. Minsky

If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.

– Albert Einstein

An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that

exists only as an idea.

— Edward de Bono

From 30,000 feet, creating looks like art. From ground level, it’s a to-do list.

— Ben Arment

“To be creative you have to contribute something different from what you've done before. Your results need not be original to the world; few results truly meet that criterion. In fact, most results are built on the work of others."

— Lynne C. Levesque Breakthrough Creativity

Transformation requires a rupture of the ordinary and this demands as much of teachers as it does of students.

— M. Fielding, 2004

"Discoveries are often made by not following instructions, by going off the

main road, by trying the untried." — Frank Tyger