The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Where did November go?  Wow--it zipped by so quick I'm scrambling to get my thoughts on Christmas in just 4 short weeks!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  It was a peaceful day filled with tasty food and good company. 

Lo Blacklock, the narrator in The Woman in Cabin 10, however, cannot say she experienced good company or good food during her time spent on a luxury cruise.  As a matter of fact, poor Lo was either completely exhausted, drunk, or seen as slightly crazy throughout the novel.  I have to say I was disappointed with her character, and not terribly impressed with this novel. 

I've read plenty of novels where I didn't like the main character.  Usually it makes for a pretty compelling read, but Lo just completely irritated me.  She suffers from a chronic lack of sleep because of a break-in at her apartment, where she came face to face with the robber.  Locking Lo in her bedroom, he ransacked her place, and left her severely shaken and unable to relax long enough to sleep.  Using booze to help her cope keeps her pretty off balance.  She's given a chance to prove herself at work (she's a travel writer) by taking her boss' place on a inaugural luxury cruise on a boat that is the height of high class, and only has ten cabins.  This is her chance to finally get a promotion--if she snags the right interviews and proves herself.  Only problem is she's running on no sleep and keeps getting offered champagne that she just can't refuse.  Oh yes, and there is the free mini-bar in her cabin. 

On her first night, Lo manages to finally fall asleep, only to be awoken in the middle of the night by a splash.  Moving out onto her balcony, she sees what looks like a smudge of blood on the glass partition between her cabin's balcony, and the balcony for cabin ten.  Convinced that someone was thrown overboard, Lo sets out to notify the boat's head of security. 

Only problem is, there was no one in cabin ten.  But Lo insists that yes, there was--she borrowed mascara from the woman in cabin ten just the night before.  But a thorough search of the boat, along with interviews by every employee on the boat comes up with nothing.  Lo's deepening sense of something being horribly wrong is at war with her doubts about what she may have seen and heard.  That smudge of blood?  It's gone.  That cabin that was strewn with clothes and personal belongings from the night before?  Spotless.  Is Lo imagining things, or did someone go overboard?  Who is hiding the truth? 

Dang, I wanted to like this novel so much.  I can't get past Lo.  I found myself saying out loud "For the love of God, take a nap!"  It drove me nuts.  The whole mystery I found a bit confusing to untangle, and it just seemed to be a thin plot to me.  I had to suspend my belief quite a bit, and I didn't feel the ending was worth the effort.  Boo.  I'll give Ruth Ware's other novel In a Dark, Dark Wood a shot, because I think she certainly has potential, and I've heard a lot of good things about her debut novel.  This one, however, left me wanting my own mini-bar.

Rating:  4/10 for an annoying narrator, and a thin plot.  Just wasn't my cup of tea. 
Fans of The Girl on the Train may find this a good read. 
Available in hardcover, e-book, and audio.

Don't forget to enter to win a trio of romance novels by Kate Noble!  Contest winner will be announced December 1st:
Kate Noble Romance Giveaway

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Sometimes the Answer is More Obvious Than You Think

I saw this following math problem for a grade 1 admissions test to a school in Hong Kong on the site, 22Words, and I struggled to get it right away (I may have looked at the answer ahead of time).  Take 20 seconds to figure it out below.

Go…

How did it go? If you are like the majority of people that I had in my session today, you didn’t get it right away. But once you see the answer, it seems so obvious.

From 22 Words:

It’s upside down, so the answer is 87.

The numbers go 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91— but from right to left because it’s upside down.

Maybe as adults we’re just so used to things being straightforward whereas kids get more creative with their thought process, or maybe we’re all just dumber than a first grader — at least one from Hong Kong.

The one line in bold resonated with me.  Sometimes we say things like, “How do we get people to move forward?”, yet our approach is really along the lines of “tell them harder”.  The hope is if we keep looking and approaching a problem the same way, that eventually we will fix it, instead of trying to look at things differently.

What is often holding others back is not them, but us.  Our approach is usually the thing that people are struggling with, so we need to step back and see things in a different light.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ” Albert Einstein

This puzzle was a nice little reminder that if we look at things in a different manner, the answer can sometimes be a lot simpler than we make it to be.

P.S. My wife figured it out in about 3 seconds because she said as a teacher, she is so used to the learning of her students upside-down. I am sure there are several lessons in that in itself.

• December 27, 2012 The #Georgies2012
• May 15, 2010 Believe in the Kids
• December 11, 2010 Success
• November 6, 2016 Grades and Test Scores Should Not Be Your Driver
• June 25, 2011 Continuous Learning

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Kindred Moodyville by Fairborne

Coming soon to the up and coming Moodyville Neighbourhood of North Vancouver,  Kindred Moodyville is a fine collection of 96 homes consisting of 1 bedroom, 1 plus den and 2 bedrooms suites. Each home is is exceptionally designed with bright, spacious and modern interiors for the best livability in mind, complete with overheight ceilings and efficient floor plans

Moodyville Neigbourhood of North Vancouver is going under a massive transition. Currently consisting single family homes, this area was targeted by the City of North Vancouver as community to redeveloped into a new walkable pedestrian friendly neighbourhood.  Once completed, Moodyville will have 1500 homes within walking distance of Lower Lonsdale, with easy access to transit and trails to get you where you need to.

The post Kindred Moodyville by Fairborne appeared first on Vancouver New Condos.

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4 Things We Need to Always Remember in Education

Education is an extremely tough profession.  Spend any significant amount of time in a classroom or a school, and you will see how complex the profession is, and the many roles that educators serve in the work that they do.  Each year, it is only becoming more and more complex.

With countless initiatives, either new or outdated curriculums, higher public scrutiny, the job can be overwhelming.  That being said, there are some things that we always need to remember that can help us navigate the complexities of the work that we do as educators.

1. Education is a servant profession.  This is something that I try to focus on daily in my work, as this can be easily forgotten, and even sometimes, we turn it around and act like students serve us. Questions such as, “What is best for students?”, and, “Would you want to be a learner in your own classroom?”, are ones that we need to answer daily, not with a simple yes or no.  Yet servant leadership goes up the chain. Simplifying, teachers serve students, principals serve teachers and students, superintendents serve principals, teachers, and students.
   
   Yet we often act the opposite way. More and more is piled upon the plates of principals and teachers, that make it harder for them to serve students and the community.  We want teachers to be “researchers”, but give them such little time to do so.  I learned that the higher you go up in any profession, the more people you serve, not the other way around.  Really understanding and focusing on serving those in front of us, will make a major difference on what the experience looks like for our communities.
   
   
2. Learning is the goal. Curriculums are shifting away from content only in many spaces, and developing skills, but the bottom line is that we develop learners. As the world becomes more complex, change is thrust upon all of us, our students will not always have the access to a wise teacher.  They will need to figure it out themselves.  If kids walk out of school only being good at “school”, we might look good in the short term, but the damage long term is something that will have a negative impact for a time to come.  Ask yourself, do our students learn stuff when they walk out of your class, or do they know how to learn with or without you?  Someone once said that “we cannot learn in the absence of a teacher”, yet if we believe that, we are creating too much of a dependence on others, and not learning to figure it out themselves.
3. We are developing people. I remember one time I was talking to a teacher and a student came up to us with an emergency, and the teacher turned to them and said, “Can’t you see that we are talking? Wait until we are done.” It was said in a harsh manner and I was really uncomfortable with the moment.
   
   Now we don’t want students to be rude and interrupt conversations, but every moment in schools, is a moment that can last with a student forever.  Will you be the positive or negative memory that they have ten years from now?  Treating our students with respect, modelling it in how we interact with other adults, is something that is (in my opinion) much more important long term for our students.  This does not mean we shouldn’t have conflict with one another, but it does mean we have to learn how to challenge one another in a way that is respectful, students and colleagues.  
   
   Kids are very observant; what do they see and what do they eventually become because of what we model?
   
   
4. “Never let an 8 year old ruin your day.” This one is harder to articulate so I will do my best.  One year on opening day, there was a speaker who made the comment, “never let an 8 year old ruin your day.”  It stuck with me, and it is something that I have thought about often.  I remember in one case, a student was swearing and yelling at me, saying some of the most horrible things to me, and I stayed calm the entire time, and continued to stay with them until they calmed down, and we had a conversation, eventually talking in a rational manner about how the things that I just heard were not acceptable.  
   
   Earlier in my career, I would have been destroyed by these names, and probably would have affected me in a negative way the next day, and moving forward that year.  But now, I have learned to let that go.  There are kids who deal with things as young people, that I do not know if I could handle as an adult.  These moments are often not about you, but about something else going on in their lives.  That being said, I know and understand why many teachers (including myself), can take some of this pain that our students go through onto themselves, and it can be hard.  Ultimately though, do your best to not take things personally.  Easier said than done, but just remember, growing up is not easy, especially with some of the adversity that our students are dealing with.  Sometimes kids feel like the world has given up on them, just make sure you do your best to let them know that you are not willing to do that.
   
   

 

 

As said earlier, education is a tough job, and every year we move forward, there is seemingly more thrust upon educators. As these endless initiatives and things that are thrust upon you, just try to remember why you do what you do.  Starting with this end in mind, helps us remember what truly is the important work that we do.

• April 22, 2013 What Teachers Do
• June 28, 2013 The Prophets In Your Land
• April 17, 2014 4 Types of Leaders You Shouldn’t Be
• April 24, 2010 What Makes a Master Teacher
• February 3, 2013 4 Attributes of a Great Assistant Principal

Source: George Couros

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4 Things We Need to Always Remember in Education

Education is an extremely tough profession.  Spend any significant amount of time in a classroom or a school, and you will see how complex the profession is, and the many roles that educators serve in the work that they do.  Each year, it is only becoming more and more complex.

With countless initiatives, either new or outdated curriculums, higher public scrutiny, the job can be overwhelming.  That being said, there are some things that we always need to remember that can help us navigate the complexities of the work that we do as educators.

1. Education is a servant profession.  This is something that I try to focus on daily in my work, as this can be easily forgotten, and even sometimes, we turn it around and act like students serve us. Questions such as, “What is best for students?”, and, “Would you want to be a learner in your own classroom?”, are ones that we need to answer daily, not with a simple yes or no.  Yet servant leadership goes up the chain. Simplifying, teachers serve students, principals serve teachers and students, superintendents serve principals, teachers, and students.
   
   Yet we often act the opposite way. More and more is piled upon the plates of principals and teachers, that make it harder for them to serve students and the community.  We want teachers to be “researchers”, but give them such little time to do so.  I learned that the higher you go up in any profession, the more people you serve, not the other way around.  Really understanding and focusing on serving those in front of us, will make a major difference on what the experience looks like for our communities.
   
   
2. Learning is the goal. Curriculums are shifting away from content only in many spaces, and developing skills, but the bottom line is that we develop learners. As the world becomes more complex, change is thrust upon all of us, our students will not always have the access to a wise teacher.  They will need to figure it out themselves.  If kids walk out of school only being good at “school”, we might look good in the short term, but the damage long term is something that will have a negative impact for a time to come.  Ask yourself, do our students learn stuff when they walk out of your class, or do they know how to learn with or without you?  Someone once said that “we cannot learn in the absence of a teacher”, yet if we believe that, we are creating too much of a dependence on others, and not learning to figure it out themselves.
3. We are developing people. I remember one time I was talking to a teacher and a student came up to us with an emergency, and the teacher turned to them and said, “Can’t you see that we are talking? Wait until we are done.” It was said in a harsh manner and I was really uncomfortable with the moment.
   
   Now we don’t want students to be rude and interrupt conversations, but every moment in schools, is a moment that can last with a student forever.  Will you be the positive or negative memory that they have ten years from now?  Treating our students with respect, modelling it in how we interact with other adults, is something that is (in my opinion) much more important long term for our students.  This does not mean we shouldn’t have conflict with one another, but it does mean we have to learn how to challenge one another in a way that is respectful, students and colleagues.  
   
   Kids are very observant; what do they see and what do they eventually become because of what we model?
   
   
4. “Never let an 8 year old ruin your day.” This one is harder to articulate so I will do my best.  One year on opening day, there was a speaker who made the comment, “never let an 8 year old ruin your day.”  It stuck with me, and it is something that I have thought about often.  I remember in one case, a student was swearing and yelling at me, saying some of the most horrible things to me, and I stayed calm the entire time, and continued to stay with them until they calmed down, and we had a conversation, eventually talking in a rational manner about how the things that I just heard were not acceptable.  
   
   Earlier in my career, I would have been destroyed by these names, and probably would have affected me in a negative way the next day, and moving forward that year.  But now, I have learned to let that go.  There are kids who deal with things as young people, that I do not know if I could handle as an adult.  These moments are often not about you, but about something else going on in their lives.  That being said, I know and understand why many teachers (including myself), can take some of this pain that our students go through onto themselves, and it can be hard.  Ultimately though, do your best to not take things personally.  Easier said than done, but just remember, growing up is not easy, especially with some of the adversity that our students are dealing with.  Sometimes kids feel like the world has given up on them, just make sure you do your best to let them know that you are not willing to do that.
   
   

 

 

As said earlier, education is a tough job, and every year we move forward, there is seemingly more thrust upon educators. As these endless initiatives and things that are thrust upon you, just try to remember why you do what you do.  Starting with this end in mind, helps us remember what truly is the important work that we do.

• April 22, 2013 What Teachers Do
• June 28, 2013 The Prophets In Your Land
• April 17, 2014 4 Types of Leaders You Shouldn’t Be
• April 24, 2010 What Makes a Master Teacher
• February 3, 2013 4 Attributes of a Great Assistant Principal

from Connected Principals http://ift.tt/2f8wb0F

4 Things We Need to Always Remember in Education

Education is an extremely tough profession.  Spend any significant amount of time in a classroom or a school, and you will see how complex the profession is, and the many roles that educators serve in the work that they do.  Each year, it is only becoming more and more complex.

With countless initiatives, either new or outdated curriculums, higher public scrutiny, the job can be overwhelming.  That being said, there are some things that we always need to remember that can help us navigate the complexities of the work that we do as educators.

1. Education is a servant profession.  This is something that I try to focus on daily in my work, as this can be easily forgotten, and even sometimes, we turn it around and act like students serve us. Questions such as, “What is best for students?”, and, “Would you want to be a learner in your own classroom?”, are ones that we need to answer daily, not with a simple yes or no.  Yet servant leadership goes up the chain. Simplifying, teachers serve students, principals serve teachers and students, superintendents serve principals, teachers, and students.
   
   Yet we often act the opposite way. More and more is piled upon the plates of principals and teachers, that make it harder for them to serve students and the community.  We want teachers to be “researchers”, but give them such little time to do so.  I learned that the higher you go up in any profession, the more people you serve, not the other way around.  Really understanding and focusing on serving those in front of us, will make a major difference on what the experience looks like for our communities.
   
   
2. Learning is the goal. Curriculums are shifting away from content only in many spaces, and developing skills, but the bottom line is that we develop learners. As the world becomes more complex, change is thrust upon all of us, our students will not always have the access to a wise teacher.  They will need to figure it out themselves.  If kids walk out of school only being good at “school”, we might look good in the short term, but the damage long term is something that will have a negative impact for a time to come.  Ask yourself, do our students learn stuff when they walk out of your class, or do they know how to learn with or without you?  Someone once said that “we cannot learn in the absence of a teacher”, yet if we believe that, we are creating too much of a dependence on others, and not learning to figure it out themselves.
3. We are developing people. I remember one time I was talking to a teacher and a student came up to us with an emergency, and the teacher turned to them and said, “Can’t you see that we are talking? Wait until we are done.” It was said in a harsh manner and I was really uncomfortable with the moment.
   
   Now we don’t want students to be rude and interrupt conversations, but every moment in schools, is a moment that can last with a student forever.  Will you be the positive or negative memory that they have ten years from now?  Treating our students with respect, modelling it in how we interact with other adults, is something that is (in my opinion) much more important long term for our students.  This does not mean we shouldn’t have conflict with one another, but it does mean we have to learn how to challenge one another in a way that is respectful, students and colleagues.  
   
   Kids are very observant; what do they see and what do they eventually become because of what we model?
   
   
4. “Never let an 8 year old ruin your day.” This one is harder to articulate so I will do my best.  One year on opening day, there was a speaker who made the comment, “never let an 8 year old ruin your day.”  It stuck with me, and it is something that I have thought about often.  I remember in one case, a student was swearing and yelling at me, saying some of the most horrible things to me, and I stayed calm the entire time, and continued to stay with them until they calmed down, and we had a conversation, eventually talking in a rational manner about how the things that I just heard were not acceptable.  
   
   Earlier in my career, I would have been destroyed by these names, and probably would have affected me in a negative way the next day, and moving forward that year.  But now, I have learned to let that go.  There are kids who deal with things as young people, that I do not know if I could handle as an adult.  These moments are often not about you, but about something else going on in their lives.  That being said, I know and understand why many teachers (including myself), can take some of this pain that our students go through onto themselves, and it can be hard.  Ultimately though, do your best to not take things personally.  Easier said than done, but just remember, growing up is not easy, especially with some of the adversity that our students are dealing with.  Sometimes kids feel like the world has given up on them, just make sure you do your best to let them know that you are not willing to do that.
   
   

 

 

As said earlier, education is a tough job, and every year we move forward, there is seemingly more thrust upon educators. As these endless initiatives and things that are thrust upon you, just try to remember why you do what you do.  Starting with this end in mind, helps us remember what truly is the important work that we do.

• April 22, 2013 What Teachers Do
• June 28, 2013 The Prophets In Your Land
• April 17, 2014 4 Types of Leaders You Shouldn’t Be
• April 24, 2010 What Makes a Master Teacher
• February 3, 2013 4 Attributes of a Great Assistant Principal

from Connected Principals http://ift.tt/2f8wb0F

Hottest Posts Everyone’s Reading this Fall #ICYMI

I can't believe it's Thanksgiving break! This fall has absolutely flown by. It's been an exciting few months, and I was thrilled to be named a 2017 NASSP Digital Principal of the Year, along with Darren Ellwein (@DEllwein) and Nicholas Indeglio (@DrIndeglio). I look forward to working with these awesome educators over the next year. It's an honor and privilege to promote the role of technology in learning with the ultimate goal of empowering learners!

Thank you for supporting my work on Twitter and here on my blog. I share my ideas on a variety of topics in hopes that my experience will be supportive and helpful to you. If you ideas for me and or any kind of feedback, I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment below or reach out on Twitter or Facebook.

Here is a look back at a few of the most popular posts from the past couple of months.

Title	Views
11 Reasons Educators Should Empower Students October 11	3790
Why Your High School Should Teach Computer Science (Guest Post) October 4	3222
One More Reason to Use Social Media in Your School October 27	3106
Five Critical #EdTech Conversations for Your School November 13	3054
Do We Really Have Time for Digital Citizenship? September 3	3010
10 Signs Twitter PD Might Not Be Your Thing September 4	2791
9 Ways to Help Your Students Show Up Well October 20	2590
Not Just Better, But Different September 15	2167
Adaptable Learners Will Own the Future November 17	2086

        

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