Author: Riley Sharp

This video may be my magnum opus, and makes my Summaries of Learning from EC&I 831 in 2019 (which I called “a masterpiece. The Citizen Kane of final projects”) and EC&I 834 in 2021 (which I “presented without comment”) look like hot garbage. To be clear, I am NOT joking, it is that much better,Continue reading “The Greatest Thing I Have Ever Done”

In my reflection after Debate #1, I borrowed Michelle’s description of the classroom as a “sacred learning space.” I argued that technology did not need to be banished from that space, but it should have to knock before entering. Cellphones, unfortunately, are terrible at knocking. They buzz in pockets, light up beneath desks, vibrate againstContinue reading “Technology Should Knock: Why I Still Support Cellphone Bans”

Anyone who knows me well knows that Jurassic Park is my favourite movie. I once even designed an English B10 unit around the novel (which is quite different and better from the film, though this is neither the time nor place for that lecture). Following Sam Neill’s recent death, I offhandly used one of AlanContinue reading “Running to Catch Up: AI, Education, and the Jurassic Park Problem”

I did not expect a debate about childhood to involve steroids, alcohol prohibition, TikTok dances, online third spaces, acceptable-use policies, and Star Wars. Yet, somehow, all of them entered the conversation. The pre and post scores were interesting too, with 78% initially agreeing with the titular statement and then only a minority, about 40%, atContinue reading “Only the Sith Deal in Absolutes: Has Social Media Ruined Childhood?”

In my first EC&I 830 post, I confessed that my teaching life is largely held together by an unreasonable number of browser tabs. In other words, move over Red Green and your duct tape, here’s Mr. Sharp and his brower tabs! *That reference might be too old for some of my classmates, which also makesContinue reading “More Tabs, More Learning? Protecting the Sacred Space of the Classroom”

This year, at a humourous student-voted teacher awards ceremony at an assembly, I was given the title of “Teacher with Most Tabs Open.” In a high school with over 50 other teachers, I am choosing to see this as a professional distinction rather than a cry for help. It was, however, perceptive. And accurate. OnContinue reading “My Teaching Life, as Told by Browser Tabs”

I’m bacj!