My name is George Couros, and I am currently a Division Principal of Innovative Teaching and Learning with Parkland School Division, located in Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada. The schools are from ages K-12, and I love working with kids of all ages. I am passionate about distributed leadership within my division, and believe that creating a collaborative environment with all stakeholders, will help to ensure that we meet the best needs of all children.
Personally, I am someone who is passionate about all of the things that I do. I believe that we must continuously “sharpen the saw” by taking part in other pursuits, so I am actively involved as a fitness instructor with World Health Edmonton. I love running and sports, and am a HUGE fan of the Los Angeles Lakers. In fact, I have two dogs now that are named after a current and former Laker (Odom and Shaq). I do miss my dog Kobe who was my first pet ever (miss you buddy).
Music is also a passion of mine. If you are ever interested in hearing what I like, check out my #georgegtunes that I post on Twitter for the world to hear. The more well rounded we are as educators, I believe, the more our students will see us as real people that they can connect with in the classroom.
I am originally from the small town of Humboldt, Saskatchewan and my parents are originally immigrants from Greece. I am the youngest of four, and my brother, Dr. Alec Couros, is also in the field of education. We work closely together through our social networks to help build environments that best meet the needs of students in a continuously changing environment. I believe in the power of students, and that all of the children we can teach can be leaders if we help them find their passion. My parents came from a country that was going through a war and did not have the resources or same opportunities that we had for education. They stressed the importance of education for their kids, and are my inspiration in my career as an educator, as detailed in this post I guest wrote for another educator’s blog.
It is important to me that we always work to get do “what is best for kids”, and I appreciate discussion when talking about meeting the needs of students with all stakeholders. I know that as a division principal, I am only a part of the learning process, and I work hard to give everyone the opportunities to become leaders in our school community.
My family and inspiration
Hi George!
I wish you all the best for your new blog – one thing is for sure, we are going to read so many interesting things here!
Looking forward to reading your posts. Your enthusiasm is infectious! (Love the picture of your family!)
Wishing you all the best,
Vicky
Hello George. We have not yet met, but I look forward to getting to know you through this new blog just as I have gotten to know your brother through his Twitter tweets. I will also start following you on Twitter.
And like Vicky, I love the family picture. It is, as my people say, very hamish.
It is definitely we are both proud and ashamed of at the same time. This was my family's "Charlie's Angels" period
Hi George,
Sorry it took me so long to read your new website. Well done! How late do you stay up updating it? Seriously, writing regularly like that is great, and is inspirational to me, a new blogger. "Principal of Change", yes, my friend, that you are(:
Cheryl
Thanks Cheryl! I appreciate you reading. I am sure you were editing half of it in your mind
Hi George,
it's such an open-hearted and unpretencious "About Me". I like it a lot. It seems to me that both you and Alec found the right way to share information through social media despite all the worries of digital traces. What are your thoughts about it?
Greetings,
Ilona
I really believe that if you are positive on the Internet and build your identity that way, there is nothing wrong with that at all. It is important for me to show my students and role model creating a positive digital identity.
I really appreciate your comments
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From the first time I thought your name should be Greek, but wasn't sure, till now. I'm Greek too.
Looking forward to reading your ideas and posts. I think you express all the kindness and empatthy a teacher should have or has inside but is intimidated to say out loud.
I share the same enthusiasm for teaching and I find your posts and the rscon10 keynote very inspiring. Thank you
George,
I have been reading your blog for quite a few months now. I feel inspired every time I read it and it pushes me to continue along my path of growth and development. You have an amazing way for writing and inspiring. Thank you!
I am currently in grad school and am working on student-centered ICT in primary classrooms. I have found a LOT of research in this area from other countries – but not ours!
I remember reading somewhere (I think it was on your blog) that you asked each of your teachers to make a tech goal for the year. How is that going?
My goal as a grad student is to find ways of creating change through effective leadership as a teacher/colleague. My hope is to increase the love of ICT with students in more primary classrooms.
I would love to hear your thoughts or any advice on the topic.
Kirsten
Hey Kirsten,
Thanks for the kind words and my teachers actually chose to write tech goals this year. They knew that this was the focus of our project, so that was what they chose to do. They are doing fantastic with their work and exploration
Thanks again for your comment!
George,
I came across your blog in research that I am doing for my own personal learning as well as district mandated learning. Your blog is user friendly, full of mixed media and rich in content. Where I work, we are just beginning to embrace the technology and social networking. One one hand we are told to embrace today's technology, but on the other hand we are directed by policy to remain anonymous about our ties to the district and public acknowledgement of our campuses via social media. Do you not have policies such as these (you have student pics on your site–that's a definite no in my world) for which you have to navigate? I would love to know how you have overcome policies to be free to express your professional opinions in this realm.
Sorry for the delay in the replay. Here is something that I just drafted although we have a separate form to post student pics on our site:
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B3-QuAw4LLD9…
Hopefully this helps
G'day George,
I've been reading this blog and the Connected Principals' blog. I'm a classroom teacher in Australia, and have been involved with Instructional Rounds as part of a Teacher Professional Leave project. Love to hear if you have been involved in Instructional Rounds as a principal's network. Here is the link to our PLN. http://instructionalroundsineducation.ning.com/
Thanks so much for sharing your vision and thoughts.
Cheers Nina
Thanks Nina! I have not even heard of the site you shared but I am definitely going to look at it. At first glance, it definitely looks like something that would be a beneficial add to my PLN. Thanks for sharing
Hi George! Thanks for sharing your inspirations as well as your great insights on twitter! I look forward to reading your posts (as well as your brother's!) everyday!
Keep up the great work!
BTW-when did Forest Green go K-12? I used to teach in PSD before I moved to Calgary (Brookwood Elementary back when it was K-6).
Cheers,
Tracey
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Hi George
I am an Educator at Friends Academy on Long Island, New York
My son was recently transferred to Edmonton canada by Ford Motor Company and has two young children aged 7 and 4 years.
They are in a quagmire about what school to enroll the children in …in Alberta.
They are looking at the Catholic Schools and The Public and Private Schools
They will be living in Riverbend
We would really appreciate your insight and suggestions!
Wish they lived in your school district!
Please respond as soon as possible.
The children will probably be starting school in January
Thanks for your time
Will I be able to receive a direct e-mail response from you at dorf_kaffl@fa.org
Dorothy-Ann Linehan Kaffl
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it seems your link to twitter does not wk
Hello from Greece..
I came to your blog from here : http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ .. because your name was 'sounded' familiar..
Great to see such inspired educators as you..
keep going..
warm greetings from Kaparelli-Thiva.gr
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"I believe in the power of students, and that all of the children we can teach can be leaders if we help them find their passion."
I agree – you can never take the person out of anything we do. Giving a face to words gives meaning to the passion which allows the tools that we use to share meaningful messages. Great work!
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