Bend the Sun

Bend the Sun is a website used for educational purposes. Its purpose is to share curriculum resources for students and teachers, as well as to share community supports to all those interested in pedagogy and the broader understanding of student needs. This is a not-for-profit educational site, and as such its materials fall under the Fair Dealing provision of the Copyright Act. Feel free to peruse it for learning or pedagogical resources/links! Also, feel free to support the site by forwarding any valuable resources to info@bendthesun.com.

Teaching Resources

Teachers helping teachers, that’s what this is all about.

Below are links to a number of supporting lessons, materials, and links I’ve developed along the way to becoming a teacher, and in my classes which you are free to use yourself in your own teaching. If you find the material useful, or have feedback, please feel free to reach out. If it takes a community, I’m just one person trying to play my part.

Photography

Looking to explore the exposure triangle? Wondering what depth of field refers to? Perhaps colour theory, the technical elements of image composition, and post processing are what you’re teaching or looking to learn. Here’s where you’ll find everything from Afghan Girl to Zeiss Otus.

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Business

The evolution of business mindsets has shifted dramatically for centuries in response to complex and dynamic social, political, and technological factors. Individuals and companies have had to be creative to adapt and respond to generate profits and create/satisfy market demands in times of plenty and times of crisis. We explore a number of the factors involved and challenge students to apply themselves to many of the most pertinent concepts involved.

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Construction and Woodworking

It is often very difficult to determine if woodworking is an art or a craft. One thing is certain though, whatever it is it is necessary to our society, and those who are deft at it are a rare and treasured breed. In the construction and applied woodworking studies we explore the often humbling study of the trades from a safety-first mindset. We recognize that often the academic studies are far more monotonous, repetitive, safe, and less intellectually-engaging than the challenges presented by environments of problem solving with genuine potential for hazard - the trades. So we adopt a lifelong student mentality with a deference for our projects, materials and tools.

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Philosophy

Was Kant right in his ideas about human dignity? Should we draw from Kierkegaard when looking past logic and leaping to faith? Was there validity to Camus’ position on the role of philosophy? What is the difference between non-cognitivists and moral nihilists? From Plato and Aristotle to Russell Brand and Stephen Fry, help students dig deeper into these questions and more in the following pages.

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History

For those of us who love history, the passion and pursuit lasts a lifetime. There’s something always to be learned just beyond the horizon, some incredible and unbelievable true story in the pages of a book left unexplored. Lessons that challenge us to learn about who we are, who we were, and who we can be. Equally important, lessons that teach us about who we should never be again. Here are a handful of resources I’ve collected and developed for my own classrooms.

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Civics and Careers

If we have only one life to live, and one world to live in, civics and careers explores much of the natures that will define those two domains. From Henry David Thoreau to George Orwell, here’s where the critical questions of social change and the instruments of power are explored as a civics class. As it pertains to careers, we dive into the frameworks for self-evaluation, academic pathways, career avenues in dynamic industries, financial planning and advice with different schools of thought, government legislation that protects students and workers, and alternative career trajectories for students to explore including things like SHSM, OYAP, Dual Credits, and other such avenues.

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Geography

“The Earth, that is sufficient,” as Walt Whitman once said in his famous Song of the Open Road. Yet, what is it sufficient for? We explore its composition, the nature of its biomes, climate, the food web, energy cycles, the impacts of humans on the planet, and explore critical subject matter such as sustainability. Here is a collection of materials, lessons, and links to resources for classes which challenge students to think about the world as they know it, and discover it in new ways.

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Curriculum Materials and External Links

This is a collection of random curriculum materials and external links which I’ve found to be valuable to my classrooms, but for one reason or another don’t quite seem to fit into the other sections. Feel free to peruse at your leisure.

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Calling students to growth.
Shaping through challenge.

“It may be… that when we no longer know which way to go we have come to our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.” - Wendell Berry

Looking for a program or community support which you can support in some manner or another? Here’s a link to a page with some great ideas which might suit you. I should mention that I have no official affiliation with any of these organizations, nor do I receive any form of pay or remuneration for sharing them here with you.

Changing Directions

Outdoor Experiential Education.

Broadening Experiences

Research has shown very positive benefits to the effective integration of outdoor activities in academic experiences. From Walsh & Golins (1976), Kimball & Bacon (1993), Nadler (1993), and so many more, the evidence supports the development of self-awareness, self-responsibility, and self-efficacy through intentional and effectively directed experience in an outdoor environment. Looking to learn more about how you can bring those experiences to life with your child/children/classroom?

“Students will understand our fundamental connections to each other and to the world around us through our relationship to food, water, energy, air, and land, and our interaction with all living things. The education system will provide opportunities within the classroom and the community for students to engage in actions that deepen this understanding.”
-Ministry of Ontario, 2007