You Have a Decision to Make
Hi, I'm Brian,
Come in. I've spent most of my life thinking about teaching. I have some ideas I'd like to show you.
I think about the great teachers who are leaving, the students we're struggling to engage, and how much harder we've made teaching than it needs to be. So, in retirement, I've been working on something different. It's called SWAY Canada, and I'm sharing what I've learned with teachers, parents and anyone who believes we can make learning better.
At playway.ca, you'll find resources for gradually changing the way a classroom works—using technology, games and real-world projects to give students more responsibility for their own learning.
You don't have to change everything tomorrow. Start with one idea. Try one micro-lesson. Keep what works. Then take the next step. My resources are designed to be self-directed and open, and some can even help classrooms generate money for supplies, projects and opportunities.
I'm not here to tell teachers how to teach. I'm inviting you to take a look at what I've built, make it your own, and see where it takes you. No expensive training. No complicated rollout. No waiting for permission.
Learn it yourself. Start small. Use what works. Share what you learn. Help fund the classroom along the way.
Brian
Great Ideas Shouldn’t Need Permission
Innovation in education often dies long before it reaches the classroom. Good ideas encounter policies, budgets, bureaucracy, fear of change and the familiar response: “That’s not how we do things here.”​SWAY Canada believes teachers should be empowered to improve learning from within their own classrooms. Permissionless Education means starting with what you can change, proving what works, sharing it with others and allowing good ideas to grow from the ground up.We don't need to wait for the system to change before we begin changing education.
A WAY through the Darkness
Pillars of SWAY Canada
Pillar 1of 3 -
the WAY Game
Because learning should be something students do—not something done to them.
The WAY Game gives students a reason to listen, think, create and participate. Lessons become the raw material for Game Cards that students create, share and use to challenge one another.
Students take on real responsibilities as creators, teammates, captains and judges. They learn to communicate, cooperate, compete fairly, solve problems and become accountable to one another.
For teachers, the WAY Game provides something equally important: a structure for engagement and discipline that doesn't depend entirely on the teacher.
The goal isn't simply to make school more fun.
It's to give learning purpose, give students responsibility and give teachers their classroom back.
Learn to Play — Play to Learn.
Pillar 2 of 3 - SMART Digital Lesson Planning
Because great teaching shouldn't have to start over every September.
Teachers spend countless hours planning lessons, yet much of that work is written into planning books, filed away or recreated year after year.
SMART Digital Lesson Planning turns lesson planning into the creation of a professional library.
Create a lesson once. Teach it. Reflect on it. Improve it. Add new resources, videos, activities and ideas. Use AI to help develop and refine it. Then reuse it next year—or share it with another teacher.
Over time, teachers aren't simply planning tomorrow's lesson. They're building years of professional knowledge.
And when great lessons can be shared, one teacher's work can make another teacher's job easier.
Plan once. Improve. Share. Reuse.
Less time reinventing lessons.
More time teaching students.
Pillar 3 of 3 -Entrepreneurial Project-Based Learning?
Because students need opportunities to turn what they know into something real.
Students learn differently when their work has a real purpose, a real audience and real consequences.
Putting on a show. Running a small business. Creating a product. Organizing an event. Solving a community problem.
Year-long projects give students time to experience the entire journey—from an idea to a finished product. Along the way, they learn to plan, communicate, collaborate, manage money and time, solve unexpected problems, recover from mistakes and take responsibility for results.
These are skills that can't simply be memorized for a test. They have to be practised.
Entrepreneurial Project-Based Learning helps students develop the confidence, creativity, resilience, leadership and initiative they will need long after they leave school.
Don't just prepare students for the next test. Prepare them for what comes next.
SWAY Canada
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SWAY is short for a SMART WAY to Learn, Earn and Play, and I'll be the first to admit it can be overwhelming unless you consume SWAY slowly, in bite-sized chunks.
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If you are a teacher, surf the site and take what works for you. If you are a parent, please support teachers by learning these systems and how they benefit students. If you are a student- smarten up, support your teachers as if your future happiness depends on it, because it does.
If you want to save public education and believe it can be achieved through innovation, please share my site with those in need, wherever they may be. Help define the "New Basics."