My older brother, Brad, has just retired after a life-long career in secondary education. He was a legendary AP US History teacher, vice principal and principal of large public high schools in southern California, and retired as Asst. Superintendent of San Marcos School District. He and I have been discussing what we all now call [...]
John Gulla, Executive Director of E.E. Ford Foundation, and Olaf Jorgenson, Head of Almaden Country School, California published an article in Independent School Magazine that summarizes and reviews our evolving capacity to gauge the value added by schools. While their direct focus is on independent schools, I find fewer differences than similarities in what public [...]
Last fall, David Kelley was kind enough to participate in a fireside chat on the popular weekly #DTK12CHAT that links educators who are interested in how design thinking can be embedded more deeply and purposefully in K-12 education. If you don’t know, David was co-founder of global design thinking firm IDEO and a principal founder [...]
“We have a long history of not building walls.” I guess once host Kim Saxe, Director of Innovation at Nueva School told me that, I could have just driven to the airport, satisfied with a key lesson for the day. But of course I did not, and was privileged to spend a couple of hours [...]
More than a year ago I wrote a short post after listening deeply to Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" on an airplane. Heard it again this morning and every time I do I feel it has a set of wonderful messages for educators and our mission. It uplifts my spirit; it seems a more perfect school [...]
If any of you still don't follow my friend and colleague Bo Adams, just do it. Bo and I presented a session at #NAISAC14, and for part of it I felt like the proud god-parent at a new child's baptism. Bo introduced us to work he and others are doing at Mt. Vernon Presbyterian School [...]
On the plane rides to and from my workshop presentations at NAIS and NBOA in Florida I had a chance to read in detail the latest issue of Independent School Magazine. Yes, my own article on mutation and zero-based strategic thinking is in the issue, but I want to share some call-outs from several of [...]
Am sitting in on a workshop with Howard Teibel and business officers related to leading and managing change. He used this video; it totally cracked up the room and is SO appropriate in so many ways! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4EDhdAHrOg Happy Sunday!
“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people…” American Declaration of Independence “You see things; and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say ‘Why not?’ George Bernard Shaw, and later, Robert Kennedy My musings today are just another [...]
If you are attending NAIS 2014 and/or NBOA in Orlando in the next two weeks, or members of your team plan to attend, I just wanted to pass along my schedule of workshops: NAIS: Wednesday, Feb. 26, 1 PM: "Why School?", with Will Richardson, Susan Droke, and Cathy Kyle. Friday, Feb. 28, 8 AM "Mutation, [...]