I was honored to receive the following comment from Dr. Adrian Bejan at Duke about my post on his book yesterday. Since many of you may not follow the comments, I will re-post here. I am also asking Dr. Bejan to perhaps weigh in one more time with a clarification that can help us understand or [...]
I have just ground through a fascinating book; “read” would imply I digested every word and that would be a lie. Design in Nature by Adrian Bejan is a deep and rich read, and there were sections with math better left untested by my simple mind. But don’t be scared by the next couple of [...]
I was asked last week to put together some ideas for working with a school’s leadership team based on the findings of my visits with more than 60 schools this fall. At a high level, the goal would be to help that team develop the skills to become institutionally comfortable with change. Those of you [...]
I had a dream last night. I was in a high school chemistry class and the teacher handed us all a textbook, not something new, fresh, or innovative, just old textbooks. In my dream, and just after when I woke up, I experienced a warm feeling of comfort and confidence. I knew all I needed [...]
This short post from Seth Godin caught my eye. He names two people you might need to help you in your professional life: an agonist to cause things to happen, and a procrastinatrix whose job it is to hold you accountable for getting things done. I think many senior leaders have a procrastinatrix, or should; [...]
I know that many others provide links to good reads, and I try to Tweet out these as well. But I thought from time to time I would post links to some particularly good reads as I plow through my Google Reader list trying to keep up. I know I have more time than some [...]
The days of educational conferences where one person stands in front of the room talking at a large group of people sitting quietly in rows for 50 minutes are over. We know this is not what good learning looks like. I have been asked by the Martin Institute for Teaching Excellence to help organize their [...]
Paul Ibsen, Asst. Head for Finance and Management at Providence Day School in Charlotte sent me a digital news clipping and it is worth a read, or forward it to your Foreign Language Chair. As those of you who followed my EdJourney know, a number of schools have found highly engaging ways to move foreign [...]
Those who followed my EdJourney will recall my report on Doug Berman and his ground-breaking four year computer science program at Porter Gaud School in Charleston. Doug Bergman is a nationally recognized teacher and his courses are a blend of open-ended projects on student-created ideas that he describes as “structured but chaotic”. During my visit, [...]
While private and charter schools may provide many of the flexible proving grounds for the brushfires of innovation, traditional public schools, which at least for now represent 90% of education in America, will be the field on which we succeed or fail. So it was great to meet up via phone yesterday with teacher Don [...]