Our colleague Miguel Guhlin started a good discussion on Twitter and in his blog post about so-called innovative practices in K-12. Miguel was prompted by an article by Mike Schmoker that questions if "innovations" like design thinking and makerspaces actually improve learning more than time-tested, research-proven activities. My response: Yes, and! By definition, innovation leads [...]
In my new book, THRIVE: How Schools Will Win the Education Revolution, there is an appendix with a list of schools that I have curated over the last five years, schools that "do school differently". I offer this as a "starter kit" for my readers, schools with which you can share ideas and igniters of [...]
One of our newest and most profound challenges as educators is navigating the poorly charted waters of truth and falsity in our media stream. Of course, there have been news sources of questionable repute in the past, but the volume and rapidity of the media stream, both creating, and as a result of, increased political [...]
Like many of you, I have taken the summer off from at least part of my "day job": blogging. I led several summer institutes and am getting my new book finalized for delivery in October, but I got lazy here on the blog front. And that is sort of going to continue as I ease [...]
The Hero's Journey lies at the heart of human storytelling. From the Bhagavad Gita to the Old and New Testaments; from Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology to the creational stories of indigenous peoples; from the life stories of comic book superheroes to the modern sagas like Star Wars and Game of Thrones, the Hero's Journey [...]
Is it a bit stupid to start a post about the inaccuracy of crystal ball predictions by making a prediction? Probably. I have been saying for some time that we have entered an era of human interaction that is fundamentally different from any time in the past. In the past, big, impactful ideas that drive [...]
Given: student-centered, deeper learning is easier to deliver at lower grade levels. Given: College admissions practices continue to keep high schools more "in the box" of a worn out learning model. What if we stopped wringing our hands over things we can't control, and changed what we can? That appears to have been the case [...]
I just made two new slides that seem to sum up pretty much the argument for, and the content of, my new book, THRIVE: How Schools Will Win the Education Revolution, due out in the early fall. Whether we like it or not, this is the hand we have been dealt as K-12 educators today [...]
My new book, THRIVE: How Schools Will Win the Education Revolution, won't be out until the fall, but I just had to share at least one bit of advanced praise, from Andy Calkins, Director of education innovation leading Next Generational Learning Challenges: Imagine you are climbing a mountain with a large group of people. Hard [...]
We have passed a fundamental tipping point in the evolution of human connectivity. For millennia, big ideas spread through a highly-constricted pipeline. Masses of humanity listened to a handful of political, religious, or social influencers and followed where those few led. Humans were a metaphorical crowd of 10,000 people listening for one good idea from [...]
