Are You Talking Honestly About Grades?
August 25, 2016As you start the new school year, here is another thought that should creep into the school’s organizational consciousness and bug the heck out of you: Are we measuring what we really value in our students? Most teachers spend an enormous amount of time calculating a grade that they believe represents something, or at least…
Eight Hallmarks of a Successful School in Year 20XX
August 18, 2016Like dog years, time passes differently in schools than in the world around us. I have been thinking a LOT about what “school” will be in August of 2036 or so, which in school-time is really not that far away. Certainly five years can pass in the blink of an eye and while the world…
Endings and Beginnings
August 10, 2016Schools do a particularly bad job of ending things before we start others. Yesterday at the last day of our Summer Institute at Tilton School, my co-facilitator Julie Wilson reminded us of the importance of endings. Some celebrate endings; one of our attendees used to work at a school that held a Viking funeral every spring…
Is the Great American Experiment at Risk?
July 27, 2016I write almost exclusively in this space about education, and that will continue to be the case. This post has an element of education, but is is really about history, America, and the soul of a people who have fought against the tyranny of ideologues from both the political left and right…in the voting booth,…
Growing School in Chicago Taps Into Deep Progressive Roots
July 23, 2016Progressive education is alive and well in Chicago, the home of John Dewey and the first laboratory school more than 100 years ago. I found a budding example this week, spending two days with the leadership team at the young, rapidly-growing Bennett Day School, which, come August, will be expanding from a quaint four-classroom early…
Yes, Schools Can Change in Just One Year!
July 9, 2016Most school communities and leaders say that significant, system-wide change from a traditional to a deeper learning model takes many years. I think we are about to prove that wrong. Thirteen months ago at The Tilton School the entire faculty and staff, most of the board, and a large number of students, came together to begin…
Another Shot Across the Bow of “Grit”
June 23, 2016The ongoing discourse about “grit” received another jolt with an article by David Denby in the New Yorker (HT David Monaco). Denby adds his arguments in opposition to the oversimplified, or possibly misleading, research and logic of Angela Duckworth which has made the word “grit” a fixture in some schools’ mission and vision statements. As we have…
Sharing Some Themes From My New Book Project
June 19, 2016Summertime, and the blogging is lazy. Sorry to be lax in my posting. Yesterday I had a great Google Hangout, part of a MOOC created and operated by New Zealand teacher Danielle Myburgh in which, amongst other points of discussion, I share some of the themes of the new book I am working on. Here…
Schools Need Marketing to Survive, Thrive
June 5, 2016Schools need students. That sounds trite, but until a very few years ago, this was not a concern for the vast majority of public schools. By far, the majority of students attended the public school closest to their home. That has now changed, and changed substantially for many American families who have a large and…
The Thesis of My New Book; Making Great Progress!
May 29, 2016I have been less regular with my blog posts and Twitter stream over the last couple of months. I have been working hard on my new book, including about 60 in-depth phone, video, and in-person interviews and regular writing hours every day. I am happy to report that I am about 80% through the rough…
Student Reflection on 1st Ever Student-Created AP Course
May 26, 2016I have been tracking the progress of the first-ever student-designed and accredited Advanced Placement course. The two author-students, Anya Smith and Emy Schaeffer at Mt. Vernon Presbyterian School in Atlanta, have finished the course for the year, and here is Anya’s video reflection. I have asked these two student-scholar-pioneers to video in to several summer…
Must Read: “How Kids Learn Resilience” via Paul Tough
May 22, 2016Two years ago on this site we had a “lively” discussion about the nature of “grit” as then popularized by Angela Duckworth, a word that has seeped quickly into the lexicon, mission statements, and even the teaching programs at a diverse range of schools around the country. The point-counter point of “grit”, in summary, comes…
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