Play With a Purpose
February 17, 2014Yes, I am a very proud dad. But most of my readers are involved in education, so what lessons can we share with our students from what follows? At least two, I think: the powerful link between passion and purpose, and the untapped potential of “one person doing”. As many of you know, our daughter,…
Zero-Based Strategy Pt. 3 of 7: True Innovation Requires Asking Expansive Questions
February 10, 2014Good problem solving requires that we consider many options before settling on a path forward. In schools, whether we are engaged in a five year strategic plan or working with departmental colleagues, good problem solving starts with an “expansive” or “generative” phase. We often call this brainstorming, where participants are asked to generate many ideas…
Harvard Doctoral Ed. Leadership: Powerful Program Promoting Systemic Change
February 8, 2014I was honored to participate in a lunch yesterday with a team from the Harvard Doctor of Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.) program that is in San Diego visiting and working with San Diego Unified School District. The lunch was attended by a small, select group of San Diego-area education thought leaders. Ed.L.D. is a relatively young…
Zero-Based Strategy, 2 of 7: Building Strategic Capacity Starts with “Who is in the Room?”
February 6, 2014I may have lied; I think this series may be seven posts, not six. I leave open the possibility of corrections along the way, and last night I realized I had left out a key step in shifting from worn out strategic planning models to a more nimble and dynamic approach. And it is a…
New Framework for Strategy and Growth: Part 1 of 7
February 5, 2014I have studied problem solving and the arts of strategy for decades, and their application to schools for more than 15 years. Simply, school organizations have gotten strategy wrong; we have been active but ineffective problem solvers. During times of relative stasis, that is a condition we can live with; during times of dynamic change…
Design Thinking in K-12: A Live Fireside Chat #DTK12Chat
January 30, 2014Last night Bo Adams and I were honored to chat about the nature and strengths of design thinking and its role in K-12 education. This Fireside Chat was organized under the auspices of the weekly #DTk12Chat on Twitter which takes place on Wednesdays at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT. It is routinely attended by dozens…
The Fractal Morphology of Inquiry via Craig Dwyer
January 28, 2014If, like me, you are less than a mathematical prodigy, any study of Chaos Theory other than the popular model for civilians is beyond our reach. But even at that non-rigorous level, we find that there are few concurrences more elegant, observable, repeatable, and downright beautiful than the fractal patterns of our world. We find…
MOOC’s Evolving In Real Time
January 28, 2014It was just a couple of years ago that we started hearing the term MOOC, and in my work with educators around the country, just the last 6 months that it has really percolated into the mindset of most K-12 educators. In that ridiculously short period of time, hundreds of millions of dollars have been…
Follow Thought Leaders’ Discourse on “Grit”, Poverty, More
January 27, 2014For those of you who are not active on Twitter or do not follow me (what??), my post a few days ago that responded to Ira Socol’s thoughts about “grit” and “slack” has touched off what I think many of us feel is a truly important discussion for educators. Some of our best educational thought…
Does “Grit” Need Deeper Discussion?
January 24, 2014“Grit” has become a staple of school leadership discussion, due in large part to Angela Duckworth’s best selling book. I just helped a school compose a remarkable vision statement, and grit is mentioned as an essential outcome for their students. Have we swallowed this argument whole a bit too quickly? Does it resonate with us,…
Dewey Lives in Pioneering Public School: BIG Ideas School, Cedar Rapids
January 20, 2014What if a standards-based public high school was built entirely around student-designed projects, and driven by engagement, passion, community interactions, and action-oriented results? Would it serve the needs of both high achieving students and those who have struggled with school in the past? Is this the niche of elite college preparatory schools or the ones…
Wrestling With the Lessons of MLK
January 19, 2014On this easy Sunday morning, I read a Tweet from Ira Socol, teeing up Martin Luther King’s “Mountaintop” speech for students. I last saw this speech at the National Civil Rights Museum and MLK memorial in Memphis. It is not as well known as his “I Have a Dream”; it is longer and filled with…
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