Dreams and Textbooks
January 20, 2013I 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…
A Key Role to Fill: The Agonist, via Seth Godin
January 18, 2013This 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;…
Four Good Reads For Your Week
January 17, 2013I 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…
Save the Date: Martin Institute Conference Breaking Ground With Active Learning and Critical Themes
January 15, 2013The 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…
Students Own Learning: Original Spanish Language Play at PDS, Charlotte
January 12, 2013Paul 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…
Students Create, Program Original Ed-Games via Doug Bergman and Porter-Gaud School
January 10, 2013Those 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,…
New Course Breaking Ground at Public School; “Innovations” at Franklin Community HS, IN
January 9, 2013While 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…
Learning as Nature Intended, Not as Engineers Designed
January 7, 2013Frequent visitors to this space will know and not be surprised that I am honored to find that educational thought leader Bo Adams and I think a lot alike. His beautiful piece a week or so ago about schools as natural habitats is just another example. Bo likens the common school experience to a zoo,…
Important Resource on Brain Research, K-12 via Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning
January 5, 2013If you or your school is struggling (and struggle is good and essential!) with what transformative learning innovation looks like, with painting that picture of where you want to go, well, here is a big freebie brush via Glenn Whitman, Director of the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School. Those…
Synthesis: The Real Work Begins
January 4, 2013The trip is over; now the hard work starts. I have started to synthesize binders full of notes, hours of video interviews, and weeks of reflections from long solo drives. During the trip I kept several main logs, and those will be key to putting the pieces together. I recorded obstacles to innovation that educators…
Student Wisdom via Townview Center Magnet and Aaron Baldridge
December 29, 2012As some of you will recall, I have blogged about and visited with Aaron Baldridge, the young AP Environmental Science teacher who created a class for seniors at the highly ranked Townview Center STEM magnet school in Dallas. Aaron has started putting out results from the course via his blog, and I encourage you to…
Three Thoughts to Share Thanks to Jet Lag
December 22, 2012How is this for a glass-half full view of life: one of the benefits of flying to Europe in crowded coach class at the holidays is that jet lag leaves you lying awake the next night, plenty of time and space for thinking. Here are three such thoughts that specific school leaders solicited from me…
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