What is the nature of human bonds in a time of radically increased connectivity? How and when do we connect and let go, and what are the values we associate with both? How does the availability of near-universal high frequency human interaction drive human evolution as both individuals and "colonies"? No doubt weighty research psychologists and [...]
On Thursday, with family and friends, many of us will turn our reflections on giving of thanks. I woke up this morning thinking of all I have to be thankful for in the area of profession, passion, and interest. My Edu-Thanksgiving list: All of the adult "educator-leaders" (this year I have tried to stop re-enforcing [...]
Is it possible for a school to make a rapid and dramatic shift away from the assembly line model of education? Is it possible in a public school setting with all of the normal demands, political pressures, and budget constraints? Is it possible in an underserved community and a traditionally underperforming school? I have been keeping [...]
What does student ownership of learning look like? How do even young students rapidly engage when given the freedom to ask expansive questions? Do students really need to start at the bottom of Bloom’s Taxonomy before building to abstraction and synthesis? Do we even begin to tap the insights of students that would contribute richly [...]
As individuals and as schools, do we want to be successful or significant? Great or leading? What are common elements of the disruptions and mutations facing both K-12 and higher education? I was honored to share the stage with Dr. John Fry, president of Drexel University at the annual meeting of trustees and heads of [...]
I have just wrapped up a week at the East Asian Regional Council of Schools conference in Malaysia. Some observations on independent schools in Asia: The economies in many or most Asian countries, combined with an extraordinary (healthy or not?) cultural obsession with academic success, has created an enormous market demand for K-12 schools. Even [...]
I had a telephone interview two weeks ago with Kim Greene of Scholastic Administrator Magazine, and the article was posted online a few days ago. It covers some of the key lessons of #EdJourney. Another upcoming article which I can't wait to see is an online interview I did with Polish magazine "Sygnal"; the translations [...]
It has been a busy week, so catching up on resources to share: I had a full day at Summit School in Winston-Salem, NC. In the evening we invited the community in for a conversation on the future of education; you can watch the video of the presentation here. I was also interviewed on Fox [...]
I am/was a Dead Head; not the kind who followed the band around the country camped out in decrepit cars begging tickets and hand-outs for food, but enough to drive a few hours to a county park or Berkeley for a Sunday afternoon with friends whenever the Dead were in town. Rolling Stone just published [...]
Are your teacher teams working at peak performance to help bring about school innovation and change? It's sometimes easy in the late spring or dog days of August to gather ourselves and build a vision of deep, impactful learning for our students and ourselves. Then the hard work and long days of the school year take hold [...]