So many models of problem solving start at the end! The creators of this thinking have never looked at the roots of the issue. Solid buildings require foundations; sure they are not pretty and no one sees them and they are hard to dig, but it is the foundation that supports all else. Problem solving [...]
Sun Tzu says: Act after having made assessments. The one who first knows the measures of far and near wins—this is the rule of armed struggle. Yesterday I shared some of Bo Adam’s wisdom about the importance of systems in school transformation. It is so easy to check the box, to say “let’s go through [...]
“Flipping” a classroom is wonderful slang; as soon as we learn what it means, the image sticks. Flipping 1.0 is about having students do work outside the classroom that they can do without a teacher present to free class time for personal interaction, questions, discussion, and the kind of face-to-face help that teachers can provide. [...]
I was happy and honored to get many responses via Twitter and on this blog about my two-part comments on the Common Core Standards. Here are some thoughtful conversations in my reading of the last few days. These are not talking-head pundits; they are all educators just like you. Is your school or district creating [...]
Yesterday I wrote a post prompted by comments from Bob Gallagher on the long-term goals of the Common Core Standards. I argued that CCS may be a step in the right direction, but that it is constrained to the same plane of thinking and learning that has defined the industrial age model. It is the [...]
Yesterday I found this blog post by Bob Gallagher, a retired Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, arguing that we have to give the Common Core Standards time to work, that the impatience of Americans often sacrifices long-term vision on the alter of short term results. I have never met Bob, but my bet is that he [...]
How fast is the world changing? What might education look like next week or next year? Check out this hot-off-the-press news release from Don Wettrick and his Innovations class at Franklin High in Indianapolis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAkrfqkcNAA This is just the first year for the Innovations class. This is a public school. Students are meeting Common [...]
If the group of presenters lined up for the Martin Institute Summer Conference (June 12-13) were a March Madness team, the opposing players would take one look, give up, and run screaming back to the locker room. In the common tongue, this team is ridiculous. And they are going to do what great educators do [...]
Here is my talk from last week at the TEDx Denver Teachers event sponsored by Colorado Academy, Denver Public Schools, and the Association of Colorado Independent Schools. I hope you enjoy it and will share. As you know, TED is not about telling everything you know, but about teeing up the big ideas. I hope [...]
Effecting change is a skill just like teaching history, playing a piano, or throwing a football. Being good at it is a combination of inherent ability and learning. Why should it be otherwise? Some people are naturally more comfortable with change, with things like risk and creativity and flexibility. Others are less comfortable. And just [...]