What a dream come true it would be to go hang out at Pixar Studios, a place where the only real goal is to "make the product great", where they not only say that, but demonstrate it in a deep culture constantly evolving to "be great" in new, undiscovered ways? I think that dream, though, [...]
For those who don't follow me on Twitter or follow so many that it has become a waterfall, here is a link to a blog I wrote published on Edutopia today. In it I offer some specific recommendations on how schools can "gain comfort with the discomfort" of school change. In fact, we find that [...]
What would it look like if you started with an elephant and tried to turn it into a whale, piece by piece, without starting over? Imagine an artist's image of this process: first changing the right front foot into a flipper, then the tusks into a wide sheet of baleen, then the wispy little tail [...]
Group creativity and performance, what will make a school organization successful in times of challenge and change, is not driven by a few superstars. It is driven by the sum of interactions of diverse groups with time to share and build in relatively equality. Thanks to Bo Adams, my primary filter for TED talks, for [...]
Do we make a difference? Someone once asked that question of Pete Seeger: "How do you know you have made a difference" by sticking to your principles and your message in the face of long odds. His answer: "I don't know, but I have met many people with live eyes and live minds." That perfectly [...]
Regardless of whether you work within a public or private educational system, the unsustainable rise in private K-12 and both public/private university tuition costs, is cause for serious attention. This graphic, just released by the National Association of Independent Schools highlights that: Tuition has become less affordable even for the nation's wealthiest families in the [...]
Is there, in fact, something different about the 21st Century that requires learning to evolve beyond what we have always known as timeless keys? Charles Fadel, writing under the umbrella of the Center for Curriculum Redesign (HT Bo Adams for highlighting this piece), argues that there are several such unique driving factors: increased human longevity, global [...]
I have written previously about the confluence of two innovation pathways, the "pedagogical master plan" of Bo Adams and my "stairway of school innovation". There is now a journal article online that you can read, reference, and share, complete with graphics and a list of key elements on the innovation stairway that you can use [...]
Our schools are built around a quantum packet, a "box", formed with rigid sides that assume learning takes place in a confined physical space, during a defined period of time, along subject-based thought lines, via the transfer of knowledge from a teacher to a group of students. The boxes move along an assembly line calibrated [...]
I always worry that students in school look forward to Memorial Day as a day off of school, unless they are already enjoying a summer break, in which case it may be just another day. The foundations of wisdom, that which we hope to instill in our next generations beyond what they can learn in [...]