Does your school mission statement sound pretty much like every other school mission statement? Try this, posted during #satchatwc today by Carrie Ann Gehringer, teacher and coach in Ft. Bragg, CA. She did not mean it to be a mission statement, but I think it would make a GREAT one! Carrie, am so going to [...]
In two weeks I get to teach a morning lesson in systems thinking to sophomores at All Saints' Episcopal School. It's time to brush up on my own writing, Step 3 in The Falconer. The simple steps of systems thinking are so similar to what many of us are now incorporating as design thinking in [...]
I am so pleased and honored to forward the announcement that The Martin Institute for Teaching Excellence has welcomed seven outstanding K-12 educators as the newest group of Martin Fellows. They are: Philip Cummings, Teacher, Presbyterian Day School, Memphis, TN Robert Dillon, Director of Technology and Innovation, Afton School District, St. Louis, MO Jill Gough, [...]
I rarely post a prequel of a school visit, but I am so STOKED about the day I get to spend at All Saints Episcopal School in Ft. Worth later this month. When we find schools and school leaders that are really taking a new tack in learning, we need so share and celebrate. Plenty [...]
What if you could organize your school governance structure to align with forward-leaning principles of learning? What if you had a blank slate, with no or few legacy assumptions or restrictions? What would that look like? How would we "do" school differently? That is the opportunity and challenge we have at Design 39 Campus in [...]
Breaking silos is key to a new era of strategic thinking. That is exactly the leverage offered by a unique collaboration I am honored to lead in partnership with the National Business Officers Association and the Online School for Girls. Strange group? No! I won't reprise the whole program offering here: you can read about [...]
I was one of a small group attending in person a Google Hangout this morning hosted by OpenIDEO to discuss their current Open Challenge: How might we inspire young people to cultivate their creative confidence? Open IDEO has created a number of these challenges, where educators are invited to post inspirational events, ideas, connections, and [...]
Did I contemplate the values of grit many years ago and not know it? Angela Duckworth has drawn such a clean picture of this trait we now call grit, and how it impacts success. She says that grit has a lot to do with the tendency to sustain interest in long term goals in the [...]
Yesterday's Twitter #satchatwc (which got moved to #satchat due to spamming) was full of innovative ways to amplify the unique time we may each year for Back to School Night. Rather than seven minute silos for each teacher to hand out the syllabus and review expectations, or "get to know you" (which is absurd with [...]
Could we create a valuable college BA degree for $10K? And what might that mean for K-12 education? Anya Kamenetz has written an important article that argues we can create that vastly more affordable experience in college. (Thanks Will Richardson for Tweeting it out.) I have skimmed it and now am going back to review [...]