It was about 40 years ago that I sat in Prof. Jim Ingle's oceanography class at Stanford as he described the ebb and flow of climate patterns throughout geologic time. With a waving of arms he talked about the rise and fall of sea levels and massive changes in rainfall patterns, each arm flap covering [...]
No one is born evil. No baby is filled with hate. It is naive to think that all people have the same opportunities to grow up with equal powers of intellect, empathy, imagination, and hope, but those inequities provide all of us the opportunity to fight for fewer children destined to fill the ranks of the [...]
Most of the schools I get to work closely with have already started along an arc of transformation from the old, rigid, teacher-centric model to something that approaches deeper learning. Most have crossed the mental Rubicon, at least at the leadership level, that standing still is not an option. The task of these communities is to broaden [...]
Great organizations constantly try to understand what makes them great...which is why I have written in the past about how Google does things, and how schools can learn from what they share. Google is, by any measure, a great company: people love to work there, they design and develop products and services that positively impact [...]
The fundamental transformation of human interaction that is taking place right now is the shift from highly regulated, controlled institutions and formal connections, to the open and informal flow of knowledge, information, commerce, and ideas. In his book, Open, David Price, OBE provides an important and clear roadmap of the challenges and opportunities that this transformation [...]
This post is for my independent school readers. "We don't want to make tough choices" is not a strategy for long-term success. I am way behind on some of my reading, so apologize that I am just now getting to the NAIS February article by Kevin Weatherill, Will Hester, and William Daughtrey in which the authors report [...]
If you follow my blog, hopefully by now you have pre-ordered my new book. If not, please do! And please share with your own professional and social media circles. The core takeaway of the book is that we don't actually need permission to dramatically transform education if we just collectively press on a few really [...]
If you ever had the inkling that Advanced Placement courses and exams just maybe don't represent the very best learning opportunity for some of our most enterprising young minds, this should really spur you on to grab your pitchfork, light your torch, gather your neighbors, and drive the AP monster out of your school forever. [...]
As I started to think about how to launch my new book, Moving the Rock, I came cross Thunderclap, a fascinating crowdsourcing site. It is not about raising money; it is about raising our collective voice. The idea is simple: propose an idea; set a target of gathering other people who share your idea; and [...]
I made this short, personal video about my new book, Moving the Rock: Seven Levers WE Can Press to Transform Education. I hope you will take a moment to watch on YouTube, copy the link, and share it with others via Twitter, Facebook, or your own professional learning network. The key lesson of this book [...]
