If you think you have it tough as a teacher, administrator, or parent... I just committed to partner with an education NGO in Bulgaria, and to keynote and workshop a conference for about 1,000 teachers, parents, and students in Sofia in November. It is a long way to go, and I am pretty sure I [...]
Keep an eye on Vista Unified School District in California. You may want to add it to your list of visits for your teachers and administrators to see how learning is dramatically changing, even in schools with very significant challenges. I have written extensively about Vista Innovation and Design Academy, and the dramatic positive changes [...]
If you walk around schools, if you ask the right questions, if you stop and listen to teachers and students, if you look at how spaces are arranged and used, you can tell a lot about a school in a short period of time. I am in freezing Columbus, OH for the NCAA volleyball Final [...]
And people wondered why the low income school with the mascot of a big wave with fists had a lot of trouble with fighting during recess... The new mascot is the green sea turtle that live in the shallow, southernmost reaches of San Diego Bay just a few steps from the newly renamed and rebranded Bayside [...]
For most of you who follow my blog, the conversation I had with Don Wettrick and Hunter Stone yesterday will likely be old hat. That is because you are on the leading edge! Perhaps there are others at your school who are now ready to transform to a deeper learning system...so share! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLONWfgbDaE Don and Hunter [...]
Progressive education is alive and well in Chicago, the home of John Dewey and the first laboratory school more than 100 years ago. I found a budding example this week, spending two days with the leadership team at the young, rapidly-growing Bennett Day School, which, come August, will be expanding from a quaint four-classroom early [...]
Schools need students. That sounds trite, but until a very few years ago, this was not a concern for the vast majority of public schools. By far, the majority of students attended the public school closest to their home. That has now changed, and changed substantially for many American families who have a large and [...]
I have been less regular with my blog posts and Twitter stream over the last couple of months. I have been working hard on my new book, including about 60 in-depth phone, video, and in-person interviews and regular writing hours every day. I am happy to report that I am about 80% through the rough [...]
What if the future is already behind us, and we just don't know it? While this sounds like Twilight Zone fiction, I think the future may be a relative term for school leaders. What is an improbable, fuzzy vision fraught with big obstacles, uncomfortable transitions, and unknowable outcomes for some schools is already in the rear [...]
I have been recording a series of short (10 minutes or so) conversations with Garth Nichols and Justin Medved, two educators in Toronto, as they and their interscholastic group of colleagues, and the Canadian Association of Independent Schools, use #EdJourney as one guide in their conversations around changing schools. If you are looking for a [...]