What is the balance between academic freedom for teachers to choose their own pathways in their own classrooms, and ensuring a strong collective all-school vision? How does the effective leader find this balance? Many (most?) teachers are extremely protective of how they choose to carry out their role in the classroom. In both public and [...]
What would we think if our school leader stood up and admitted, “We have always said we really trust all of our faculty and staff, but the fact is that we don’t”? What if our schools are fundamentally organized in ways that conflict with our most basic wishes and aspirations? What if we knew that [...]
Is it the natural end of a somewhat off-the-grid vacation on tropical islands and rain forest pathways? Or is it that my friends around the world care deeply about education and that the themes of our times are universal and pressing? Some of both. In the last two days, as I wind down this wonderful [...]
I have never visited an educational institution more steeped in tradition than the US Military Academy at West Point. The Academy is a keeper of traditions of which all of us would be proud, and that many of us would do well to emulate. But, over the several years that I have worked and visited [...]
I arrived on the grounds of USMA West Point in the late afternoon and found my room in the Distinguished Visitor’s Quarters, a renovated three-story Victorian near the parade grounds and overlooking the mighty Hudson River. Cadets walked home in pairs, trios, and small groups, or jogged down the road in full gear or shorts [...]
As I coordinate speaking events related to the release of my new book, #EdJourney: A Roadmap to the Future of Education, with my work with schools and school associations around the country, I am trying to make my travel as efficient as possible. Am I coming near you? Right now my fall-spring calendar looks something [...]
This is the kind of response that will jumpstart a new kind of design-based collaborative thinking at your school...and sure makes my day! From one of the 28 school teams engaged in our 9-month NBOA/OSG hybrid collaboration on imagining and building a more sustainable future. (If we run the program again next year, I think we [...]
Check out blog by Thomas Steele-Malley on development of interdisciplinary programs; very rich in links to those schools who are leading the way. In particular, this video about a group of schools in Wisconsin, Interdisciplinary Learning Collaborative, is a treat. It reminded me of my visit to Meridian Academy in Boston. What a great idea: [...]
A short reminder today prompted by a @NAISNetwork question via Twitter: Are there any school assets that simply cannot be assigned a value? Several responses suggest that as soon as we use the word "value" people default to assigning a closely associated dollar amount. That is understandable...and wrong. In all of my work with school teams [...]
One of my newfound PLN members from Hobsonville Point Secondary School in Auckland, New Zealand, Steve Mouldey, Tweeted a page from the introduction of my first book, The Falconer, the other day. It reminded me of a foundational assumption that I started constructing 30 years ago, and still believe in today: We are not teaching our [...]