Innovation is the process of enhancing the value of an organization. In schools, if we believe that what customers will value in the future is the same as in the past, we run a real risk of becoming increasingly irrelevant as educators. How do we gauge what might have value? This is one of those [...]
When I was a little camper I learned how to build a one-match fire: light good, dry tinder and be ready to blow the sparks into a flame. That is what so many of us are doing in education, and it just does not take that much time or effort. Yesterday two small leadership teams [...]
This is what “school” looks like in the future. It is the start of a new year. What better time to think of a new approach to learning, not just for our students, but for ourselves as educators, as passers of the flame of interest and inquiry, not bits and bytes, to a next generation? [...]
I am scrolling through my Twitter feed and it is just JAMMED with pictures of engaged, excited students doing really cool things: coding, making, building, designing, filming, drawing, digging, serving, collaborating, speechifying, acting...etc. Wonderful! Now the provocateur in my comes out: how much of this is due to increased comfort of educators with Twitter and [...]
Has the time come when we should and can re-draft the job description of the principal/head of school? Yes and yes. Last week I was working on job descriptions for the founding faculty and principal of Design 39 Campus in Poway. The faculty job description is extremely forward leaning and I recommend school leaders look [...]
Outstanding professional development and collegial interaction just got a whole lot closer to your door. I am so excited and honored to announce a groundbreaking partnership between The Martin Institute for Teaching Excellence and EduCon 2.6 hosted at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, this coming January 24-25! Just a tad of background: last year during [...]
I am on a "what does Google have to share with a K12 school" kick. Today, via a Tweet from IDEO, I saw this post from David Garvin of the Harvard Business School with a summary of the semi-annual feedback that Google managers get from their direct reports. Check it out. What can schools learn from [...]
Last fall my EdJourney took me to 64 schools via 10,000 miles in my Prius. This fall it was six cross country round trip flights in seven weeks, with many stops along the way, to work and learn with something like 1,500 teachers, students, administrators, and parents who care deeply about the future of our [...]
The other day Kathy Chin Leong published a review of what Google's chief social evangelist, Gopi Kallayil, calls Google’s Nine Principles of Innovation. I tweeted out the post (as did others) and I know many of my followers linked to it. A major section of my upcoming book will discuss how key elements of innovation [...]
For those of you who are not active on Twitter or don't follow me there (why not on both counts?!) this partnership between St. Andrew's School in Potomac and the Harvard Graduate School of Education is such a wonderful and leading example of teacher-as-learner. Keep track of the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning at [...]