Innovation in Education

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What We Really Want Our Students to Learn

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 [...]

More Endorsements for #EdJourney, Coming in September

Another set of truly generous endorsements from education thought leaders from K-12 and college, public and private, for #EdJourney: A Roadmap to the Future of Education. Thanks to all!  Link here to announcement flyer; please share!   "… on par with Horace’s Compromise, Theodore Sizer’s seminal 1984 descriptor of the failures of America’s high schools. [...]

Endorsements For New Book, #EdJourney, Available in September

Honored to announce that my new book will be available by the first of September!  Link here to a two-page flyer with some very generous endorsements!  I am in the process of sending out email announcements and starting to set up days/weeks to be in various parts of the country during the 2014-15 school year [...]

Find Gems: Busting Silos in Your School

Do you want some outstanding, practical, “its already working for us at our school today” ideas for how to bust silos at your school?  Read on! If we had gathered a roomful of educators three years ago and started talking about “silos”, the vast majority would have thought the topic was grain storage.  In the [...]

Guest Hosting #ISEDCHAT Twitter Chat This Thursday, 9PMET/6PM PT “Busting Silos”

I am honored and excited to have been asked to guest moderate the #isedchat Twitter chat this week as school leaders gather virtually on Thursday at 9 PM ET/6PM PT. Yes, the name implies this is an indy school chat, but we all know those artificial boundaries that separate public and private school educators are [...]

Signals of Capacity and Comfort For Change

Painting a picture of future success is always a critical step in creating an innovation pathway.  In working with one of my client schools I suggested we outline some "signals of success" for August, 2015.  In re-reading them, I find that they likely apply to almost any school that is developing a more nimble, connected, [...]

Are “Vision” and “Division” Opposing Forces at Your School?

How long have I used the terms “vision” and “division” in schools and not seen both the linguistic and practical dissonance between the two? Schools craft vision statements that are often short, full of pithy words, and meant to coalesce a unique sense of the community’s priorities and direction.  In my experience with many schools, [...]

Two Leads for Great Learning Beyond Our Borders

From my International Desk, which this afternoon is my window seat at home: I know, the time difference makes it really hard...but our kids are learning 24/7 anyway, so why not do this?  Here are some girls at a school in Kandahar, Afghanistan, learning English via Skype to the U.S. It is not an exaggeration that [...]