Yesterday I spoke with an independent school head who emailed me on my views about strategic planning, how I might help, and who else they should reach out to. Here is what I shared: As I have written and spoken about for almost five years, the traditional independent school strategic plan is ineffective for a [...]
A dozen years ago just a tiny fraction of schools had started to transform in response to the realities of a rapidly changing world. Five years ago, we started to see powerful conversations and intentional, significant change at a much wider range of schools. Today we may be approaching the tipping point, at least in [...]
What kind of choices will our students make when faced with big, hairy problems in their own lives, and for the world we leave them? Will they have the tools to make these choices based on sound information and reasoning? Will they repeat mistakes of the past, or will they learn from them? Will they [...]
The American experiment, which now seems so natural to us, is a thoroughly artificial device designed to counterbalance the natural impulses of group suspicions and hatreds. . . . This vast, artificial, trans-tribal construct is what our Founders aimed to achieve. And they understood that it can be achieved effectively only by intelligent schooling. (From E. D. [...]
When you are riding a bike and the wind is in your face, you think of little else other than, "when will I turn a corner and have the wind at my back?" When the wind is at your back, you tend to fairly quickly forget the boost you are being given. This is the [...]
Part One of a three-part series on The Vanishing American Adult, by Sen. Ben Sasse Ben Sasse and I are very different people. Sasse is a conservative Republican who grew up in rural Nebraska, and now represents that deep red state in the United States senate. I am a fiscally pragmatic, social progressive, usually-votes-Democratic, [...]
If you have not joined us in a Sandbox event yet, you are missing out on the post-Twitter chat revolution of education collaboration and professional learning. These are FREE one-hour face-to-face live video discussions with break-out rooms for small group interaction AND Guest Rock Stars who are leaders in their respective fields of deeper learning. [...]
You likely know the reputations of Oxford University and Eton College. Less familiar might be Queen Anne’s School, in Reading, just 30 miles west of London. What can my four days of visits at these three centers of learning tell us about the state of education innovation in the world today? Queen Anne’s School is [...]
What if all teachers told their students, "We are all learners, starting with me"? How would that change our school cultures? How would that shift the frame of schools from teaching to learning? How would that encourage a more intrinsically engaged relationship between teachers and students? As many of you know, my daughter, Cassidy, was [...]
When the only "do differently" feedback is "we wanted more", you know you are on the right track! In a user survey of our latest Sandbox event, 95% said they loved it, would recommend a next session to colleagues, and just wanted more time. Sandbox is the future of learning for both adults and students, [...]
