Last fall, David Kelley was kind enough to participate in a fireside chat on the popular weekly #DTK12CHAT that links educators who are interested in how design thinking can be embedded more deeply and purposefully in K-12 education. If you don’t know, David was co-founder of global design thinking firm IDEO and a principal founder [...]
“We have a long history of not building walls.” I guess once host Kim Saxe, Director of Innovation at Nueva School told me that, I could have just driven to the airport, satisfied with a key lesson for the day. But of course I did not, and was privileged to spend a couple of hours [...]
If any of you still don't follow my friend and colleague Bo Adams, just do it. Bo and I presented a session at #NAISAC14, and for part of it I felt like the proud god-parent at a new child's baptism. Bo introduced us to work he and others are doing at Mt. Vernon Presbyterian School [...]
On the plane rides to and from my workshop presentations at NAIS and NBOA in Florida I had a chance to read in detail the latest issue of Independent School Magazine. Yes, my own article on mutation and zero-based strategic thinking is in the issue, but I want to share some call-outs from several of [...]
Is your school special? Do you have a shared community passion that drives your teachers and students? Are there things you do better than other schools down the road or across town…or anywhere else in the country? Do have dreams, wishes, or aspirations for the future that can be realized with strong collective effort and [...]
Good problem solving requires that we consider many options before settling on a path forward. In schools, whether we are engaged in a five year strategic plan or working with departmental colleagues, good problem solving starts with an “expansive” or “generative” phase. We often call this brainstorming, where participants are asked to generate many ideas [...]
I was honored to participate in a lunch yesterday with a team from the Harvard Doctor of Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.) program that is in San Diego visiting and working with San Diego Unified School District. The lunch was attended by a small, select group of San Diego-area education thought leaders. Ed.L.D. is a relatively young [...]
I may have lied; I think this series may be seven posts, not six. I leave open the possibility of corrections along the way, and last night I realized I had left out a key step in shifting from worn out strategic planning models to a more nimble and dynamic approach. And it is a [...]
I have studied problem solving and the arts of strategy for decades, and their application to schools for more than 15 years. Simply, school organizations have gotten strategy wrong; we have been active but ineffective problem solvers. During times of relative stasis, that is a condition we can live with; during times of dynamic change [...]
Last night Bo Adams and I were honored to chat about the nature and strengths of design thinking and its role in K-12 education. This Fireside Chat was organized under the auspices of the weekly #DTk12Chat on Twitter which takes place on Wednesdays at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT. It is routinely attended by dozens [...]