As happens more frequently these days, the idea for this Shifting Conversations post had its start in a Zoom coaching session in Change School last week. Most weeks we now have the very good fortune to be talking regularly with some outstanding educators, and it was on one of our calls that several teachers wanted to talk about their roles as change influencers. When we talk about school change, we usually refer to changeleaders, but by far the largest number of change influencers are the global tribe of curious, somewhat subversive teachers who are committed to school being a better place for their students. They are our agents of change. What makes them so different is that the change they can affect happens every day in their classrooms. It’s the change that happens when the curriculum stops at the classroom door. It’s everything that they can do within four walls, but even more importantly it’s the ripple their changes make across their schools as their colleagues become … [Read more...]
Modern Learners Podcast #35 – The Answer to How is Yes
Today’s show is another one of the “thought exercise” episodes, so get ready for your thinking to be challenged! We’re discussing a book that came out about 20 years ago, The Answer to How is Yes, by Peter Block. This book twists the way we think about how change happens and explores the relationship between HOW and WHY regarding the work we do in schools. Most often, we go for predictability and control rather than risk anxiety and adventure in pursuing our educational goals. Block explains how we look for external validation of our work instead of defining ourselves by what WE say matters. So, the bottom line may be to define what really matters to us in education. We are taking a brief look at a brand-new book, The Case Against Education, by Bryan Caplan. He states that we need LESS education, not more. His premise is that our educational system wastes much time and energy, teaching skills that don’t really help students in real life. The answer, according to Caplan, is to offer … [Read more...]
The Artistry of Teaching
It's been a while since we had a "Sarason Moment." And since I'm spending some of my 14 hours on a plane to South Africa rereading one of my most powerful influences, I'm thinking this is as good a time as any. For the uninitiated, Seymour Sarason authored over 40 books, and is the person who penned the book that lies at the heart of much of our work here at Modern Learners, And What Do YOU Mean by Learning? (I'm sure many of you are sick of hearing me talk about it by now.) While not all of his works were focused on schools and reforming them, and while he was never a uber popular voice in the educonversation, I've been profoundly influenced by Sarason's sometimes blunt yet sincere assessment of education and the many inconsistencies between the practices of the systems we bring kids into and the ways in which people learn. So with that, here's our mediation for today: "There is one goal [of education] that, if not achieved, makes the achievement of all other goals very … [Read more...]
This is What Powerful Professional Learning Looks Like
In the midst of everything else we have currently going at Modern Learners, recently I was lucky enough to set aside time to sit in on one day of the exceptional professional learning program that runs at one of our local schools here in Melbourne. It’s the start of the school year here in Australia, and most schools schedule one or two days of professional learning for all faculty before students return. In this case, the two days were set up as an off-site retreat at a small resort a couple of hours from the school. We have written about this school before, Princes Hill Primary (Elementary), a public school of around 500 students in an inner suburb of the city, so I was interested in checking back and seeing how the school was progressing, two and a half years on. Princes Hill runs an inquiry-based program for students 5 ot 12 years old, and late last year you may have been fortunate enough to hear details of their work in the Inquiry Workshop we ran in the ChangeLeaders … [Read more...]
Modern Learners Podcast #34: Are We Doing the Right Thing in Schools?
In today’s conversation, we take a deep dive into a recent article in The Guardian by Cathy Davidson, a professor at City University of New York. Cathy says we have to “reverse the outcome-oriented educational monster we have unleashed . . .” We also are discussing Peter Gray’s article in Psychology Today, “The Joy and Sorrow of Re-reading John Holt’s How Children Learn”. In considering these articles, we step deeper and ask the question, “Are we doing the right thing in schools to begin with?” In higher education, we keep doing more of the same, but aren’t we just creating robots in classrooms? We are critical of students’ skill sets, but what are we doing to prepare them for the real world? Do we value the skills that children learn outside of school? Do we allow them to create with technology? We have to take an honest look at these questions and more about what we are doing in schools because we can’t assume that change in schools is coming in the future. Sadly, the bottom line … [Read more...]
Stop Asking How
I'm reading another one of those books that's profoundly changing my thinking about change in schools. And yes, as always, it's like 20 years old. It may seem weird that I keep going back in time to find the most powerful ideas for this moment. I mean, not a week (day?) goes by any more without yet another book about how to change classroom practice or how to change your school culture or how to increase student engagement or how to hack this or that. And believe me, I understand the appeal of the How? But the How? answers are really within all of us providing we have a powerful answer to the "What really matters?" question in the first place. That's Peter Block's basic thesis in The Answer to How is Yes. And the more I read it, the more I agree. This culture, and we as members of it, have yielded too easily to what is doable and practical and popular. In the process we have sacrificed the pursuit of what is in our hearts. We find ourselves giving in to our doubts, and … [Read more...]
2018-The Year For Living Dangerously
Well, 2018 has certainly kicked off with some extremes. In the first week of the year, we saw -37°C on top of Mount Washington in NH US, while on the same day in Melbourne Australia it was +37°C. (that’s -36°F to +100°F ) I'm glad I had the beaches, but I'm tipping this is a sign of things to come in 2018. So, while maybe you’ve started your New Year by drawing from the traditional bin of resolutions around fitness, weight loss, and work-life balance, I want to suggest that 2018 is the year for living dangerously...so make your resolutions accordingly. In case you have forgotten, it's been 18 years since we kidded ourselves that a new millennium would herald new ideas and some radical thinking around what modern schooling could and should be. Unfortunately, we grabbed the 21st Century tag and stuck it on anything that moved, and before we knew it, everything pretty much stayed the same. So much for waiting a thousand years to see change in our schools. Well, now we can put … [Read more...]
Modern Learners Podcast #33: Mastery Transcripts to Replace Grades?
Scott Looney talks to us about grades We are thinking outside the box today about the foundational elements of grades and high school transcripts in the US educational system. Scott Looney is the Headmaster at the Hawken School in Cleveland, Ohio, and the founder of the Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC). He discusses his attempt to get schools together and on board with a totally different way of assessing what kids do in school and how they achieve. He uses a transcript that has no numbers, but is all about competency-based achievements. Mastery Transcript Consortium Goal Scott explains what MTC is all about and how it came to be. The goal is the mastery of real-world problem-solving skills and the development of assessments based on competency and proficiency, all driven by the interests, abilities, and individual strengths of each student. Scott calls the traditional high school transcript model “a broken instrument that’s only grown more corrupt.” Colleges are … [Read more...]
Modern Learners Podcast #32 – Words Matter, and an End of the Year Wrap Up
Happy Holidays everyone, and welcome to the final Modern Learners podcast for 2017. We've really enjoyed putting these together, and we hope you've enjoyed listening to them even more. This week, Bruce and I cover a couple of different topics. First, we pull back some of the layers around the language we use in schools, building on this week's blog post on the topic. And second, we announce our first annual ML Podcast Award winners for Word of the Year, Book of the Year, and EdTech Trend of the Year, as well as discuss what the outlook is for change in the New Year. Remember, if you like what you're hearing, do us a favor and head on over to iTunes and give us a review. We've got a good start, but would love your help. Also, tell your friends to listen! Finally, warm wishes for an amazing holiday from all of us at Modern Learners, Bruce, Lyn, Missy, and me. It's been an amazing year for us due in large part to your continued support of our work. So, thanks again. We have … [Read more...]
The Importance of Common Language
If we're talking about kids and schools, and I say "success," what do you think of? How about "achievement"? Or "high expectations"? I've written many times about my surprise at how little consistency I find among groups of teachers and leaders from the same school have around the word most basic to our work: "learning." If the definition of learning changes from classroom to classroom, we create huge inconsistencies for our students. But it's not hard to make a list of dozens (if not hundreds) of words like the ones above that we bandy about on a daily basis in education. Ones that when pressed to define them, especially in larger groups, we struggle to find any real coherence in what we mean when we say them. The reality is that when it comes to education, we assume that everyone understands those words...until the ambiguity becomes obvious. As a case in point, I tried an experiment recently during my last keynote of the year. I was presenting to a group of about 120 … [Read more...]