Have you ever found yourself looking for something when you don’t know what it is that you’re looking for? It usually happens when you are looking for solutions to a problem and you find habits of your past distract you from thinking clearly, and the most obvious answers evade you. In many ways, I think this reflects […]
In Search of the Most Amazing Thing* Read More »
They used to say that everyone had a good time when the circus came to town. Well that may be true, but I’m not so sure that this is happening with the circus that has surrounded the release of the 2015 PISA results this week. While the PISA process itself is quite straightforward, it’s the
The Circus Around International Benchmarking Read More »
When I was started teaching (quite a few years ago,) I was told “the curriculum stops at the classroom door,” inferring of course that what happens inside the classroom can often be very different to what is ‘meant’ to be happening. The extent to which you believed this was a good thing or not depended
How Modern is your Curriculum? Read More »
In our Changeleader Facebook group (which is nearing 600 people and hosting some intense conversations…join us) I tagged a few people including Ryan McClintock of the Mosaic Collective at Castle Rock (CO) High School to talk about the difference between work that’s focused on making schools “better” vs. making them “different.” For those of you
Thinking With Them Read More »
If you were given the chance to start a new school, what kind of school would it be? It’s the sort of opportunity many educators talk about, and then reality strikes. Are you talking about building a new school, or simply starting anew with an existing one? What constraints do I have? Do I get
Starting a Different Conversation Read More »
(Note: We’re talking about the big idea topics regarding change in schools over in our Changeleaders Community. Check it out!) To try to capture the last week in the U.S. would be folly. Police shooting and killing civilians. Civilians killing police. Live-streamed death. FBI probes, Congressional hearings, riots in the streets, political sniping, racial invectives.
Schools in a Time of Chaos Read More »
There were a lot of people at this year’s ISTE Conference in Denver. Some estimates had it as high as 20,000 making it the largest of this format in the world, and which would appear to confirm the increasing acceptance of the role of computers in our schools. But what is that role? With nearly
A Movement of Ideas Read More »
In recent times an increasing number of educators are walking the educational tightrope to modern learning. It’s not easy, but it’s incredibly rewarding, and those that make it to the ‘other side’ do so because they don’t look down, look back, or lament for past practice. Rather they are focused firmly on what is in front
Lately, I’ve become more and more interested in organizations in general, and the organization of school in particular. Much of this comes from reading Seymour Sarason and his thoughts on the power relationships in schools, how real, kid-centered change in schools is almost impossible because we neglect to democratize the culture of schools to the
Chaos, Order and Learning Read More »
Mathematics seems to have kicked quite a few goals lately. After several decades of being tightly partnered with literacy as the “subjects du jour,” it has now joined the new elite Science, Technology and Engineering team (who occasionally call in Arts off the bench)….to dominate the public conversation around education priorities. Accordingly, almost without question,
The Mythology of School Mathematics Read More »
Q: “In five years, what will be different about your business?” A: “The way we serve our end customer. We will be able to provide a highly personalized experience for our learners and customers that’s informed by data and delivered via a global learning and technology platform. It will be delivering a highly personalized education
The Antithesis of Agency Read More »
I’m puzzled. Like all of you I read widely, and even more so as Will and I seek out ideas and insights that we can curate each week for EML from the wide range of media that we scan every day. There are many themes and memes that emerge, but one recurring topic really worries
Nobody Rises to Low Expectations Read More »
One of the reasons I’ve pushed back pretty hard against the popular “21st Century Learning” meme is that despite the explosion of learning opportunities that the Web brings us, there’s a whole bunch of important thinking around learning that is from centuries past, timeless truths about learning if you will. And if you read this space or my personal
Thoroughly Modern Learning Read More »
It’s interesting to reflect on how often we hear or use the word dropout and yet barely give a second thought to its meaning or more importantly what it implies. Along the way it has become a measure of school success or more notably school failure, and is used in a similar manner across higher ed.
What Do We Mean By Dropout? Read More »
Almost six years ago, I wrote a piece for Huffington Post titled “My Kids Are Illiterate. Most Likely, Yours Are Too.” (Nothing too provocative there, right?) My point was not that my kids couldn’t read or write or do basic math. School had done a decent job of making that happen. Instead, my point was
Is Your School Literate? Read More »
