What needs to be in place for high-bar change initiatives in schools to sustain when the leader of that change initiative retires or moves to another school or district? That’s the question Bruce and Will discuss in Episode #14 of the Modern Learners Podcast. Too often, “hero leadership” is the driver of change. Not often …
In this new podcast episode, Will and Bruce discuss the barriers to making change happen in schools. First, they reflect on the work they have done with school leaders recently. They often begin work with school leaders by asking the leaders to identify the barriers to school change. Before they get too far, it is …
In today’s episode, Will and Bruce reflect on six of their two hundred Shifting Conversations posts that they have written over the last three years. Some things have changed, and some have not. Often times, educators feel powerless to change their current conditions in ways that deeply impact learning. That was the focus of this …
What’s Changed? Recap of 200 Shifting Conversations Read More »
Bruce and Will talk about the challenge of helping parents understand the new context for school and work. After debating for a bit about how much responsibility the school should take for this work, they agree that school’s must play a role in educating parents and communities about the changing contexts. Parents need reference points …
In this episode, Will Richardson talks with Rodney Bowler and Aaryn Schmuhl from Henry County Schools in Atlanta, Georgia. Rodney is District Superintendent for Henry County Schools, while Aaryn is Assistant Superintendent for Learning and Leadership. Highlights of their conversation include: Why being intentional by being courageous at the same time are really important dispositions …
In this episode, Will Richardson talks with Lawrence DeMaeyer about the realities of deep change at Peel School Board outside of Toronto, Ontario. Lawrence received his Masters in Education from the University of Toronto, and in recent times has lead much of the development of many of the elements of the Peel School Board’s Empowering Modern …
The Realities of Deep Change with Lawrence DeMaeyer Read More »
How often have you thought of your school community as a driver for change? And if you have, how do you manage that? How can we establish better connections between what happens inside our schools and the everyday experiences of people in the wider community? In this episode, Will Richardson talks with John Jungmann, who …
How Community Voice Can Drive Change in Schools with John Jungmann Read More »
What’s required to build support for change in a diverse community? How do you tackle the big issues around change, when so many small ones are gathering momentum? What does it take to ensure that the day-to-day distractions that every school leader has to address don’t distract you from maintaining a focus on long-term sustainable …
This week Will and Bruce dive into a deep conversation about literacy and confirmation bias. The conversation was triggered by the New Yorker article Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds by Elizabeth Kolbert. What Should Schools Be Doing? Will points out that he feels literacy is a moving target, and to some extent creators are …
What does it take for a vision to become a reality, when you are able to build a change culture across a school or District? Specifically, what does it take for that culture to reflect a move away from the teaching toward learning and away from consuming to making. In this episode Will talks …
Personal learning Will and Bruce talk deeply about one of the biggest buzz words in education: Personalized Learning. They riff on this article from Wired. Will is a long time advocate for personal learning and not personalized learning. You can read his blogs about it here and here. So, you might be wondering if there is …
Dr. Art Fessler on How Transparency Can Lead Change What’s one of the hardest moving targets for leaders to hit when it comes to change? Why would you want to create a branding guide for your district? Why is the common language so important when articulating what change means in your school? In this episode Will …
Modern Learners Podcast Welcome to the Modern Learners podcast. We are excited to be launching this podcast as a way of connecting with our community. We’ll use this medium to give you a glimpse into the discussions we have at Modern Learners with each other and others in the education space doing interesting work We …
Ben Grey is the Assistant Superintendent for Innovative Learning and Communications for Community Consolidated School District 59 in Arlington Heights, IL, and he’s making change happen in some compelling ways at his school. Over the past year-and-a-half, Ben has led a conversation around change that started with a most interesting question: “How can technology be used …
The EML Podcast with Ben Grey: Courage and Commitment Read More »
