Head over to Google or Amazon and do a search for “difficult conversations” and you’ll quickly get the sense that people need a lot of help having them. Especially today when we are so fractured politically in the US and elsewhere. These days, it feels harder and harder to have an even somewhat congenial conversation […]
The Conditions for Difficult Conversations Read More »
As the year kicks off in earnest, maybe you are one of the many who have made great resolutions about your physical health, but have you given any thought to the health of your learning? Seriously, how focused are you on your learning? Have you done your professional learning checkup? It’s one thing to be
It’s Time for Your Professional Learning Checkup Read More »
Here’s my burning question for you in 2019: What are you going to do to change the experience that your students have in school to reflect more compellingly what you believe is the right thing to be doing for kids and learning? It’s a loaded question, I know. It suggests that as an educator,
2019 – Time to Choose Read More »
Given how much I read, I wish I was more like my friend Rob who has the insane ability to remember just about everything he reads down to where it’s located on the paper or digital page he reads it on. Unfortunately for me, that’s not the case. It takes much longer for the patterns
The Most Important Skill for the Future: Being Human Read More »
Turns out, we who live in western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic societies are actually as WEIRD as the acronym for that group spells out. According to research by University of British Columbia professor Joe Henrich (now of Harvard,) “Members of WEIRD societies, including young children, are among the least representative populations one could
Designing for Learning Read More »
Equity is a topic that takes center stage in many education conversations, and rightly so. It’s about every child being given a “fair go.” We often voice our concerns about the plight of the underserved in our communities, and as educators, we always strive to address their disadvantage within the resources we have available. At
The Unpleasant Truth About Equity Read More »
The “Let’s Change School” conversation came to the forefront again this week after a video collaboration between Ted Dintersmith and the rapper Prince Ea went viral. As we write this, the video has been up for a little over 4 days, and between YouTube and Facebook, it has almost 10 million views and over
A response to Prince Ea’s viral video “What is School For?” Read More »
In our last Shifting Conversation post, the 250th in the series, Bruce shared the evolution of Modern Learners over the last five years, a few of the tools we use to thrive (and survive) as a team, and the pivots we made along the way. Since Bruce and Will have spent the past week traveling
Connections and Community in a Modern Learning World Read More »
I recently reviewed a Seth Godin podcast called the Long Term. It was an interesting commentary by Seth on the significant benefits we see when we are committed to the long run…olive farmers and investors included. So given this week’s post will be our 250th Shifting Conversation, I’m giving myself the luxury of reflecting on just
How Long is the Long Run? Read More »
While it’s hard to count the number of profound thoughts and insights that frequent Timeless Learning, the absolutely powerful new book from Ira Socol, Pam Moran, and Chad Ratliff that’s coming out next week, this one particular passage had my inner and outer edu-activist pumping his fist: Adults may argue about this – they do
Choosing Progressive Education for Modern Learning Read More »
With all the talk around modern learners, it’s probably time we got up close and personal to understand a little more about their motivations, behaviors, and attitudes. First up, let’s be clear. Modern learners aren’t defined by an age group or demographic but rather by their habits, dispositions, and most importantly their ideas about the
Who Are These Modern Learners? Read More »
Have you noticed the “new” trend in thinking about schools? I put “new” in quotes because, of course, it really isn’t new at all. In fact, you might call it a renaissance of the thinking that we’ve always known to be true about bringing kids together to learn with adults in shared spaces. Maria Montessori
Why Start With Why Not? Read More »
I think it might be high time we called “accountability” and its kissing cousins “metrics” and “performance indicators” to account. For educators, that draws a focus to assessment, where maybe it’s time we asked if high-stakes standardized testing has finally reached its use by date? I mean what do you think it will take before we
Accountability and the Tyranny of Metrics Read More »
Before COVID-19, Surveillance Software was the focus of EdTech. The question is will it remain that way or have we learned a few things? This post from sometime in 2017 is still relevant. There’s a growing sense that we’ve reached a breaking point with technologies in the classroom. France is banning all mobile devices from
Surveillance Software: the focus of EdTech Read More »
Surprisingly, it wasn’t Deputy Headmaster Rohan Brown abruptly cutting a student’s hair that was front page news, but rather what came next. It was a day in early March when school photos were being taken, and as the young lad walked through the front gate of Trinity Grammar, a prominent boy’s school in Melbourne, Brown noticed
Agency and the Rise of New Power Read More »
