I’m looking forward to the NAIS Annual Conference- #naisac15 – this year – assuming of course that Boston can dig its way out of all the snow. The theme is appealing: “Design the Revolution”. It’s a slogan that manages to evoke the design thinking and maker movements while also embracing the ineluctable truth that the world is speeding along rather…
In his The Schools our Children Deserve Alfie Kohn has a quick and easy chart for what to look for in the classroom. It includes this chart about the walls. Give it a try next time you are in Gilkeson. In the last couple of weeks I have captured a fraction of the learning as reflected on the walls . Sometimes…
There’s a useful and on-point critique of the Maker movement in The Atlantic magazine: Why I am not a Maker by Debbie Chachra. And maker devotees and promoters would do well to read it as they out there talking up the maker culture as a panacea to all the ills of education. But – what is a maker? Just someone…
Thanks to Valerie Strauss’s blog in The Washington Post I’ve been alerted to a website devoted to helping grieving students. Among the many useful resources there is this chart that serves as a simple but important guide for talking with grieving children about trauma and loss. …
The Letter from Birmingham Jail One of the most resounding rebukes in history. And as you read you can hear the cadence of the voice rising and falling with indignation and righteousness. It’s a long letter. Never before have I written so long a letter. I’m afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure…
Some books, some ideas and some thinkers stay with you. They are like wells that you go back to dip into and drink from again and again. Their work sits mostly unopened on the shelf but key ideas bop into the brain as a kind of mental hat stand on which to hang new thinking. Jerome Bruner is such an influence.…
Test-weary second-grader asks school board: ‘Is that all that matters to grown-ups?’ Elitist parents threaten lawsuit after kids are called out for alleged test prep Two news stories from test-world: The first from The Washington Post reports the testimony of a second grader at the New Jersey State Board: Dear members of the New Jersey State Board, and fellow stakeholders: Hi.…
This week began with a professional day for faculty and staff. Our theme was Identity, Privilege and Race provoked by the recent months of turmoil surrounding the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. There were readings, resources and a deal of playfulness. And most important – conversation. When one of those readings – What White Children Need to Know about…
Here’s something terrific for free: It’s an E-book of great articles from the always useful Educating Modern Learners, an online source with which I am proud to be associated. I’m still working my way through the content – and in some cases re-reading – but no disappointments. These people write well about important and useful topics. See the list below.…
Grant Lichtman has just suggested a bunch of words better than grit And they all work. And now it’s time to take on the rigor. Grit and rigor – sounds like a scouring powder or bathroom cleanser rather than a prescription for learning. Take a look at these definitions and then consider why on earth people would want to associate it…
Carol Dweck researches “growth mindset” — the idea that we can grow our brain’s capacity to learn and to solve problems. In this talk, she describes two ways to think about a problem that’s slightly too hard for you to solve. Are you not smart enough to solve it … or have you just not solved it yet? A great…
We must foster global citizenship. Education is about more than literacy and numeracy. It is also about citizenry. Education must fully assume its essential role in helping people to forge more just, peaceful and tolerant societies. – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 26 September 2012 at the launch of the Secretary General’s Global Education First Initiative (GEFI) The 2013 Strategic Plan added two words to the mission statement – “global” and “leading”. The final…
I first tried “The Five Whys” in a faculty meeting. It was an attempt to try something new in tackling a thorny problem. This is new territory for me so it’s all a bit of an experiment. I had another shot at at the HMAE Annual Conference earlier this month where working with heads of school it was a bit…
Strategic plan outcomes can all seem rather formal and abstract until something like this leaps out and grabs your attention. This story is about a high school teacher, his students, their research and how they made a contribution to the scientific study of invasive species in our region. So … Congratulations to high school science teacher Brent Boscarino and PDS…
There was a lively Twitter #satchat this morning and the topic was that fad du jour: Failure. There were plenty of excellent observations and earnest calls for embracing failure as essential to the learning process. As someone who failed rather a lot in school (and done my share of it since) it’s a topic dear to me and one I…