“We used to fool ourselves…We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went…
NAIS is working on a PGP (Principles of Good Practice) for Global Citizenship. Here is a draft. They are seeking feedback, questions and responses as they work toward a final version to be added to their other PGPs. Twenty-first century independent schools shape student experiences in ways that encourage global awareness and instill a compassionate, respectful understanding of other peoples…
“It’s the teachers….” I refrain from adding the usual last word to that phrase because it seems unnecessarily rude but, surprise, surprise: Top quality teachers are the key factor in making a difference to quality education and top performing schools worldwide. This is according to this recent and extensive report (pdf) on education systems worldwide and the factors that make…
Ten Trends: educating children for tomorrow’s world An article in the Journal of School Improvement a while back examined ten major trends and looked at the challenges they present for schools. The author, Gary Marx, begins with this ringing statement: The status quo is a ticket to obsolescence. Why? Because the world around us is in motion, changing at dizzying…
There’s a good article in the latest Educational Leadership: “The Perils and Promise of Praise”. It’s by Carol Dweck. The wrong kind of praise creates self-defeating behavior. The right kind motivates students to learn. We often hear these days that we’ve produced a generation of young people who can’t get through the day without an award. They expect success because…
“The incentives I took as an insult. I didn’t think motivation was needed. It was not the right thing for me, not the right thing for my players.” – Joe Torre, turning down an offer to continue as manager of the NY Yankees. I am not much of a fan of professional sports* but I was struck by Joe Torre’s…
Disintermediation – one of those wonderful baggy words that only yields up any meaning after being dismembered into constituent parts, if at all. Or perhaps a word like a string of railway carriages shuttling along clanking and rattling over the rail bed. The word is most usually applied in the field of marketing and economics where it refers to the…
Colleges that Change Lives is the title of Loren Pope’s very useful book for those planning for college. It’s also a website. If you are off to college soon, or know someone who is, then take a look. It is particularly useful in dispelling some of the myths of excellence. As with many things, it is important to dig a…
Imagine a cleared space in the forest and a circle drawn with a rope; “This is your comfort zone – the space where you are confident and at ease. This you can already do. We all have our comfort zone. It takes many shapes and it is different for all of us.” Then another rope makes a circle around the…
The world is moving at a tremendous rate. Going no one knows where. We must prepare our children, not for the world of the past. Not for our world. But for their world. The world of the future. – John Dewey (seen saying just that in the film below) Progressive education in the 1940s: I don’t know who made this…
“Modern studies indicate that creativity is not a rare, magic gift visited upon the isolated genius; it is the natural birthright of every human child and is a series of cognitive skills that can be taught, harnessed and applied to unleash what we are now discovering is the infinite creative capacity in every child. Learning How to Learn and Creativity…
There was a great article in last week’s Boston Globe. The authors – Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland – dismiss the idea that arts education produces higher test scores. While it’s true, they say, that students who are involved in the arts do better in school and on the SAT, it’s not about the test scores. Their own research found…
A school in a giant submarine with waterproof maps of the underwater world. Private helicopters to fly children to France for their French lessons. Voice-activated pencils. Rocket launch pads to take pupils on trips to distant planets to study the solar system. Canteen robots instead of dinner ladies. Clean toilets, swimming pools, a jug of water in every classroom, enough…
Back in 1967 – the Observer newspaper in the UK organized an opportunity for children to write on the subject: “The school that I’d like”. The results became a Penguin book edited by Edward Blishen and a collection of opinions that provided a trenchant critique of school and school life. The students wrote with freshness, passion and insight and their…
That question is one the prompts from the new Tufts University optional essay section. It’s part of its Kaleidoscope program based on the psychometric work of Robert Sternberg who is now the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts. Sternberg’s work has long focused on notions of successful intelligence and creativity. ‘If you want to admit people…