It’s been about 16 years since I published my first blog post. I was there at the birth of Twitter and Instagram and delicio.us and most of the other social media tools that are in wide use today. And I’m sure I’ll be an “early adopter” of whatever the next great connective tool is. But […]
Making Modern Learning Read More »
I have a standing search in Google News that lets me know when there are ever any new stories in the world that contain the following three words: school, technology, and learning. It’s not that I don’t have enough to do already without scanning the usual 15 or 20 articles that crop up on a
How Not to Change Culture in the Classroom Read More »
From time to time, I grow weary of the shallowness of the discussion around education and technology and change. I’m in one of those cycles right now, I think. (It’s in some way attributable to the general emptiness of the current political rhetoric, I’m sure. There’s a picture of Donald Trump in the dictionary when you
Last week on my own blog, I posted an essay by a high school student who was assessing the state of his education. It is marked, he writes, by a state of uncertainty and inconsistency. Here’s a snip: Kids love to learn. They hate school. School has become a life draining institution that takes passionate,
Our Uncertain Moment Read More »
“My students love it,” she said. “It hasn’t changed the content, but it has definitely changed the way I deliver the content.” That from an article on what I consider to be the oh so awful wonders of tablet technology and more in a school as reported by the Houston Chronicle. A sentence that in many ways
EdTech vs. EdLearning Read More »
As a journalism major and a long-time English teacher, I have a deep interest in words and the way that they are used. If you’ve been following along here for a while, you know that I struggle mightily with many of the words and phrases that we bandy about in education because I find many
Word of the Day: Heutagogy Read More »
It’s been interesting to observe over the last eight months or so a growing chorus of parents, authors, educators and even some policy makers begin to articulate their concern over the relevance of the current practices that we use in schools to “educate” our kids. While the arguments and discussions vary on the edges, it
There are times when I truly wonder if traditional schools can actually change in any appreciable way that moves agency over learning and teaching to the learners and the teachers. Reading Bruce’s column from last week, I was struck by the dedication on the part of the Finns to push their thinking and practice forward
Can We Really Change? Read More »
I’m really happy to announce the “Solutions for Modern Learning” series of books from Solution Tree. Last year, I pitched them on the idea of this collection, and I was lucky enough to entice Audrey Watters, Roger Schank, Bryan Alexander, Gayle Allen, and Bruce Dixon to join me in writing an edgier type of book
Introducing the Modern Learner Series Read More »
Right now, there are eight Tibetan Monks staying at my house. They’re sleeping on floors, couches, and my kids’ beds. (My kids are now on my bedroom floor.) They’re with us for 10-days as they do healings and meditations and school visits. (They made it down to Science Leadership Academy on Friday, in fact.) Only
The Zen of School Change Read More »
Every now and then when I have some free time between basketball tournaments and conference presentations I actually do some reading using these things called “books.” Some of them I actually have to hold in my hand and manually turn paper pages. Shocking, I know. Some have been on my shelf for a long time,
Schools That Learn Read More »
A few months ago I found myself in a room full of administrators having a conversation about how to change their schools. These were principals, assistant superintendents, and other leaders from a number of rural districts in the Midwest. “What I really need,” said one of those in attendance, “is for you to help my teachers
Is it me, or does it seem like much of what we’re doing in education these days is trying to fix what we ourselves break when it comes to kids and learning? I mean, what does it say that our kids come to us as creative, innovative thinkers when they’re five or six years old,
Fixing What We Broke Read More »
I want to circle back to a post I wrote in this space a couple of months ago regarding the “Pedagogic Creed” of John Dewey and the model that he presents for clearly articulating your beliefs about learning. I’ve begun asking the leaders at the schools I’m visiting if they’ve ever written down what they believe
This New School Year, What Do You Believe About Learning? Read More »
I’ve been thinking a lot about learning over the last couple of years, more so than at any other point in my life. While I spent 22 years teaching and administrating in a public school, I can’t say that I spent a lot of time thinking about learning during my career, specifically how kids learn.
Discovering Learning or Delivering an Education Read More »
