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 »
Last month, we missed a bit of an anniversary here at Modern Learners, three years of writing and making that total over 330 posts, 199 newsletters, a slew of whitepapers, podcasts, masterclasses and goodness knows what else. Add to that the recent addition of Change School to the Modern Learners “portfolio” and even I have
So Many Questions… 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
Getting Parents Ready for New Context of School Read More »
A couple of weeks ago, EdSurge ran a post that asked “Is Your EdTech Product a Refrigerator or a Washing Machine?” The premise was simple. If your product is like a refrigerator, the pace of it’s adoption in schools will probably be pretty fast since you can just “plug it in” to the existing infrastructure
Learning’s Lousy Adoption Curve Read More »
As we work through our busy lives, I’m intrigued by how readily we seem to accept so many of the assumptions that impact on that work. I don’t think for a minute that this is something we do consciously, but when you have so much going on in your life, you simply don’t have the
I came across an apt metaphor for change in schools a few months ago. An administrator told me excitedly that they had been giving students some say in ways in which their classrooms were outfitted, and that one class had chosen to use yoga balls to sit on instead of the traditional hard plastic (or
Yoga Balls in Rows Read More »
There are two planets in the Universe of Today, Planet Earth and Planet School. Planet Earth can seem a little crazy at times, but it’s connected, complex and in a constant state of change. It’s a cultural melting pot, and people are continuously communicating across more countries, more often in more mediums that we might
A Tale of Two Planets Read More »
Fourteen people in a room. All of them educators. 12 of them parents. How many of those 12 do you think told a similar story of learning for their kids in schools? If you said all 12, you’d be correct. And if I asked you to guess what that story was? You’d probably get than one correct
A Common Sense Argument Read More »
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
Voice, Choice and Mastery with Rodney Bowler Read More »
In a week when we have had more conversations with more changeleaders than Will and I might ever have imagined possible, it has given me cause to reflect. While the amount of interest we’ve had from leaders across the world who wanted to be part of Change.School has been a little overwhelming, it has, on
For some reason, today I found myself using the word “beautiful” more often than most. I watched a truly “beautiful” sunrise this morning featuring streams of orange light peeking through puffy gray clouds. My daughter, who happens to be in Santiago, Chile at the moment, texted a “beautiful” picture of the city from an overlook, mountains
“Beautiful Learning” Read More »
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 »
I’m curious about curiosity. It’s not something we have talked enough about in the past, but in a society that celebrates creativity and innovative thinking, I feel it will be a lot more prominent in the future. So when I hear someone say that it’s a pity their kids aren’t more curious, I wonder what
How Curious Are You? Read More »
In our newest podcast, Will and Bruce discuss the new Change.School learning community, and they talk about the history of Modern Learners and how it’s led to this new push to raise the bar on reimagining schools. It’s a little bit of backstory, but it’s a lot of how we got to the “How?” Change.School has
Change.School is Ready for You. Are You Ready for Change.School? 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 »
