I recently came across a post about a teacher who reframed classroom rules into rights and responsibilities, and I can’t stop thinking about how important this shift really is. It’s more than a clever tweak to classroom management—it’s a reimagining of how we engage learners, empower them, and ultimately prepare them for the world beyond school. The Power of Language…
I am going to share a story with you that happened multiple times when I was a high school principal. One part of the job that I loved as a principal was going into classrooms. Whether it was for a formal observation of a teacher, observing a student, or just to go in and watch learning happen, I loved the…
I was planning on writing a response to a blog post about managing change in an organization, but I changed my mind. Instead, I want to merge the suggestions from the blog with a new perspective. Imagine a world where we focus on helping our staff learn instead of constantly worrying about managing change. It would be an incredible place…
Like many people, I struggle with balancing short-term, micro thinking and long-term, macro thinking. Micro-thinking focuses on the “here and now” tasks and getting things done, while macro-thinking takes a broader view and considers larger trends and patterns. Often, I find myself stuck in micro-thinking, stressing about efficiency and tactics to manage change and complete my to-do list. I believe…
Forgive me for editorializing a little bit. I recently listened to a podcast from a “conservative” commentator. Overall, she was well-balanced and made some good points about the world we live in and life in general. Then she talked about public education. Now, I am not one of those people that looks uncritically at public education. I think there are things we (as…
Here is a question for you.What would be different about schooling if we tried to see the good in people?Instead of seeing a student as a “gifted student,” or a “special education student,” or a parent as a “good parent” or “bad parent,” what if we just emptied our brain of what we know (or think we know) about the…
A friend and mentor of mine recently asked me a question. Basically, he wanted to know what I thought about his sharing that he believes the only way “transformation” will happen in schooling is if there is a separate system created where people can start from scratch. Everyone who has put any thought into the direction of education has had…
Who wants to work hard to enact evidence-free solutions in your organization? I suspect there are not a lot of hands being raised out there in the ether right now!Of course, most of us want to think that when we introduce a new program, service, or procedure that there is at least some evidence that it has worked somewhere else…
How would you like these conclusions from a study done to evaluate the effectiveness of “new” structures for schools?1. When engaged teachers, administrators, and students are given the freedom to experiment and the help to do it, they will come through.2. There is no one best way of schooling youth.3. Students can graduate high school who are academically engaged, involved…
I have lived in an education self-cancel culture for most of my career. Now, I don’t want you to feel sorry for me because I have self-canceled. What do I mean when I say that I have lived in an education self-cancel culture? First, what I believe about learning and education is not part of the status quo. For example,…