I was asked to do a series of blogs for the Association of Education Service Agencies (AESA). The third in the series can be found here on the AESA web site and below. The previous posts are found here and here. Can we continue meeting like we have been over the past three months? This has been great for me.…
Category: Superintendent
The Cult of Innovation…and How to Overcome it in Education
Recently I spent time with a school district leadership team. As I listened to the significant work they were doing within their schools to make learning better for students, I kept hearing things like, “Well, this is not that innovative” or “It (what they are doing) is not that big of a deal”. I wanted to shout (and did tell…
Four O’Clock in the Morning Courage
Civil War historian Shelby Foote said that Ulysses S. Grant had something few generals had…he had “Four o’clock in the morning courage”. This is the courage it takes to stay calm when you are woken up at 4:00AM and told your left flank has just been turned. This is the same kind of courage you as a superintendent need to…
Finally…The One Question About Mass Customized Learning Answered!
Appalachia Intermediate Unit 8, working in a partnership with The Pennsylvania Leadership Development Center, created the Mid Atlantic Mass Customized Learning Consortium four years ago. The consortium is open to all organizations involved in learning throughout Pennsylvania and surrounding states. Membership consists of those education leaders who will work to transform learning in their organizations to assure students (learners) receive learning at…
3 Questions to Start your Mass Customized Learning Journey
“This is not a program…you have to change your philosophy” perfectly encapsulates the difficulty some educators may experience with Mass Customized Learning. There are two facts we must remember about Mass Customized learning: First, MCL is not a program but a journey. A journey toward restructuring the educational system. Second, MCL is uncompromisingly learner centered. The ramifications of of these…
Hope and the New Operating System of Education…4 Questions to Start Your Journey
“No ‘advanced educator’ can allow themselves to be so absorbed in the question of what a child ought to be as to exclude the discovery of what he is.” –Jane Addams A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about how the dominant operating system of education is broken. Over the next few Tuesday’s I will delve further into that…
4 Steps to Find Innovation in Your Schools
“It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking, than think your way into a new way of acting.” Jerry Sternin This blog is meant specifically for teachers, principals and superintendents. I am beseeching all of you heroically engaged in these positions to take 15 minutes from your busy day and do what is suggested in this…
4 Mantras Superintendents Use to Give Themselves Permission to be Pioneers in Education
The duties of a superintendent can easily overwhelm a person. Most superintendents start as teachers working with students every day in their classroom. The progression from the classroom to the boardroom includes many stops along the way. In my case, I became a high school guidance counselor then a high school principal before I accepted my first superintendency. I know…