If you are not familiar with the author of Dare to Lead (Brene Brown) please take a few minutes and Google her TED talks. They are excellent and will help you as you lead your team. Brown’s research emphasis centers on the concept of vulnerability. In a sense, if we allow ourselves to be vulnerable (i.e. admitting that we don’t…
Recently, a former School Board member that I worked with reached out to me and asked me this question: “I’ve struggled and complained for years, as a board member, parent, student and interested observer, why can’t school better integrate technology to make educational breakthroughs? I see the tech and the tech budgets, but see little transformative delivery and much resistance.”…
Engage, engage, engage, what more can I say about my philosophy concerning outstanding instructional practices. Actual learning occurs when students (or adults for that matter) interact with their environment in a way that incorporates new and old learning. We can only do this when students are actively participating in their learning. This is a simple proclamation…putting it into practice is where the…
“Get off your phones right now! You stare at your phone too much. Get a book out to read or go outside and play.” –Me to my kids approximately 1,000 times in the last 8 years. Technology Today and Yesterday If you are a parent you can probably sympathize with me and my frustration with “phone time” of your kids.…
There is one way to stay current and “fresh” in your ideas and mindset…read. Read books, articles, journals, blogs or anything that will help you lead your organization. So far this year, I concentrated by reading on business books that help me understand the business world a little better. Specifically, I read 12 books about marketing and PR. I have…
“I am so frustrated because the teacher went over three things today in class even though she knew that most of us didn’t learn the first one!” –My Daughter A Quick Exercise What does curriculum mean to you? Please take some time and make a list of words that immediately come to mind when you think of curriculum… As you…
What is a Measurebater and why is it important for school leaders? Measurebating is a term that has its roots in the photography industry. It is used to denote someone who is more interested in how the camera will work in theory (because of the associated technical aspects attached to the performance), than how the camera will actually perform. I…
Education reform efforts are guided by an attempt to quantify the term “value”. This is done with something called “value-added models” (VAM’s). VAM’s use student performance data (in Pennsylvania’s case from the PSSA test) and attempt to show how much “value” a teacher has brought to the student. Education reformers that are infatuated with VAM’s claim that the model “controls”…
I recently heard a story that reflects a common occurrence in our current school system. The narrative arc of the story will sound familiar. An Honors level teacher gave a final exam to their class. The teacher takes pride on being “difficult” so very few learners passed the exam. Parents complained to the building principal about the poor grades. The…
Let’s be charitable and say that No Child Left Behind was a reaction to systemic challenges in public schools. These challenges included inadequate academic achievement and success in other “schooling” outcomes by impoverished, minority, and special needs students. If our assumption is that NCLB tried to address these challenges, then we can examine how school leaders tried to innovate and…