(This is a copy of a my guest blog post published this week for the World Innovation Summit for Education – WISE, Qatar – on re-designing spaces for learning: http://www.wise-qatar.org/content/stephen-harris-redesigning-spaces-around-collaborative-teaching and slide show: http://www.wise-qatar.org/node/16860 RE-DESIGNING SPACES FOR LEARNING There is a clear movement occurring in education globally right now – a movement that is seeking...
Last weekend was our annual Varsity Varieties Show and it was simply amazing to see all the talent on stage and behind the scenes! The Arts, both visual and performing, are a major aspect of GLHS, helping us to create a positive school brand. I often talk about our school brand with our students...
The lights go out and it’s just the three of us ...
Many schools are beginning to use social media to send out information to parents. Examples include twitter feeds and facebook pages. These initial forays into social media are a first step. They provide parents and the community with greater access to information regarding the school and the learning happening within its walls. A key facet of school...
As a principal, one of my favorite things to do is listen to success stories shared by the teachers. As a father, one of my favorite things to do is listen to success stories shared by other parents. When the two worlds collide, the moment is even more special. One of our brilliant educators...
Students in our Space Technology class at Gahanna Lincoln High School just completed a space simulation in which they were asked to design a rover that would complete specific tasks. In years past, they would do a space shuttle simulation. But this year, science teacher, Fred Donelson (@mrdglhs) changed things up a bit to simulate the landing...
“…knowledge is becoming inextricable from — literally unthinkable without — the network that enables it.” ~David Weinberger On a cold, snowy and windy Canadian evening, Royan Lee (@royanlee) and I braved the elements and met up for a chat in a cozy pub. Like all such chats our goal was to catch up on...
Rwanda 2012 Reflection #4 – do you use your role for a higher purpose? As Principals, Superintendents or school leaders, do you use your position to try and ‘be the change’? It seems like a straightforward enough question – but probably one that bears a...
Okay … this lesson probably commenced in my early childhood if I count the number of hospital visits from bumping into (stupidly designed) concrete telegraph poles in Auckland, slipping off high chairs to raid the top kitchen cupboards or eating poisonous plants because they looked nice. But the notion of learning by doing...
I find leadership a fascinating topic. If something typifies our 21st century world for me, it is the lack of leadership where and when it is needed. This is evident in micro and macro contexts – in countries, communities and schools. The issue is possibly that the media focuses way too much on political...
2011 has been an amazing year for me professionally – a year of great change at NBCS and a year of outstanding opportunities, travel and thinking for me. It has also been a year of new connections. I am going to try and capture some of the main insights during 2011 gained in...
I received this video embedded in an e-mail from Vicki Abeles and the folks at Race to Nowhere which talks about schools that have decided that there will be a no homework rule during school vacations. After watching the short clip and listening to the rationale, it seems like a no-brainer to me. Why...
Last year, I listened to an audio book called, Good Boss, Bad Boss by Dr. Robert Sutton. It was interesting, entertaining, and caused me to reflect on my craft as an educator and my work as a building leader. His statements were challenging, funny, and also sobering. He told story after story about what...
Preface “Birds of a feather flock together.” How is it that various flocks of birds fly together in non-linear formation? How exactly do they communicate with each other to cut and cross paths in synchronized patterns? Is there a captain or a conductor or a coordinator? Do zigzagging birds rotate those roles of captain,...
Idaho recently became the fourth state to add an online learning requirement for students to graduate from high school. As is typical with these types of bureaucratic decisions, this initiative makes for great headlines but its impact on student learning remains questionable. There’s a big rush to add online learning opportunities for students without...
As educators we routinely wonder whether or not the advice that we impart on our students actually has had a positive impact. Sometimes were are given direct feedback, but other times were are left to wonder. During the past couple of weeks we have organized two assemblies where I have educated the entire student...
I spend a great deal of time thinking about the shift that we need to see in our schools in order to best prepare our students for their future. Lately I’ve been thinking about the question that many parents ask their children when they get off of the school bus or when they sit...
On October 21st at 8:30 am, George Couros and I will host a workshop / discussion at The Educational Computing Organization of Ontario’s Conference exploring how leaders and aspiring leaders in the field of education can use online tools and social media to develop leadership competencies across the Ontario Leadership Framework. Watching the pre-conference chatter on twitter, I noticed...
Have you ever read one of those emails that just got under your skin? You know that email or post that just elevated your blood pressure to the point where you felt like your head was going to explode? You then frantically type out a response and hit the send button only to think,...
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