The following question in the context of a conversation connected to class size was posed to me via Twitter and the blog of @danhaesler and warrants a response longer than 140 characters. “A poor lesson in front of 40 kids will still be a poor lesson in front of 20″. Could a great lesson...
Teacher Preparation
Student Teacher Observations/Interview Process
This is a cross post from my personal blog. In our school district, we have a very unique way of recruiting beginning teachers. While student teachers are doing their final practicum, a pair of administrators will observe that student teacher teaching a lesson. The administrators and student teacher are all from different schools…this is...
Can You REALLY Describe Good Teaching?
Do you have a great teacher in your school? Several great teachers? Teachers whose classes students can’t wait to get into? I think we all have those teachers. Teachers who get the strongest endorsement that we can give–the “I want my own child to be in his/her class” endorsement. But now you get...
6 powerful strategies for paradigm-shifting teacher PD
As educators and leaders, we need to re-think every aspect of our professional practice to consider ‘could we be doing this better?’ Here is a brain-dump of the 6 most powerful strategies that I have used or in which I have participated. 1. Use a ‘hands-on’ approach that teaches team work I want the...
Personalization and Responsibility
George Siemens wrote the Duplication theory of educational value about higher education, but I am going to share a quote from this with a couple adaptations for K-12 public education: “Let me posit a duplication theory of education value: if something can be duplicated with limited costs, it can’t serve as a value point...
Educating for Entrepreneurship
“Some organizations incubate companies – we incubate people. The mission of the Sandbox Network is to accelerate young leaders and help them have a global impact before they become 30.” http://www.sandbox-network.com/ “Imagine if a country’s assessment system measured the growing impact a young person has had on sustainability, environmental responsibility, equity or...
Community University: Engage Parents and Community with Tech Classes
Early during the 2010-2011 school year, my Principals Advisory Council came up with the idea to engage parents and community members by teaching technology classes once a month. We were cognizant of a potential gap that was occurring in terms of technology tools our students use, we use, and our parents use. If we...
2011 Lesson #7 – Educators can learn from entrepreneurs
A valuable part of our professional journeys as educators is to look beyond our own experience and learn from others. One strategy that has worked very well for our circumstance has been to bend budgets so that we can recurrently send teams of teachers to learn from others. This strategy commenced a decade...
2011 Lesson #6 – invent new creative structures to enable deep and passionate learning
I am constantly challenged to consider what we need to throw out from our assumed daily practices as teachers. If we come to the topic through the lens of making choices that maximize deep and passionate learning for students, then I have come to the conclusion that there is very little that will survive...
2011 Lesson #5 Make teamwork, collaboration and relationship building a habit
Earlier this year I looked at defining the ‘old paradigm’ classroom as compared with a new ‘learning community’ model. What was immediately apparent was the emphasis that is given to ‘separation’ in the one teacher, one classroom model. Separate and separated teachers work in separate classrooms, at separate desks, with separated class groups on...
2011 Lesson #3 – “Do then think”: take risks
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...
A Single Note Can Make It All Worthwhile
There was a single note on the teacher’s desk. Turning the envelope, she slid her curious finger under the seal, anxious to read what awaited her. Just the crackle and hiss of that seal being broken blocked out the ambient sounds of anything else around. Wrestling the note from the casing, she realized she...
10 Steps to Overcome Self-Destruction
Attention, attention! I have an important message to share with you: if you are an educator, you are the most important person in the building. I know you may not want to hear or read this, but your attitude and mental well-being does affect the climate of your classroom or school. I am sorry...
How can marshmallows help build teams?
I know that the summer months are a great time for reflection, but I also know that many of us are thinking ahead to the start of our school year. I wanted to share an activity called, The Marshmallow Challenge, that has been popularized by Tom Wujek’s Ted talk called, “Build a Tower, Build...
It’s Easy…
As educators, we are often faced with an opportunity to take the easy road or the hard road. The easy road often works for us as parents, teachers, and administrators but it rarely works for kids. The difficult road may be an immediate challenge and take much more time and effort but this is...
Getting Together- Collaborative Education Reform…
flickr photo via Barbara L. Hanson Children arrive at school expecting to learn. Teachers arrive at school expecting to teach. Parents, for the most part, trust that this exchange works smoothly and that their children’s learning needs are addressed effectively at school. Simple right? Actually, not so simple. There are variables at play in...
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