There are two seemingly unrelated columns in today’s Opinion page of the New York Times that provide a crisp summary of where we stand in our current thinking about school reform — and where we need to go.
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How Do You Design a Healthy School?
What if every school used our founding principles as a nation as its design principles for learning? How would schools need to change? And what would we unleash as a result?
This is one of the riddles at the center of the 10-part video series, A Year at Mission Hill. And although we’re just two chapters in, I’m starting to see an early pattern – and a dialectical pair of design principles at the center of it all.
Read More »How to Tell a Good Learning Story
Last week, at the New Teacher Center’s 15thannual conference in San Jose, I urged more than 700 educators to start telling their own stories about teaching and learning, and to stop letting outside forces pigeonhole public perceptions of the work that they do
The talk went well (view the Prezi below and decide for yourself), but I worried afterwards that all I’d done was suggest a compelling path forward – and provide little else.
Read More »Teacher Stories
This morning, I gave a keynote presentation at the 15th annual conference of the New Teacher Center. Thanks to the great work of some friends at Prezi, I tried to offer a visual contextual path for where we are, and where we need to go. That Prezi is now public. Take a look and see […]
Read More »Painted On Canvas
If you haven’t heard of Gregory Porter and you love jazz music, check him out. And if you want to hear a beautiful song that sums up everything that matters about teaching and learning, take a listen to his song, “Painted On Canvas,” and read his lyrics below.
Read More »Has Testing Reached A Tipping Point?
It wasn’t that long ago that suggesting America’s schools had become test-obsessed was a lonely endeavor. Although organizations like FairTest and campaigns like Time Out From Testinghave been decrying the flawed logic behind high-stakes tests for years, the reality is that for the past decade, many of us kept our complaints reserved for the privacy of the parking lot
People vented. Policymakers nodded. And absent any real noise, the tests continued.
Read More »A Different Story About Public Education
I know we’re already one month into 2013, but think back to last year for a second: What were the most talked about education stories of 2012? I’m guessing your list looks something like this – Common Core. The Chicago Teacher Strike. Newtown. And what worries me is that no matter what other stories you […]
Read More »This is what student determination looks like
What would it take to ensure that every student feels similarly empowered to make themselves seen and heard? (And with special thanks to the people at Storycorps–and in honor of people like Ron McNair, on the 27th anniversary of the Challenger tragedy.)
Read More »“Standardization” is not a dirty word
The reviews are in — in 2013, inequality is out, and equality is in.
Read More »This is what an American revolutionary looks like
Imagine if all schools were structured to inspire similar self-transformation?
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