It’s hard not to know what you know but sometimes your expertise and knowledge can obscure innovation that could transform your classroom and school. We have been doing classrooms and schools the same way for a long time. As humans, we are drawn to routine and school cultures give us that. We are more likely to walk along a path …
The Finnish culture and economic system may be central to the success of Finnish schools and the achievement of their children but there are many aspects of their culture that can be replicated despite our different culture and economic system. Concrete Take-Aways The food in Finnish schools is a priority. Every child gets free lunch at every school. The food …
Now that we have a critical mass of teachers involved in transforming our school, the need to get a critical mass of other stakeholders involved is imminent. As I began my sabbatical this year, this issue was at the forefront of my planning. The three groups of people that I have been thinking about are students, community members, and parents. …
Vermont’s move toward more personal and proficiency based learning in public education is an enormous shift from the traditional model that we have been using for many years. While Vermont is extremely innovative inside the classroom and offers its teachers quite a bit of autonomy compared to many other states, the overall structures and systems in public schools rely …
The idea of separating students into honors and non-honors classes is fraught with problems, increases the achievement gap and ultimately increases inequity in every classroom and between all students. When I was in school, I wasn’t seen as being “smart” or good at school. As a result, there was never any consideration of me taking honors level anything. As I …
In Tony Wagner’s book Creating Innovators, he argues that play, passion and purpose are at the center of developing innovators. His research identified that when young people are allowed to play, are given opportunities to pursue their passions and are given work that has a purpose bigger than themselves, they find meaning, experience success and are highly motivated. As I …
Feeling guilty about having a good time? I get this pang of guilt when I learn something and it is actually fun. When I try to plan a learning activity, whether it is for kids or adults, and find myself trying to make it fun, I question its value. Why? Why do we do this? Does learning have to be …
Probing Questions Even when I ask for advice sometimes, I don’t always really want it. I find myself sabotaging every idea that gets thrown my way right after I asked for help. I guess this happens because I already have some idea of what I want in my head and I just haven’t quite articulated it yet. Or perhaps I’m …
Beowulf and Hemingway? I have encountered a similar conversation this year amongst many staff, in my own building as well as throughout the state, as we discuss the implications of proficiency based graduation standards. Even those in favor of radical changes are concerned about students leaving school without a foundational knowledge. If they don’t know the general characteristics of a …
Resistance to change I have been thinking a lot about resistance lately after a rather lengthy conversation with several colleagues. I may have dragged this conversation on longer than necessary because I was trying to avoid the resistance that is inevitable in this change process. There is a natural inclination to try and change people. While this is a natural …