Those ever-attentive to such details may have noticed that this blog has a new title. Sort of. I started this blog when I became head of school. At that time I rather foolishly assumed that it would have a small but rather captive readership within the school community. But people are really busy and don’t … Read more
The first day of my new life as an idle good-for-nothing superannuated coffin-dodger (my brother’s description of retirees) coincides with the centenary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme – a day – and a battle that has long held my interest. Not so much because of the military aspects – fascinating … Read more
The official title was Ten Heads, Ten Years, Ten Lessons: INH Class Members of ’06 Tell Their Tales INH – meaning Institute for New Heads run by NAIS that year in Washington, DC. Fast forward to 2016 and John Huber had the idea for sharing some collective wisdom and insight at the NAIS Annual conference in … Read more
Human apathy is the greatest calamity of all. I have heard many extraordinary presentations and speeches at NAIS Annual Conferences over the years. None has had the impact of Bryan Stevenson. I was one of perhaps 6.000 plus educators who heard this remarkable performance by a gifted storyteller last Friday. It moved many to tears … Read more
The summer 2013 issue of Independent School magazine was about technology and schools and posed the question The Great Disruption? Just then retiring NAIS president Pat Bassett article’s The Third Great American Revolution outlined what should by now be the familiar big shifts in education. And he delivered this stirring call to action and imagination. Fast forward … Read more
Found this comic rendering of Ken Robinson’s ode to dance on the Internets. The words are from his 2006 TED talk How schools kill creativity – the most viewed TED talk ever. It tells the now familiar and commonplace story of the invention of the school system and its subject discipline hierarchy to support the needs of industrialization. … Read more
What does innovation in education look like to you? This question and What does innovation in education look like around the world? were posed to the first cohort of 28 TED-Ed Innovative Educators a global program that connects leaders within TED’s network of over 250,000 teachers. You can read their ideas at the link but perhaps before you … Read more
Marlon James is author of the 2015 Man Booker prize-winning novel Brief History of Seven Killings. In this short video via The Guardian he makes the case that being non-racist may allow us a clear conscience about our personal conduct but it’s really not good enough. Letting things that are racist in the world just be … Read more
Many thanks to the @theASIDEblog for alerting me to this simple advice for learners (aka all of us):
Five years from now, over one-third of skills (35%) that are considered important in today’s workforce will have changed. That’s according to a new Forum report, The Future of Jobs,that looks at the employment, skills and workforce strategy for the future. How will these skills be developed? What are the implications for what happens in … Read more
We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before. We do not yet know just how it will unfold, but one thing is clear: the … Read more
Be a good person: Get into college. Well – it’s not quite a simple as that but it is true that the rules of the game of college admissions are changing. This week admissions deans and other leaders from the nation’s top colleges and universities joined together to announce the launch of Turning the Tide: … Read more
We celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday on Monday and that means a day off. It’s a recent habit to use a part of the weekend to read or re-read something he wrote and give it some thought. Seems the least thing to do. Last year it was Have Courage: The Letter from Birmingham Jail. This … Read more
“The secret of quality is love,” Avedis Donabedian, a professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, expert in the field of quality measurement. That’s a rather remarkable statement from a scientist whose expertise was accountability measures and quality control. It’s from a NYTimes article How Measurement Fails Doctors and Teachers by Robert M. Wachter … Read more
I never met Joe Bower but it seemed easy to imagine knowing him. He was one of those people you meet online who exude warmth and seem larger than life. When Joe burst into the Twitterspere in 2009 it was like a blast of fresh air. He was ready to take on the world and … Read more