At a keynote presentation at the annual PASCD conference, Dr. Chris Moersch referenced an older article by Philip Schlechty entitled, On the frontier of school reform with trailblazers, pioneers and settlers. In the article, Schlechty proposes five types of roles people assume throughout the change process. Trailblazers – independent and don’t need a map. The stories […]
Time and Change
Two great videos shared on different blogs today. The first comes from Scott McLeod and Dangerously Irrelevant. The video shares the important idea that we need time if we are going to be creative. For me personally, this idea connects to conversations I have had with a colleague who has moved to central office from a […]
Technical vs. Adaptive Challenges
Immunity to Change: Post #2 — Getting Started Too often when we think about change, we go for the easy – a technical challenge. The challenge with the most impact, however, will be the adaptive one – “a change you make in yourself that leads to real change and growth.” Kinds of challenges – Technical […]
Blended Learning – Pt. I
There are all kinds of variations on “learning with technology.” These variations span the continuum from traditional classroom to 100% online learning. The problem I see with online learning as is most common in cyber schools is that it is nothing more than a crummy pedagogical model of classroom instruction planted into the shell of […]
Change, Innovation and Leadership
It’s not often that I find resources that push the limits of our paradigm of school leadership, but Jonathan Martin shares some takeaways from a new book, The Innovator’s DNA, that offer an opportunity to reflect on our own leadership and that of the organizations we call schools. I haven’t read the book yet, but […]
Changing Habits – In Work and Life
Where change is happening, we often hear that if we are wanting to do something differently, the change must involves giving something up, or stopping some unproductive behavior. In Necessary Endings, Dr. Henry Cloud refers to this as pruning. And we all need to do it – at work and in life. “You can’t prune […]
How creative are educators?
The last time I blogged, I asked the question – How passionate are educators? It seems like I’m on a bit of a rant about educators, particularly educational leaders with the addition of today’s question – How creative are educators? Michael Hyatt recently suggested 7 Ways Successful Creatives Think Differently Than Unsuccessful Ones. As I […]
Mental Complexity
I have been working my way through Kegan and Lahey’s Immunity to Change and think it is an important construct for us school leaders to wrap our collective heads around. Plateaus of Mental Complexity (Kegan and Lahey, 2009. Immunity to Change. p.16.) Mental complexity can change over the course of the lifespan and generally gets […]