Working At The Edge

Make School Different: Digital leadership & Transformation

Redesigning the Language of “21st Century Skills”

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The language of 21st century skills has become so pervasive it has lost meaning – words such as communication, collaboration, problem solving, etc. Stephen Downes posted thoughts on new language – language that he says “reflect(s) the times and not simply the fact that we have a lot of machines.” Emergent Thinking: extracting patterns, rules, […]

Culture of Dissent

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If you’re in education, you probably have just winced at the title of this post. That’s because most education cultures don’t engage in dissent very well. And maybe that’s part of our problem. If we are constantly spending time “covering up” the sucky stuff about what we do and where we work and not facing […]

Blended Learning – Pt. II

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My district is in the early stages of examining virtual learning. The primary objective, at the moment, seems to be to create our own virtual school in order to “bring back” students who have left the district to enroll in cyber charter schools. While that is fine (assuming we hold the mirror up and ask […]

Gamification and Education

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I loved watching this video on how powerful learning can be when it involves game thinking. As I was watching, I kept thinking, “We are the problem. It is our ‘adult’ mindset that needs to change.” In fact, most “adults” watching this would probably cringe at the things Gabe Zichermann is proposing related to education. […]

Blended Learning – Pt. I

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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 […]

“Greatness” in an organization

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I read an excellent post on How To Create A Culture of Greatness from author Jon Gordon. I particularly liked how he emphasizes that shaping a great organization starts with the leader, no one else. “A culture of greatness creates an expectation that everyone in the organization be committed to excellence. It requires leaders and […]

What if…

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Some of our middle school math students have been using a site called Mangahigh. As I observed last week, it seemed as if the students were highly engaged, learning math concepts in a game format. They weren’t just playing against themselves, or their classmates, but against other schools in other countries. The “what if” question: […]

Do educators make time to reflect?

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I ask this question after reading Jacob Gorban’s recent Lifehacker post, “Why Your Schedule Should Have a Weekly Appointment Dedicated to “Thinking Time.” Education seems to be an inherently non-reflective profession. Personally, reflection is like breathing air. Do we reflect enough as educators?

Commitment and Passion in Artists

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For much of my adult life I’ve had the opportunity to attend a lot of music, opera and theater living so close to New York City. I marvel at how the success of the ensemble art form – opera, musical theatre, theatre and orchestra – principally relies on two things: the passion of the leader […]