The quotes below are from a book titled: Leading for Powerful Learning: A Guide for Instructional Leaders by Angela Breidenstein, Kevin Fahey, Carl Glickman and Frances Hensley (2012) from Teachers College Press. This is a good book for any and all formal and informal school leaders who 1) want to be part of schools that [...]
If we care about the education of today’s youth it behooves us to take adult learning seriously. We adults can learn our way into the future or we can hold onto the status quo in our classrooms/schools or we can defer to the massive network of sales people promoting a multitude of educational products. I [...]
I have had the good fortune to both write the foreword and contribute a chapter for this Teachers College Press book. The Foreword focuses on the value of “thinking together”. The chapter I wrote is titled: “Creating and Influencing Momentum: The Challenges and Power of Adults Thinking Interdependently”. Additionally, I work with Patricia Reeves with [...]
We all need to stop and think deeply about what we want for all children. I am convinced that the ‘easy answer’ of letting narrow products, “tests”, measure the value of schools to our society is foolhardy! Further, I am convinced that our society needs to be investing in ways to improve education for all [...]
I have been thinking a lot about what is takes to help adults develop the skills, dispositions and knowledge to intentionally think interdependently. Below, you will find some of my thoughts. Qualities of Effective Collaborators Actions to Positively Impact Your Skills Appreciate the nature of adult learning Learn from or revisit the work [...]
What does it take to change, grow, and/or create? Innovation is part of the answer. And then another question becomes: What are the qualities of innovation? Jeff DeGraff says that – Innovation: is not defined by what it is; but rather what it is not happens in the future for which we have no real [...]
As I read the introduction to Stephen Johnson’s new book, Future Perfect: The Case for Progress in a Networked Age, 2012 I find myself thinking about the interconnectedness of today’s outcomes to the work of many in the years past. In the process of setting up his book, Johnson retells about the story of the [...]
Stuart Firestein, the author of Ignorance: How It Drives Science uses the word ignorance, at least in part, to be intentionally provocative. But let’s take a moment to define the kind of ignorance that Firestein is referring to it, because ignorance as many bad connotations, especially in common usage, and he doesn’t mean any of [...]
When I see young people – I see potential! Currently there are too many students that are left behind. Dropouts, underachievers, and minimal learners are all too common. The current system for educating society’s youth is broken: Broken if we agree that there is student potential that is not being tapped. Yet, there are those [...]
Are the issues of poverty, the lack of English as a first language and the fact that a student is labeled as a Special Education Student reasons why we, in America have many school systems that are experiencing static or regressive achievement results? Does it matter how educators approach the reality of today’s students? Can [...]
The leadership authors and researchers, Kouzes and Posner wanted to learn about the behavioral dimensions admired leaders earned. Kouzes and Posner asked people to give them specific examples of what the leaders they admired the most did to gain their respect, trust, and a willingness to be influenced. How did they behave that help them [...]
If You Are Interested In Organizational Change, You’ll Be Interested In Richard Beckhard’s Famous Equation C = D x V x F > R Change = Dissatisfaction X Vision X First Steps > Resistance C = Change What change do you want for your organization or for yourself? D = Dissatisfaction with Current Situation On [...]
How might all individual students be served if schools, families and communities were to strengthen a shared commitment directed toward the goal of: Schools should be places where all students can and do learn? a student who was highly stimulated with language, social, emotional, nutritional and physical opportunity from ages of 0 to five, a [...]
A bright future for student learning isn’t just a dream!! For effective and helpful leaders – having a clear vision or dream is an essential! In a very simple sense – developing a shared dream or collectively embracing a clear vision – is the work of leadership. “Shared dreams” or a “common vision” provide for [...]
That Used To Be Us: How America Fell Behind In The World It Invented and How We Can Come Back by Thomas L. Frieman and Michael Mandelbaum (2011) was the book that made the biggest impression on me this year. I see this book to be an honest analysis of the America we are living [...]
Roland Heifetz, Alexander Grashow and Marty Linsky in their book -The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World (2009 p 13-17) write about how Adaptive Leadership has roots in evolutionary biology. I think they make a lot of sense. This information can help us as we lead our systems toward more [...]
All rights reserved. Discovery Education is a Division of Discovery Communications LLC. Discovery Educator Network is a service of Discovery Education. Copyright © 2007 Discovery Education.