We form opinions and beliefs quickly and often without a solid and objective foundation. It is instinctive. Noise and input never stop; we have a 24-hour news cycle, digital messages are incessant, we carry our phones at the ready, on hips, in bags or on our writs, opinions flood in. In our part of the country, we can contrast this normalcy to the day of a big snow storm when everything shuts down and the power is out. Silence, itself, is loud those days. So, we argue for the need to…

I had a new experience this month. Somebody, probably a professor of education, referred to me in a comment as "just a novelist."

Who uses a phrase like that as an insult? Just a stockbroker. Just a doctor. Just a  carpenter. Just an artist. Just a poet. Why would those things be bad?

 So I immediately thought: this is a flimsy and desperate insult. A little mind at work.

 Then I thought about it some more. Anybody who can write a novel, even a…

For days, we have watched this man move from the Fiat to the Popemobile. We have seen him in Cathedrals, in the US Congress, the UN General Assembly, at the World Meeting of Families, with children and with the homeless. We have marveled at his leadership and at his smile. As he prepares to leave this country and return to the Vatican, we find ourselves compelled to say what we have observed. How can we not? We care about leaders and leadership and have been watching the man who holds…

School Leadership 2.0 Editor's Note:

 SL 2.0 members, Kimberly Licato (Westhampton Beach School District) and Jackie Ammirato (Longwood School District) recently toured Finland to see firsthand the school system that is arguably the best in the world.  They share their impressions in a series of blog posts that continue today.  Thanks Kimberley…

A serious rift exists between the students who freely use technology and the Internet and their educators who hesitate, hold negative biases, and yes, sometimes remain blissfully ignorant of the very environment in which their students have become explorers. This is not only a classroom issue. It is a cultural issue. It is an issue that calls school and district leaders into the fray.  …

Our Education Establishment has always been fast on its feet sophistrywise.

If saying the sky is blue will help push through some new gimmick, the sky is blue. But if saying the sky is gray will help the cause, then the sky is gray. These people are very expedient. Isn't that the correct word for someone who will shamelessly do whatever it takes?

 Automaticity has been one of the central themes throughout the last hundred years. Sometimes it's very very good.…

Changing the way teaching and learning takes place requires learning for teachers and leaders and support from the teachers and the leaders both. It is a heavy lift.  Support has to be ongoing and it has to be informed. No more one-shot in-service sessions for teachers where leaders walk through to offer a nod of approval and encouragement. This change of teaching and learning behaviors requires the serious attention and participation of school leaders. Making connections between the reasons…

School Leadership 2.0 Editor's Note:

 SL 2.0 members, Kimberly Licato (Westhampton Beach School District) and Jackie Ammirato (Longwood School District) recently toured Finland to see firsthand the school system that is arguably the best in the world.  They share their impressions in a series of blog posts that start today.  Thanks Kimberley…

 No doubt there will be much follow-up and press, articles, responses, and perhaps a law suit.  But even without knowing more about the details of the case, we think the facts mentioned above serve as enough information to provoke questions about how we address issues of bias, prejudice, policies, practices, and common sense. The treatment of Ahmed Mohamed should serve as a wake-up call for everyone to step back, just a moment, to reflect on our fears and our rushes to judgment.  What would…