When we talk about educating ALL students, our calling is to include the brilliant and the disabled, the rich and the poor, the global citizen and those who remain rooted in the community of origin. Sometimes we have difficulties having conversations about these groups as well. But anecdotal data reveal that it is almost treacherous to open a conversation about race.  Before working to change that, we are called to question our beliefs about race.  What is it? What do we believe about…

What will be the results from the shrinking childhood today's children are experiencing? We hope people will not passively wait and see what the lasting effects will be. We urge educators to begin considering this issue and make proactive decisions. Teachers of the early grades have found themselves responsible for more and more academics and increasingly numbers of schools have limited or eliminated recess as the academic press took hold. Recess and physical education were places…

How can teachers help students develop problem-solving skills when they themselves, even though confronted with an array of problems every day, may need to become better problem solvers? Our experience leads us to conclude that there is an expertise in a certain kind of problem-solving that teachers possess but that broader problem-solving skills are sometimes wanting.There are a few reasons why this happens. One reason may be that teacher preparation programs remain focused on how to…

Homework is the best example of how educators can improve the use of practice. No matter whether as an educator or a parent, homework as practice remains a standard that might serves many purposes. Teachers use homework to offer students a chance to reinforce what they have learned and what they complete contributes, most often, to a grade. Parents use homework to see what their children are learning and some use it to become partners in the learning experience. Interesting, if it…

 Schools, their students, teachers and leaders, hold the future of this country in their hands.  Yes, it sounds like hyperbolic, but it is not.  The fiscal environment of education combined with changing demographics over the last decade or so coexisting with expanding career options and economic shifts has led to declining enrollment in teacher preparation programs. As a…

I am very protective of my little brother. I have autism and he does too, along with ADHD. He's  a lot younger--I  am a sophomore in high school and he's entering the second grade. He's  getting to the age where I started to really have problems in school and that makes me even more protective.

I've written about it before, but at his age, I really struggled with…

When physicians decided to go from performing surgery on cancerous tumors to adding pumping chemicals into patients' bodies and then exposing them to targeted radiation was there a clamor by the public to call this "a bit adorable"?  Actually it has continued as the protocol for many, even though to a non-medically trained ear, it sounds "a bit frightening. "Think about changes in the medical world. No one outside of the profession would feel they had a voice in a progressive move…

Schools continually examine where they are in relationship to where they want to be. In that process, they have to determine their effectiveness, the practices to hold dear and those to release. That is different from what has happened over these past few decades.  As change has occurred, in order to learn and change and adapt, some things have been abandoned that should be brought back but with a new spin, adapting to today's environment. …

Educational leaders are public servants. There is little room in public budgets (or in public acceptance) for the care of those who are paid with public funds. Yet, the life price to be paid for being the CEO and the school leader can be similar. Tremendous responsibility, little tolerance for error and stress is part of the work. Read…

Newspapers, magazines, and journals today are filled with articles about the evils of grades. Writers tell us that grades warp student motivation, destroy the morale of teachers, and corrupt the education process. The solution most suggest is to do away with grades completely so that students focus more on learning. But while the pursuit of high grades can divert some students' attention from the true purpose of education, abandoning grades will not solve these problems.…

What should schools look like?  We believe there are some overarching concepts that should apply to all schools. They begin with purpose and what we know about children learning. We also believe that there are local visionaries who includes advocates and adversaries from within and outside of the community and wonders about what might be.    Read more...

Hate speech and actions are on the rise in our country.  It has long been our belief that leadership is first about who you are and how that informs your actions, and second about knowing how to perform the tasks of the job. Some are drawing a direct line between the words and actions of the POTUS and the polarization and extremism rising around us. We do, and that direct line is why.  Leaders, whether of  countries, states, towns, school districts, boards of education, schools,…

Teachers are returning to their classrooms and leaders are thinking about and delivering their orientation day remarks. Most leaders have, themselves, also been teachers. They know that some days can be really hard and they remember the days when they were frustrated. But, they also know the better days, the ones that captured a light in a child's eye or the joy of stellar test marks that made a difference in a college acceptance or a performance that was memorable. They also know that…

The values that built our country must be claimed and spoken out loud over and over again. A new school year has already begun in some parts of the country and we wonder what will be said about the weekend news. Schools cannot simply hope that this event and events like it will stay far away from our communities and outside of the walls of the school building. News enters our homes, pops up on smartphones and sends us alerts. In some families and churches and communities, there will be…

When adults and children work and learn in an environment that supports risk taking and celebrates even the small successes and views failure as an opportunity for more learning, the environment becomes rich and dynamic with teaching and learning. That is what schools reach for...engaged, dynamic, learning environments that invite all to be learners and changers, to be gardeners attending the growth of themselves and each other. Understanding the fear of failure in one's self and in…

There are two types of students. Those who do well and those who wish they did well. In mathematics, particularly, there is a societal acceptance when even college-graduated adults shrug their shoulders and admit, "I'm just not good at math."  Few would admit, "I'm just not a good reader." But some do reveal, "I don't enjoy or partake in reading except when I have to". As the focus on subjects and tests overshadow the objectives of developing life-long learners, these are the results. …

There is a continuing conservative direction expressed by the federal administration that feels to us to be exclusive while at the same time public schools struggle to be inclusive. Questioning beliefs is a good thing. Reexamining past practice helps to update, modernize, refine some things and abandon others. However, beginning with accusation and fear is not a productive path. As we've shared before, we believe what is happening in the world outside of schools will arrive within its…

We know of no leadership training program leading to certification that focuses on courage. What is courage? How is it developed? Does it strengthen in risk taking, in failure or success? And, we guess, an essential question arises of whether or not leadership calls for courage. Or is skill and knowledge enough? A lucky candidate may come across a professor who includes an investigation of courage in her coursework or who tells stories of experiences where courage was invoked. We…

It appears that more than in the past, current political happenings and the actions of the President find their way into our minds and our blog. As local school leaders, can you allow yourself to say what you don't mean or something that is totally untrue? Can you be flippant and forgiven? Can you surround yourself with chaos and deem yourself successful? These privileges of the POTUS do not find their way into local leadership arenas. Nor should they. But, beware, they may be finding…

When the President Trump uses the words "hell" and "cesspool", encourages scouts to boo a previous president (who was a Boy Scout), expresses disdain for his Attorney General and his defeated opponent, and relies on hyperbole as if it were truth, what is he teaching? When he asserts that he is being presidential, what does that mean? What are the Boy Scouts and other young people learning about behaviors that are acceptable from those with power and influence? These are the ones we use…