Front and center in our schools, right?
So these are front and center in our schools, right? Not content, right?
Image credit: World Economic Forum, 2020
So these are front and center in our schools, right? Not content, right?
Image credit: World Economic Forum, 2020
Here are a pair of tweets for ya. So true…
When the always-marvelous Catlin Tucker invited me to be a guest on her podcast, The Balance, I accepted immediately. I think the world of Catlin’s work.
My episode was released a few days ago. Catlin and I talked about my new book (Leadership for Deeper Learning), leadership during the pandemic, how school administrators could (and shouldn’t) support educators’ self-care, and much more. The folks at StudySync did a nice job of summarizing some of what we discussed. Hope you enjoy our conversation…
Happy listening!
I had the pleasure of talking with some folks from the Actionable Innovations community last week. Here are the show notes and the video is below. Thank you, Lucy and Don, for the invite!
Happy viewing!
“It’s ironic that a shift away from a focus on preparation (take Algebra 1 because you need it for Algebra 2, which you might need to go to college which you might need to get a job) to a focus on difference making is the best possible form of preparation for the innovation economy. A portfolio of work that demonstrates expanding contribution to causes that matter — to a young person and their community — is far more valuable to most colleges and employers than a list of courses passed.
What if, instead of a list of required courses, high school was organized around the opportunity to contribute?”
Vander Ark & Liebtag, Difference Making at the Heart of Learning, 2021 (p. 80)
Download this file. See also my other slides.
You can have a school that emphasizes control and compliance.
Or you can have a school that emphasizes student voice, agency, and risk-taking.
But you can’t have both.
Download this file. See also my other slides.
I’ve been blogging about bringing in outside helpers…
Here are three big questions to ask AFTER a visit from an outside helper:
Great times to ask these questions include about a week after the visit (when the gloss has worn off) and also about 3 to 6 months after the visit (when the work should be well underway)…
How much of your work with outside helpers has resulted in tangible, concrete, actionable, beneficial changes in your school(s)? If not much, why is that?
School resources are always limited, whether they be time, money, attention, energy, or personnel. Before you hire an outside helper for your school(s), here are some questions you might ask…
Some questions to ask the outside helper (before you hire them) include…
These are just a few to get started… What else would you add here?
This fall I started working with the Mattoon (Illinois) Community Schools. They are doing some really important transformational work for such a small district, including significant investments in
The gods in charge of airport travel smiled upon me this pandemic week, which meant that I had the pleasure of spending Monday in person with teachers, coaches, administrators, school board members, and families in Mattoon. Here’s what my schedule looked like:
It was a long but important, productive, and incredibly fulfilling day. We made some great progress on Monday and I am looking forward to our continued work together this spring. These long-term partnerships are where the magic happens!
Which brings me to the title of this blog post…
Schools, are you putting your outside helpers to work? I see so many one-and-done keynotes or workshops. We know that they don’t really make a difference, right? Sure, it’s nice to get uplifted for 90 minutes about the importance and value of our teaching and leadership work. And, yes, we can get a taste of something helpful in an hour or so. But long-term transformations don’t stem from short-term engagements. If you don’t have the time, inclination, or budget for a longer-term engagement with someone whom you think can help you, at least insist on more of their time during the day that they’re with you. Why would you ask them to only spend an hour or two with your educators and community? Ask your outside helpers to focus deeply on the WHAT and the HOW, not just the WHY, and have a follow-up plan for implementation and support of your educators that goes beyond wishful thinking: “We heard about this for an hour at our district kick-off meeting so go off and do this now at a high level.” Anything less seems like you’re just wasting time, energy, attention, and money? Maybe you have an overabundance of those in your school organization but I’m guessing not…
Want to learn more about the work I’m doing with Mattoon and others? Please don’t hesitate to reach out!
Below is a 15-minute video that I made for a school district’s families and community members. The first 3.5 minutes will sound familiar to those of you who’ve watched my TEDxDesMoines talk. After that, I branch into some new directions…
Hope this is useful to you. Happy viewing!