Engage Your Kids during COVID
I keep hearing from friends who are parents, friends who are teachers, and people who are bored. I am on the board of directors for Stevie Rays Improv Group. Yes, I have taken several sets of classes to get better at presentation skills. I encouraged Steve to offer improv classes, […]
Mugged by 360 degree Feedback
Mugged by 360o Feedback Frank Wagner, PhD Have you ever been assailed by a gang on the street? Feedback from all sides, in the form of 360o feedback, can feel akin to such a confrontation. Surrounded on the street, the more vocal assailants seem downright combative. Other gang members appear […]
Power of the Badge
The Power of the Badge A DEA officer stops at a ranch in Montana, and talks with an old rancher. He tells the rancher, ‘I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs.’ The old rancher says, ‘Okay, but do not go in that field over there’ as he […]
Thank You Shirley Hord
Since Shirley’s passing last month I have done a lot of reflecting on her influence on my professional life. Long before I ever met Shirley, in the 80s, I was using her work, and that of Gene Hall, as a principal and as a staff developer. I taught Concerns-Based Adoption […]
The Martyrdom of Andy Drake
This story is adapted from a 2nd helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul Andy Drake was a nice young man whose classmates liked but they harassed him. He took the kidding in stride and warmly said, “Thank You.” The fifth graders seem to use Andy as their relief from […]
The Sense of Wonder
The Sense of Wonder They say all things are wondrous to a child. I say the sense of wonder grows with age. The child accepts the faceless voice that speaks through telephones, takes moonwalk in his stride, nor doubts that man can fly in winged machines. He knows the sun […]
Questions
To stress the power of inquiry, we often tell the story of Isidor Rabi, winner of the Nobel Prize for physics. After winning this prize, Rabi told audiences, “I don’t think I am smarter than others, I just know how to ask good questions.” He credits his mother with this […]
Let’s Get Specific about Trust
The Learning Professional | www.learningforward.org December 2018 | Vol. 39 No. 6 Let’s get specific about how leaders can build trust WHAT I’VE LEARNED – Jon Saphier School leadership literature repeatedly identifies trust as essential for creating high-gain schools — schools where student gain scores are more than one year’s […]
GRRReat
We all want great learning, great schools, and great success in the future. For the past several years the narrow focus has been on test scores. Schools compete with other schools, states and provinces compete with other states and provinces, and PISA scores seem to be the only assessment measure […]
Failure IS an Option
We have been around a long time, both over 40 years in education, and worked in many parts of the country. One of us, mostly as a building principal, and the other as former teacher, counselor, and union business agent. We have heard lots of rhetoric about what needs to […]