Emotional Anorexia
Emotional Anorexia By William Sommers “Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast” Peter Drucker I ask you a question, “What are we waiting for?” Working in schools for over 40 years I keep hearing professionals (teachers and administrators) whining about not feeling appreciated. Yes, in many schools I have been a […]
Supervising Principals by Saphier & Durkin
Supervising Principals: How Central Office Administrators Can Improve Teaching and Learning in the Classroom — The Missing Link for Scaling Up School Improvement Jon Saphier & Pia Durkin Many change agents agree that putting a good principal in every school is the key to improving classroom instruction. Findings by the […]
Testing Destiny
As Pete Seeger sang years ago, “when will we ever learn?” Yes, that dates me and gives me over 40 years of perspective in education. So, my question is, knowing the results of the testing every child, when will we learn that this is not working? We all know Einstein’s […]
Comfort Stories: Stealing our Collective Intelligence
When I got home, as is my wont, I eagerly reached for the newspapers that had piled up on the steps. I wanted to find out what happened the past 3 days while I was away at a conference. Staring me in the face was the headline pictured here. My […]
SSDD
“The more things change the more they stay the same” — Bon Jovi Been thinkin’ a lot lately about education and schools and learning. That’s what happens when Bill calls, asking if I have a couple of minutes. He’s discovered some of the great quotes in whatever books he’s reading. […]
The five myths of NYC education reform
The five myths of NYC education reform by Winifred Radigan While education reform has been on the front burner of political platforms and public opinion pages, sadly, true reform continues to give way to quick fixes and bureaucratic structural changes that fail to have a positive and lasting impact on […]
Growing Lilies in the Desert
“There I said it again,” is a song lyric that some of us mature (ok old) people know. That lyric resonated with me as I read Jon Saphier’s article, “Growing Lilies in the Desert”. In two previous posts Saphier is explicit and committed to a vision of what is possible. […]
Years on the defensive, it’s time to get creative!
It seems to me that our growth as a profession in education has been “delayed”, stunted, if you will. We’ve spent the last 10 years or so on the defensive, trying with everything we had, to deal forthrightly with the bureaucrats and idiots who have controlled education policy. With the […]
Feedback that Supports Learning for Everyone
by Giselle O. Martin-Kniep Feedback affect us and helps us learn. While some of the feedback we receive stems from within us through our engagement with a task or with information, much of the feedback we receive and give stems from our interactions with others. Since most feedback is relational, […]
No, “No,” and Know
Everyone can use appropriate doses of feedback.No feedback is debilitating. It keeps educators from being able to determine whether or not they are on the right track, whether or not supervisors care, and keeps good communication in the unknown. Everybody is busy. That is an old tiresome excuse. What […]