PinnedWe Must Seize Today’s Opportunities to Transform Education in San FranciscoSan Francisco is known throughout the world as a beacon for dreamers and doers. Our past is steeped in tales of fortune-seekers and visionaries who arrived here with audacious goals and forged new paths that changed the world. The City’s infectious energy drew me here. On my visit, clanging cable…San Francisco5 min readSan Francisco5 min read
Jan 19, 2019Member-onlyCan A Technology Platform Transform Teaching and Learning?I predict that the slow revolution in technology access, fueled by popular support and continuing as long as there is economic prosperity, will eventually yield exactly what the promoters have sought: every student, like every worker, will eventually have a personal computer. …Education9 min readEducation9 min read
Jan 6, 2019Reinventing Education Starts With Understanding LearningWe are sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours. Hatip to John…Education9 min readEducation9 min read
Nov 30, 2018Reinventing Education: What Do Teachers Need From Leaders?Educators often feel like Alice who, after stepping through the looking glass, found herself in a puzzling world where everything was reversed. Anyone who has taught for more than five years has seen reform initiatives capture the attention and resources of school leaders only to be swept aside for the…Education5 min readEducation5 min read
Nov 6, 2018Reinventing Education: Lessons From A Start-UpWould you go to a hospital that was still operating as it was 100 years ago, or even 10 years ago? Would you be satisfied with a car using 1970 technology? Why would you send your child to a school that looks like the school your grandparents attended? When we…Okr8 min readOkr8 min read
Oct 19, 2018Play: An Essential Element of Student-Driven LearningWhen my best friend and partner, the late Dr. William New, was a child he had very few traditional toys. Instead, his parents gave him radios, flashlights, a hammer and saw, and other “adult tools.” He helped his father construct the family home, built a radio when he was six…Personalization8 min readPersonalization8 min read
Oct 11, 2018Personalization: A Child-Centered Approach To LearningWe need only say one thing to young children: Come as you are! Come with your age-level characteristics. Come with those qualities that make you a unique and special person. School can have the flexibility, imagination, and sensitivity to be ready for the children who come. Does, come as you…Education9 min readEducation9 min read
Sep 17, 2018Personalization: Curiosity and the Parent-Teacher PartnershipDeeply understanding the learner is the foundation of personalization. Teachers and parents can develop a shared understanding of the child as a learner and a human when they work together in an authentic partnership. …Education6 min readEducation6 min read
Sep 10, 2018Personalization: Compassion and the Parent — Teacher PartnershipEveryone agrees children learn best when the significant adults in their lives work together to encourage and support them. With this end in mind, school leaders lay the foundation of productive home-school partnerships by carefully crafting communication plans, so parents understand the nuts and bolts of school life. They listen…Education5 min readEducation5 min read
Sep 2, 2018Empathy: The Essential Ingredient for Transforming Your School Is FreeIf you want to put students at the center of their learning but are not quite sure how to get started, I have good news. The first step and most crucial step is not an expensive technology platform or a complex redesign of assessment for competency education. Does that sound…Education6 min readEducation6 min read
