What if every morning as your students walked into school they were met with huge sign that said “Fail Harder”? And what if you were told to “walk in stupid” to your classroom every day?  Might change the experience on school a bit, no? Interestingly, those are the exact messages that greet the creatives at […]

If you’re an educator and you haven’t read any John Holt, you might want to. His is an interesting, and provocative perspective on schools. In Instead of Education, Holt writes this: “I have learned that no one can truly say ‘Yes’ to an idea, mine or anyone else’s, unless he can freely say ‘No’ to […]

Stat of the Day: 77% of 14 to 29 year olds said they or someone close to them had suffered from mental health issues. 77%. And the #1 issue for that age group? School shootings. I’m thinking of all the supposed “C” skills that we’re supposed to develop in our students, it’s arguable that “coping” […]

There is a lot of angst these days about kids and screens and schools. France has outlawed cell phones inside of the building. Many schools have strict rules around the use of laptops and iPads and whatever else. In most places I’ve visited that do hand out technology, uses by students are narrowed and constrained. […]

Grades matter for one reason only: Because we let them. Lots of kids get high school diplomas without grades. Lots of kids learn lots of stuff without grades. (Adults, too.) Believe it or not, students get into Princeton without grades. People become successful in life (in whatever way you choose to define that) without any […]

Here’s an idea: A Minimal Viable Curriculum (MVC). That’s what Christian Talbot over at Basecamp is proposing, and I have to say, I love the idea. He writes: “What if we were to design MVCs: Minimum Viable Curricula centered on just enough content to empower learners to examine questions or pursue challenges with rigor? Then, […]

I heard an interesting new phrase the other day that someone used to describe the shift we need in schools. She said “We have to move from collecting dots to connecting dots.” I think that works. So much of school is collection. It’s about delivering easily digestible pieces of content that we can then assess […]

One of the things I found myself saying over and over last year was that the one thing that students learn more than anything else in school is how to succeed at school. As a great book by Robert Fried suggests, it’s all about “The Game of School.” So much so that when we do […]

Politicians often talk about maintaining “local control” over schools. But more and more I wonder if that’s such a good thing, especially if those who control things locally don’t bring a global lens to that work. The reality is that education is no longer local. In fact, a truly “local” education may be more of […]

Happy New Year! In case you’re an educator and you’re looking for one more resolution this year, how about something along the lines of: “In my classroom (or my school) this year, I resolve to be a learner first and a teacher second.” Today, the most important role that an adult can play in a […]

So, as we put 2018 in the books, I want to leave you with some inspiration. Too often, when we think about creating a radically different learning experience for students in schools, one that’s built on our beliefs about learning and common sense thinking about how classrooms might operate, we tend to end up feeling […]

Here’s a goal for educators in 2019: Change the way you think about failure. Instead of something to shy away from, make it something to be embraced. To cite an interesting metaphor I heard yesterday, treat failure like compost. It’s not like we never talk about this. It’s not like labeling an effort (or a […]

In his classic book “Mastery,” George Leonard writes, “The modern world, in fact, can be viewed as a prodigious conspiracy against mastery.” That’s why when we see it or hear it or sense it, we’re awed by those who have gained true mastery of a craft or a sport or a talent. Because while mastery […]

As 2018 winds down, I’m thinking back at what I heard kids saying about schools and education. A few quick stories… Early in the year in Sydney, a woman with a troubled look on her face approached me after my keynote. “I have to tell you what my son told me this morning on his […]

At one of the near non-stop family and friends events that happened in the days surrounding the holiday, one moment particularly stands out. Adam, an 11-year old young man whose family got asylum from the Congo a decade or so ago, started cartwheeling his way through our house, with an occasional back walkover thrown in […]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, and while I am aiming on getting back to this space, here are some of the other places I’m writing and publishing. LinkedIn Modern Learners Modern Learners Podcast Change School Thanks as always for your continued support of my work. Will

As I continue my trek through some of the “classics” regarding learning and schools, I’m finding it interesting the belief systems that many authors take pains to articulate when it comes to answering my current favorite question “What do you mean by learning?” And while there are some similar overtones, to be sure, each comes […]

From Diane Ackerman’s One Hundred Names for Love: What we airily label ‘creativity’ typically blends so many features: risk-taking, perseverance, problem-solving, openness to experience, the need to share one’s inner universe, empathy, detailed mastery of a craft, resourcefulness, disciplined spontaneity, a mind of large general knowledge and strength that can momentarily be drawn to a […]

Just read a headline that said “The Future of Learning to Be Revealed!” And all could think of was, “fake news.” This is the same tripe as when educators say stuff like “student learning has changed so much in the past decade” or “kids learn differently today.” No. They really don’t. Nor will they learn […]

From the “I’m An Ex-English Teacher and I Can Make Up New Words Department:” We have a huge focus in schools on literacy, and deservedly so. Almost no one argues that kids don’t need to be able to read and write and do basic math. We measure ourselves by literacy rates. We create rubrics and […]

Got an e-mail this morning that was titled “Google’s Dominance in U.S. K-12 Schools Revealed In EdWeek Market Brief Special Report.” According to the summary, Google is now a “bona fide education company” because it meets schools’ demand for “simple, easy-to-integrate products.” Yay. Over half of educators say they would hire Google to “increase student […]

The first couple of months of this year, I’ve been focused on two things. First, watching my kid play his senior year of high school basketball, which has been just awesome. (State Champs!) But a close second has been my resolve to do what I can to raise the level of the conversation around change […]

“The role of the teacher is to create the conditions for invention rather than provide ready-made knowledge.” ~Seymour Papert, (The Connected Family: Bridging the Digital Generation Gap, p45) Right now, think about the typical classroom in whatever school that is a part of your life. Whether you’re a parent, a teacher, a superintendent, take an inventory […]

I’m becoming more curious about curiosity. I’m beginning to think it’s the only “C” that truly matters, and that it’s been badly disrespected in all the conversation around the 4Cs or 7Cs or howevermanyCs that people have been throwing around. I mean really, when it comes to learning, what comes before curiosity? Critical thinking doesn’t, […]

It’s time to raise the bar on our conversations around school change. For too long, we’ve been paying lip service to “transformation,” unwilling or unable to reimagine our work in schools in ways that are fully relevant for the realities of the modern world. And as we pursue half-measures to become “better,” we neglect the […]

About a week ago I grabbed Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig off my bookshelf and cracked it open for the first time since I first read it probably 30 years ago. I didn’t remember much of the story, but I did remember thinking it was an important read the first time around. And […]

From the “Sometimes Your Read Something That Makes You Want to Scream ‘THIS!’ Department” I give you Sean Michael Morris: “This is the right of agency. It does not give us power over another, but it gives us mastery over ourselves. And an education that does not encourage or facilitate this agency is not an […]