Leadership to ignite learning

A friend and colleague of mine, Hannah Williams, told me of her experience conversing with classmates at an esteemed and unnamed east coast university. They were listing attributes of dream schools and Hannah said, “fun!” Her classmates all got slightly smirky looks on their faces, as one said (attitude intended here, folks): “Fun doesn’t sound ‘academic’ enough. We are worried people won’t take your school seriously.” Properly chagrinned, Hannah shifted her language to the now ever-present (and often nebulous) term, “engagement.

“Hmmm,” I thought. Are the terms fun and academics mutually exclusive? Isn’t fun an important aspect of engagement? A little research please….

I began by investigating the academic outcomes needed today – beyond the obvious Common Core skills – and jumped immedia...

This may sound like a no-brainer but when my kids were younger, I used the phrase “fair is not always equal” to justify unpopular parenting decisions. It seemed logical at the time and probably still maintains a modicum of reason in certain situations.

But in the face of the many conversations about the shrinking middle class and America’s increasing income differential, the “fair is not always equal” argument becomes far more problematic and suggests far higher stakes than sibling rivalry. There is no doubt that in America we have built a society of un-equal, or to put it correctly, inequality. In comparison to other countries, we are off the chart.

And everywhere we turn, we hear of its toll on kids…. The Children’s Defense Fund tracks and reports statistics on hungry children in threat...

How many of us have been in groups that struggled to complete a task that seemed more suited to individual work? How often have we tried to get students to collaborate around a task only to find that for every group that worked well together there was another that fell apart? There is no doubt that groups are challenging to manage, from the inside or the outside, but it does look like group work is here to stay. The Common Core suggests a renewed emphasis on group work as students are asked to consider multiple solutions to problems and as educators are held accountable for engaging every student. And we are seeing a resurgence of group work in classrooms as a key engagement strategy and forum for increasingly complex academic tasks.

Group work doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as...

Here’s what we know: resourceful schools do more with less. In other words, they are successful regardless of the resources at hand and here’s why. Successful schools are focused. They do more with less by design. They limit their initiatives to a few strategic priorities (this is the “less” part) and make sure they are implemented deeply and fully (this is the “more” part). If you talk with staff at successful schools, you’ll find collective priorities. While this is common practice among high performing organizations, what I call strategic focus is less common in education. When it’s in place, however, staff learn from one another, cultures exhibit more collaboration than competition, and good ideas are actually implemented to the point that they benefit students. Worthwhile ideas are pl...

They’re the newest thing out of Harvard: Instructional Rounds. But aren’t they just walkthroughs repackaged?

We think not. After years of working with those responsible for developing the instructional rounds protocol and facilitating a number of iterations across the country, we can say unequivocally that walkthroughs and rounds are not the same, nor should they be. Both procedures are designed to spark improvements in student learning and they can easily supplement one another, but it’s important to be clear on why either is a good use of time.

To start with, walkthroughs require application of one’s expertise. Generally conducted by an administrator, they’re often used as an implementation audit, checking teacher behaviors against a predetermined list of expected best practices. Many s...

I read a blog the other day in which the author, in what I think was an attempt to discredit the value of collaboration, equated group-work to group-think. Even more interesting was this individual’s claim that promoting the opportunity for students to work alone and independently was a more innovative learning experience than one where students are asked (and taught) to be productive as a team. Where, I wondered, did this come from? Her assertion seems to fly in the face of today’s conventional wisdom that collaboration is an essential skill for students andteachers.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve seen my share of what I’ll term “pseudo-collaboration” in classrooms and among adults. One of the more typical observations my instructional rounds teams make is that the students are...

It’s March Madness, with kids of all sizes playing their hearts out on the basketball court, passing, dribbling, and taking their best shots. Have you ever seen this passion in motion, with players dribbling down the court at breakneck speed toward the basket? Have you ever said to yourself, “slow down!” worried that the ball will get away from them? And then inevitably see just that happen?

It does happen, of course, so much so that the late and legendary basketball coach John Woodenframed one of his famed pearls of wisdom around the notion, “be quick but don’t hurry” knowing that by losing control, players – and leaders – have great difficulty getting the results they want. Wooden claims that when we hurry, we are unable to be deliberate about our actions and are prone to error. Being q...

A wise colleague once noted that even the most researched strategy is no better than your best bet. However certain you may be, you’ll not truly know if it works until you try it. So until it’s proven – in your context, with your students, and with your teachers, it’s still at best (or worst) a guess. A theory.

That’s my first point. That strategy is a guess and that there is some theory behind a decision to use one particular strategy over another, or at least there should be. Having a theory of action that accompanies an improvement strategy requires that someone or, better yet, someone(s) have articulated a rationale behind the strategy. Why do we think professional learning communities will improve student learning? How will adopting a new literacy program grow...

Not to brag, but my colleageus and I are often told how much people appreciate our particular brand of professional development. My Instructional Rounds network members routinely claim their experiences to be the most powerful of their careers. My peers hear the same from our College Prepared Project participants, be they veteran teachers, central office administrators, or building leaders. Why is that? What makes professional development consistently effective? Although one might claim to be entertaining and possess great charisma, in reality professional developers are all quite different in presentation styles and the content in which educators need support educators need support varies widely. There are some common elements of effective practice, though, that highlight my beliefs about...

I spent a week last summer driving across the United States, contemplating along the way which of my experiences most influenced my practice. Through vast spaces of solitude, absent audio books and music, I found myself considering the power of silence. An introvert, I am no stranger to the practice of reflection as a cognitive tool, but as a leadership coach, facilitator, and presenter, silence was not something I would deliberately weave into my work. Silence seemed something my presence intended to fill.

Almost a decade ago, however, I sat in a leadership class taught by Ron Heifetz at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. There I experienced the normative antithesis of most classrooms: silence. Ron greeted his 100 or so students in silence, standing in the front of the lecture hall,...