View as slideshow 1. Grant Lichtman@GrantLichtmanFirst #naisac13 session to attend today: @NishantMehta on leaders creating value through empowerment.Thu, Feb 28 2013 02:46:48ReplyRetweetFavorite 2. Greg Bamford@gregbamford@GrantLichtman you chose a good one! @nishantmehta knows his stuff. #NAISAC13Thu, Feb 28 2013 04:56:45ReplyRetweetFavorite 3. Jill Gough@
Today marks the first full day of the National Business Officers Association's (NBOA) 15th Annual Meeting. NBOA is a new experience for me and one I came to due to the strong recommendation of my Business Manager, Robert Powers, the publication of my article in their Nov/Dec
danah boyd, social media guru on teen behavior and busting silos: To a teenager growing up in a networked world, this model [of zero sharing with networks outside one's organization] makes absolutely zero sense. Even if they've been trained in a traditional educational environment where collaboration
I've recently become interested in administrator evaluation models. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has done a lot of work on this topic, however their focus is on identifying the best teachers. Here are three articles/resources I came across this week on evaluating administrators - 1. Seven
Tom Friedman in The New York Times: Now, notes Craig Mundie, one of Microsoft’s top technologists, not just elites, but virtually everyone everywhere has, or will have soon, access to a hand-held computer/cellphone, which can be activated by voice or touch, connected via the cloud to infinite applications
James Paul Gee quoted by Will Richardson: Success in the 21st century at work and in life requires collaboration, collective intelligence, and smart teams using smart tools. In our fast-changing world, a world that faces many serious crises, being able to cope with challenge, to persist past failure, to learn
George Couros on customizing the learning paradigm: is not assume a standard solution works in a personalized world via Revisiting Cursive. I like to call Couros' statement on personalizing the curriculum for each student as Differentiation 2.0. Good schools and great educators have been differentiating their curriculum for
1. A Twitter Chat: How Technology Can Help Bridge the Skills Gap From GigaOm: Educators and technologists debate how new and emerging technologies and models of education can prepare students for professional life in the 21st century. 2. Why Can Some Kids Handle the Pressue While Others Fall Apart From
Many of you may be aware that I will be moving on after five years at Alexandria Country Day School to assume the headship at The Children's School in Atlanta. I am thrilled to join such a wonderful, progressive community of educators, students, trustees, and families, and look
Christina Hoff Sommers, author of The War Against Boys : studyThe Journal of Human Resources via The Boys at the Back - NYTimes.com.
Last Wednesday, I had the privilege of co-presenting with another NAIS friend/colleague of mine to forty administrators and faculty of The Gilman School in Baltimore, on the topic of leading and managing change in schools. Embedded at the end of this blog post, the presentation we gave covered topics
"Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the road less traveled... and it hurt man! Rocks, thorns. Not cool, Robert Frost!" "What if Michael Jordan had quit? Then he'd never have made Space Jam. And I love Space Jam." * Kid President A
Will Richardson (Twitter and blog): The only place. Why is that? via for the love of learning: Richardson: Rethink Assessment. There's no one answer to Will's question, of course. I believe it lies in our (i.e., adults') fear of technology, lack of privacy as
KJ Dell'Antonia writing on her Motherlode blog on a research study out of Australia: ...As they grow up, those milestones begin to feel so much less clear. When should a child cross the street alone? Be able to enter a store and politely and successfully make a purchase?
Steven Greenhouse writing in The New York Times: Do not just tell workers not to post confidential information, Ms. Keyser said. Instead, tell them not to disclose, for example, trade secrets, product introduction dates or private health details. But placing clear limits on social media posts without crossing the legal
Jennifer Dooren writing in The Wall Street Journal on the rise in diagnosis of ADHD among children, especially in high-income homes: The study, published online in JAMA Pediatrics, found that 4.9% of children treated through insurer Kaiser Permanente Southern California were diagnosed with ADHD during the decadelong study. The
Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield writing in The New York Times: Less common but vastly more effective is the cognitive approach that Professor Argyris called double-loop learning. In this mode we question every aspect of our approach, including our methodology, biases and deeply held assumptions. This more psychologically nuanced self-examination
“If [an employee] leaves a good boss, we looked to see how long his productivity remains high … and if that productivity gain he gets from working for a good boss is persistent, we believe that’s teaching,” said [Kathryn] Shaw, who co-authored the study with Stanford colleague Edward Lazear and
Great advice for parents and teachers alike about ways to build a positive relationship. Here are my selections from the article that I consider worth noting and that we constantly illuminate for our community here at Alexandria Country Day School: For our parents: “We all need to learn how to
According to linguist, Dennis Baron, interviewed by Barbara King for NPR: "Census figures from the 2009 American Community Survey...show about 20 percent of residents over age five speak a language other than English at home. Most of them also speak at least some English, and those who don&
Tracy Grant in The Washington Post: I offer up an alternate resolution for the rest of the 2013: Be a more neglectful parent. I’m not actually advocating neglect — just a little less hovering, a little less worrying, a little less intervening. If we give it a try, we might
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here's an excerpt: 2,700 I blogged a total of 51 posts, and visitors from over 54 countries viewed my blog, with most of them, naturally, from the United States. Apparently, visitors from India
Calvin and Hobbes remains, to this day, one of my favorite cartoon series for its ability to capture reality, and for its fascination with the beauty and innocence of childhood.
As an educator in an elementary school myself, I mourn the children, adults, and families who lost their loved ones yesterday. Just as deeply, I mourn the loss of childhood, for those who lost their lives as well as those who survived - the town, the school, teachers, students, and
"Leaders can let you fail without letting you be a failure." Is this also a quality of great teaching? What about parenting?
One of my favorite new sites, Brain Pickings, has compiled a best of 2012 list of various book genres. The following link takes you to her collection of the best illustrated children's books and picture books of 2012. There are many, many gems to choose from, and her
Wired via The Jeff Bezos School of Long-Term Thinking :: Tips :: 99U. Most independent schools have a three or five-year strategic plan. However, many are also moving away from such traditional and time-bound structures, and putting in place more fluid and flexible long-range plans. I wonder how Bezos' ideas of
Grant Wiggins on the power of Twitter: What social media and similar forums do is solve one of the great shortcomings of traditional education: isolation and ignorance of ‘best practice’." I've previously blogged about crowdsourcing as a leadership tool, as well as presented to new teachers at
Paul Tough in How Children Succeed:When it comes to ambition,” Rowson [a chess grandmaster] wrote, “it is crucial to distinguish between ‘wanting’ something and ‘choosing’ it.” Decide that you want to become world champion [in chess], Rowson explained, and you will inevitably fail to put in the necessary hard
David Brooks, The New York Times columnist, writes in a 2011 article in The New Yorker: We’ve spent a generation trying to reorganize schools to make them better, but the truth is that people learn from the people they love. via What the science of human nature can teach
Alix Spiegel of NPR writes: In Eastern cultures, Stigler says, it's just assumed that struggle is a predictable part of the learning process. Everyone is expected to struggle in the process of learning, and so struggling becomes a chance to show that you, the student, have what it
Innovation is not born out out of a committee; innovation is a fight. It’s messy, people die, but when the battle is over, something unimaginably significant has been achieved. via Rands In Repose. This quotation raises three very intriguing questions for me. 1. How does innovation happen in independent
This article, written by me, appeared in the November-December 2012 issue of Net Assets magazine, published by the National Business Officers Association (NBOA). It addresses questions surrounding how independent schools can change without losing their core identity! Enjoy and post your feedback in the comments section. [scribd id=112376552 key=
Can creativity be taught? Absolutely. The real question is: “How do we teach it?” In school, instead of crossing subjects and classes, we teach them in a very rigid manner. Very rarely do you witness math and science teachers or English and history teachers collaborating with each other. Sticking in
I'm sometimes asked the question , "What is your leadership style?" My usual response has been along the lines of, I believe in a collaborative process and being transparent. I don't believe that consensus is essential in every instance but the best leaders employ a
I've been on a bit of a hiatus this summer and early fall, partly due to travel, both personal and professional, and partly because I've been collecting thoughts, resources, online mentors (yes, it's no longer necessary in this day and age to know or
We have a case to make, I think, for valuing the immeasurable over that which can be easily measured, and that the powerful role that schools can play now is not delivering that narrow curriculum which is now in a million places but in developing the skills and dispositions or
Today's strip:
The problem is that innovation is not a purely additive process; more is not better. We must forcefully overcome our natural aversion to getting rid of the comfortable blankets of the here and now before we can rebuild in an uncluttered state. via Destroy, Then Create « The Learning Pond. So
Our peer mediators at Alexandria Country Day School design and enact skits each year for the full school on good teasing, bad teasing, and unintentional bad teasing. The quote below is extremely helpful in recognizing when teasing crosses the line. Researchpointed me toward But some teasing, called “prosocial teasing” by
In 1995, Robert X. Cringely interviewed Steve Jobs, then the head of NeXT. That entire “lost interview” is now available for rental in iTunes and through YouTube. via Apple Won't Tell You, But Steve Jobs' Lost Interview Available Now In iTunes -- AppAdvice. I saw this 1995
In the spirit of July 4th, I hope you enjoy the following piece from Andrew Sullivan of The Daily Dish: I believe in life. I believe in treasuring it as a mystery that will never be fully understood, as a sanctity that should never be destroyed, as an invitation to
Fascinating article in The New Yorker on the crisis in modern American parenting - here's one tidbit contrasting us with the French: Bringing Up Bébé via Why Are American Kids So Spoiled? : The New Yorker. What's perhaps most interesting to me about the paragraph above is
I have been a member of the NAIS Summer Diversity Institute (SDI) faculty for six years now. The attached presentation represents the ideas and experiences of many mentors, educators, and organizational management books, and as such is simply my attempt to present to the SDI participants tools and strategies they
Two very different but interlinked analysis of the highly publicized incident of a public school bus monitor, Karen Klein, being taunted and mocked by students on the bus: Charles Blow in the NYTimes: This kind of behavior is not isolated to children and school buses and suburban communities. It stretches
Today is day 2 of the NAIS Summer Diversity Institute (SDI). At the opening session yesterday, Jay introduced the faculty as one of the most functional groups he has worked with. What defines the functionality of a group or a team? At SDI, we build community intentionally and daily. Relationships
Starting another session as a facilitator (my sixth!) this week at the NAIS Summer Diversity Institute (SDI). We have 74 participants coming this year - more than the 68 NAIS generally caps it at - with another 12 on the wait list! I have often said to my colleagues back
“Steve taught us all not to focus on the past — to be future-focused. If you’ve done something great or done something terrible in the past, don’t focus on it.” via Steve Jobs Was an Awesome Flip-Flopper, Says Tim Cook - Peter Kafka - D10 - AllThingsD. This idea
I have been contemplating recently about the state of professional development in schools. The term "professional development" generally evokes a conference or a workshop/institute held outside of the school's facilities and run by an external organization and attended by educators from several other schools, locally,
This is my part of a presentation given tonight to ACDS parents at a Town Hall meeting on the State of the School. [slideshare id=12751755&doc=innovativelearningacdstownhall-120430210420-phpapp02]
I wrote this article to address some of the questions surrounding innovation that are rarely asked or addressed concretely in the literature on 21st Century Schools. Innovation is necessary and essential, but it also comes at a cost to the school culture. Hope you enjoy reading this piece as much
I gave this presentation last Wednesday to the ACDS Board of Trustees on the changing educational landscape, and how independent schools must innovate more to best prepare their students for the 21st century. NAIS and Pat Bassett's presentation at the 2012 Annual Conference provides the basis for much
Green Acres' David Darefsky and I gave this presentation today as part of Independent Education's Beginning Teachers Institute. Our foundation rests on the premise that teachers and administrators need to embrace technology and social networking sites like Twitter and other Web 2.0 tools in order to
As the Assistant Head of School, I consider myself to be in the enviable position of working on a variety of strategic curricular initiatives simultaneously with a variety of people connected to our school. This also requires that I keep up with educational trends, journals, and any other literature published
Click here to check out the student newspaper, The Bobcat Globe, written and published by our 8th grade students this week, covering the 2012 Festival of Learning theme of Endangered Species. Thanks to faculty editors, Todd Gilbert and David Carpenter, for leading and guiding the students in their writing and
At the recent NAIS Annual Conference in Seattle, Pat Bassett, the President of NAIS, shared the following ten trends for schools to remain competitive and fulfill their mission promise in the 21st century: 1. Adopting backward design and mapping of curriculum around skills rather than subjects 2. Documenting student outcomes
http://plpnetwork.com/2012/03/05/nishant-n-mehta-is-leading-teachers-to-use-web-2-0-tools/ Nishant N. Mehta is Leading Teachers To Use Web 2.0 tools Posted by christen on Mar 5, 2012 in PD, Powerful Learning Practice | 0 comments Nishant N. Mehta Assistant Head of School PLP eCourses attract participants from across the globe to learn
In a recent entry in The Washington Post, Jay Mathews highlights nine ways to choose a great school for a child. The advice ranges from attending a PTA meeting to not worry if you hear that a middle school has problems. I particularly like the suggestions Mr. Mathews has for
During Samuel Palmisano's tenure as chief executive of IBM, the company became: A textbook case of how to drive change in a big company — when so much of the study of business innovation focuses on start-ups and entrepreneurs.This column is a glimpse of the thinking behind some
The number of students in virtual schools run by educational management organizations rose sharply last year, according to a new report being published Friday, and far fewer of them are proving proficient on standardized tests compared with their peers in other privately managed charter schools and in traditional public schools.
"I took my child on weekly trips to bookstores where he could select one or two books. A weekly trip to the library works just as well. Selecting the book suggests ownership, and gives the child control over the process. Perhaps the child can make a list of the
Back in December 2011, Will Richardson penned a provocative blog post titled, "Are You an Old School or a Bold School?" That article has been tweeted and retweeted several times over and some educators have gone on to further elaborate on his concept of bold schools. Will himself
“Within one to two years, every independent school will cost more than $40,000,” said one board member at a top school who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the school had not yet set tuition. And that is before requests for the annual fund, tickets to the yearly
In today's New York Times, Thomas Friedman has penned a provocative article that is a must-read for all educators. Friedman writes: In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won’t
Michael Tsai on Apple's Textbooks Announcement: Glenn Fleishman: Kids are bored. The iPad is fun and engaging, Schiller explained. This is the same contention made for decades, and I challenge readers to find any longitudinal studies tracking students who have used or are using packaged multimedia-enhanced instruction showed
Matt Burns of TechCrunch writes in response to today's Apple Education event in New York City: I do not want my children learning math proofs on iPads. I simply do not see the value in it. iPads will not help with identifying sentence clauses or writing an essay.
I'm really excited about Apple's Education announcement, which just wrapped up earlier this morning. Steve Jobs famously said to his biographer, Walter Isaacson, that there are three industries he would have liked to reinvent: textbooks, digital photography, and television. This announcement marks Apple's first
Derrick Willard writes: I am not convinced that traditional schools are the environment in which innovations arise. Why? One reason schools do not serve as hotbeds of innovation was made event by Josie Holford, Headmaster of Poughkeepsie Day School. Schools are conservative institutions- we tend to teach methods that have
Peter M. DeWitt writes: As an elementary school principal, it's interesting to me that students may leave my office feeling the same way that I did in seventh grade. Although I do have a couple of frequent flyers most of the kids who get sent to me need
“Learning is always rebellion… Every bit of new truth discovered is revolutionary to what was believed before.” ~Margaret Lee Runbeck What an interesting shift to remember that learning isn’t an act of compliance but an act of provocation and rebellion. via Learning is Always Rebellion [Great Work Quote] | Box
I had an interesting conversation yesterday with Elizabeth, our Assistant Head of Lower School and School Librarian. Elizabeth is an avid reader and epitomizes what it means to be a lifelong learner. She's always open to new ideas and perspectives and reads widely and indiscriminately to inform herself
This past Saturday, we met with our 5th grade team that has been implementing the 1:1 iPad Pilot. Many great reflections and actions came from the day's discussions, including a stop-doing list (à la Jim Collins) for the new year and collaborating with the students on our
There's a Buddhist saying: "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." For the last several months, I have been engaged in research via the blogosphere and Twitterverse that sometimes feels nothing less than a Master's thesis. Last January, I led a Middle
