I have been developing the Dimensions of Observable Growth in collaboration with other educators for more than fifteen years, starting when my own two children were in school in Colorado in the early 2000's. The push for "data driven" decision making in classrooms prompted me to find a way to help teachers in developmental, experiential, … Continue reading the DOG: some background
US education: the productivity problem
Lay an egg … Lay an egg … Lay an egg … @davidshrigley had a whole lot more than schools in mind when he created this image, but I've never seen a more apt depiction of what it must feel like to be a student in this country. For that matter, of what it feels … Continue reading US education: the productivity problem
Space for that
One of the ways we cripple our children is to assume that there's nothing going on inside their heads …
Let me be Zero – teacher as aspiring space holder
I delivered this poem in Amsterdam, at the Annual General Meeting of the Association Montessori Internationale, on April 17, 2016. I wrote it in response to the Executive Director's request that I offer a poetic interlude to celebrate the intersection of the Mathematical and the Pedagogical threads of the conference between sessions. Less than three weeks … Continue reading Let me be Zero – teacher as aspiring space holder
School Accountability, Feedback Systems, and Cupcake Contests
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” – Albert Einstein – My friend Sam is a gravitational physicist who recently made a disappointing foray into high school teaching. In his late career enthusiasm for kindling new flames of lifelong interest by sharing his research passions with high … Continue reading School Accountability, Feedback Systems, and Cupcake Contests
Ladies and gentlemen … your Attention, please! (the first in a series)
Attention is where the rubber of your self-on-its-journey meets the road of community, culture, and environment.
Let’s see … Where was I?
One of the most debilitating things we do to young people is to assume that there’s nothing going on inside their heads until we liberate them from their boredom by creating magical experiences, demonstrating indispensable skills, and sharing profound insights.
Using developmental need to drive adolescent program development
The single most crucial element for the iterative design of developmentally meaningful adolescent programming is what I call a Pull Curriculum. The idea of the Pull Curriculum is informed by my experience as a Montessori teacher and elaborated for the secondary level. Teachers curate a co-working environment, offer collective learning experiences, introduce new materials and ideas, … Continue reading Using developmental need to drive adolescent program development
wax 