Stop Talking About Summer Vacation!

Write about your summer vacation.

How many of you wrote on that topic, or something very similar, when you were in school? How many of you wrote about it many, many times? Honestly, I can't remember a first day of school that did not include a summer vacation activity.

Now take a moment and ask yourself, what does this focus on summer vacation say about the culture of learning at your school, or in your classroom? More specifically:

How does this make students feel who don't have awesome summer stories to share? What about those who depend on school for basic safety and needs like the free lunch program?

Where is the joy of learning if everyone is counting down to leave school?

Mark Church, co-author of Making Learning Visible, presented at Harvard's Project Zero four questions we must consider when looking at the learning transcript. These questions are critical if we are to empower all students to reach their genius potential.

As Ron Ritchhart, author of Creating Cultures of Thinking and Making Learning Visible explains, students grow into the intellectual life around them (Project Zero break-out session). If the intellectual life is reduced to a "how many days until summer?"mentality, then is it any surprise teachers need to remind students that they release the students, and not the bell?

Let's flip the transcript... I suggest Lakeshore Learning create a sign that says "X Days of Awesome Learning Have Taken Place This Year." Let's show students that we value them, we value learning, and we value the time we get to spend with them igniting their genius.

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Creating Wonderspaces

Jordan inside the "Daydream v2" exhibit. On Sunday, my daughter and I attended the Wonderspaces exhibit in San Diego. It is described on their website as " a pop-up museum of extraordinary experiences." Each of these experiences was given their own space in which to reside so that each piece could speak its own voice, without the presence of the others. "The Last Word" exhibit As we explored the 16 unique experiences, Jordan and I experienced a range of emotional reactions to the art. In some, we were completely awestruck. In others, we were perplexed. At others, raw with emotions. And in some, we felt playful. "The Last Word," consisting of hundreds of pieces of rolled up paper, allowed participants to leave their "last word" to someone... a way to "recapture what was never uttered" ( website ). This opportunity to peer into the soul of others silenced my mind, and opened my heart to the emotional plight of oth

SAMR Sort: Getting Teachers To See the Bigger Picture

A couple months back I attended an executive briefing about digital learning and our 1:1 initiative. During the briefing, we were led through a SAMR sorting activity. Eight different classroom projects were shared with us. We had to sort the projects in to the SAMR level we thought it best fit. We then had to defend our decisions. It was an enlightening experience. Back at the district, my ed tech team decided to recreate that opportunity for our students. Using ISTEs Student Profiles for learning as a guide, eight K-8 grade scenarios were created. On Tuesday, teachers attending the "New to Classroom iPads" professional development completed the sorting activity. It led to fabulous discussions about looking at learning from different perspectives. Teachers commented that most of the lower level activities could have easily been modified to advance in SAMR level. With so much focus on using technology meaningfully in the classroom, activities like this one

100 Starts with 1

A while back, I read an article in Good , "A magazine for the global citizen" about a #100StartsWith1 project. The idea is to promote positive change that betters society. It's an idea I circle back to today because I just spent three days at CUE Rock Star Admin being inspired by the passion, innovation, and creativity of school and district leaders in attendance. Sometimes it's the simplest ideas that make the biggest impact. For example, dancing and singing during morning drop off, as this vice principal in Arkansas does every day. Maybe my #100Startswith1 project will be a return to blogging. Don't get me wrong... I don't believe my blogging will better society. But perhaps the time for me to reflect, and the ability to hold conversations with others about the current state of education, will spark a change that will lead to a better society. It's worth a shot.

Igniting Awe in Learning

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