20 slides were projected one at a time for fifteen seconds each. I’ve seen students present under such circumstances, but this was new for me. I recently had an opportunity to deliver such a talk to a large crowd before Sir Ken Robinson took the stage at a Learning Revolution event. Because I was there as a representative of the … Read More
I Don’t Do Projects All the Time
I don’t do projects all the time. But Project-Based Learning (PBL) has profoundly changed what happens in my classroom even when I am not in the middle of a project. For my first 10 years of teaching, I operated under the illusion that my energetic enthusiasm and sense of humor was engaging all my students. About 20 years ago, I … Read More
Project-Based Learning: A Christian Pedagogy?
When she saw from my nametag that I was at the conference representing the PBL Residency, she said, “It’s so important that we provide more hands-on learning for some students.” Perhaps, but Project-Based Learning is not “hands-on learning,” at least not essentially. For the last 150 years or so, education was mostly about educating the head. This is a limited … Read More
What is Project-Based Learning?
When one of my kids came home on a Friday and declared, “I have to finish my project this weekend,” I was filled with dread. Weekend plans would have to be abandoned so I could try to achieve the impossible: learning the material the project was supposed to demonstrate, balancing my child’s expectations with reality, understanding the standards against which … Read More
Mastering the Master Schedule: Fulfill Your School’s Mission Part 1: The Set-up
Introduction Every February, my focus begins to shift. We’ve gotten into the second semester at our high school and now, my attention goes to planning for the next school year. The most arduous and intensive component of planning for the upcoming year is always tied to building the master schedule. I secretly love the process. Even though it takes a … Read More
Building an Engaged School: Management Matters
“Hire good people who hire good people, and let them do their job.” Tom Ricketts A World Series and Organizational Change: In six seasons, Tom Ricketts was able to lead the transformation of the most dismal or unlucky professional baseball team depending upon your view of the prior 100 years. Much analysis will be done on the Chicago Cubs as … Read More
Cardus Education Survey 2016
Since 2011, Cardus Education has led the way in measuring graduate outcomes from the religious independent schools, including evangelical Protestant, Catholic independent, and religious homeschool. This is the fourth report drawing upon Cardus Education Survey (CES) data, a testament that we still believe that if “something is worth doing, it is worth measuring.” It is also worth continually measuring because … Read More
Building an Engaged School: Get a Leader
In a blog from April I laid out that “Engagement Matters” throughout an organization for long-term success as well as short-term fulfillment. Gallup continues to do research on employee engagement as they seek to understand the combination of personal enjoyment in work as well as business success overall, and they stated earlier this year: “Though companies and leaders worldwide recognize … Read More
Biblical Magnification: A Potential Wolf
“Microscopes, telescopes, binoculars, sighting scopes, and eyeglasses help us see something more clearly—magnified and focused for a purpose” (Reel, 2016, p. 136). In a previous blog, I introduced the concept of an innovation cascade. An innovation cascade is the premise that educational innovation must begin at the top of an organization and filter organically through the entire organization. The concept, … Read More
Wineskins, Wolves, and Innovation
Matthew 9:17 – “Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved” (English Standard Version). At first blush, the Biblical principle in Matthew 9:17 doesn’t appear to relate to leadership. After all, … Read More