Introit

Poke the Box

Seth Godin's latest book--a small book, even a manifesto--is called Poke the Box. You can watch his video about the book here.

I ordered it on Wednesday, received it Friday, and read it over the weekend during a series of fits and starts. Had I been able to carve out some time to sit down and read it, I would have read it straight through in a little over an hour. It is pithy and precise, with one simple message: "Go!"

Godin's point is that the world needs people to take the initiative, to start something...to go!

In particular, I enjoyed his rant on schools. Regarding "starting": "It's not in the curriculum, is it? [...] I often encourage kids to start their own clubs, organize their own extracurricular groups. They never do. It's not supposed to be that way, they say. Is it any wonder we teach this mindset? Factories and mangers don't want spunk, or even innovation. They generally seek compliance" (70).

Go ahead. Poke the box. Initiate. See what happens. Try again.

Design is an Everyday Interaction

From design veteran Art Gensler, a two-minute video segment on how his line of work is different from what it used to be. Is there a corollary here for those of us in independent schools?

Thanks to Fast Company magazine for this highlight.

  Download Design-does-matter-art-gensler

Collaboration and Team Concept via Game Design

Fascinating video on the website of The New York Times. There's a middle school in NYC in which kids are actually building games, not just playing games, with an eye to expanding their educational horizons. They take courses, for example, in game design. They learn how and why systems work; they work in collaborative "pods" that include up to four kids, each of whom has to take a specific role so that the team functions well.

We don't have to offer game design in all our schools, but the concept of collaboration is an important one for our students as they prepare for a work place that demands the ability to work in teams and for employees to be flexible in their roles.

Is Your School a Cathedral?

I really enjoyed Tom Peters' most recent video on 'organizations as cathedrals', included below. The spirituality of excellence is something that should permeate our schools; we should be striving always to nurture people and help them grow (I'm talking faculty, staff, and administrators). Excellence is a mindset; if mediocrity rules your school, how might you begin the shift toward constructing a cathedral of excellence?

What is Your Legacy?

Tom Peters' video series is always full of interesting points and thoughtful musings. One of his more recent videos (focus on Brand You) is about determining what your legacy is and how you go about building that legacy every day, from the small moments to the great "A-ha" moments. Here's the video.

On Evaluation

Tom Peters gets downright disturbed when HR departments use standardized forms for evaluations, as these forms force homogeneity onto folks who are clearly heterogeneous. In other words, if we as educators pride ourselves on being unique, why should those in administration turn around and treat everyone otherwise? Granted, there's arguably room for a few standard questions, but the vast majority of the evaluation should be tailored to the individual being evaluated. We're all about meeting the students where they are; shall we be hypocritical and not meet teachers where they are? Is that incongruous? Will a standardized evaluation form really lead us to Excellence?

Ford Model of Education

Tom Peters, flustered, talking about our stagnant educational model.

Dan Pink on the Science of Motivation

A thought-provoking TED talk (July 2009) by Dan Pink, whom I have referenced elsewhere on this blog.

Be Unafraid to Fail

The video below is from the Tom Peters blog, as part of his focus on Excellence. In this clip, Tom highlights the importance of one's attitude vis-a-vis failure, if one desires to attain success.

Why Do So Many Schools Treat Music as a Non-Core Subject?

Below you will find a video from Daniel Levitin of McGill University, providing some discourse on the importance of music to human development, including the interplay of music and movement of the body, as well as neuroscience. We continue to learn so much about how the brain works, yet, in so many of our schools we have yet to apply this research to our programs. For example, based on Levitin's research (you can read his book on This is Your Brain on Music), I would pose the question: "Why do so many schools treat music as a non-core subject?" It seems counter-productive, and it would support Sir Ken Robinson's assertion that schools today kill creativity. Furthermore, if Dan Pink (blog) is right in asserting that creativity should be a hallmark of a 21st-century education, then why aren't more schools exploring this?