In a recent post, “Creating a Progress Culture One Pilot at a Time,” I identified four reasons to support piloting ideas and programs in schools. In this post I will expand on the first of those ideas: “Supporting pilots points toward the progress we want to see in the school. Piloting an idea foreshadows the direction […]
Showing Grace and Coming to Communion
This May, my daughter, Eleanor, will receive her first communion. When I join my wife and daughter for Catholic Mass, Eleanor joins Katie to walk forward for communion in order to be blessed by the priest. I do not join them for communion because I am not a Catholic, I am an Episcopalian. As a […]
Creating a Progress Culture One Pilot at a Time
Consider the “Turning the Ocean Liner” metaphor to describe school change. I have described and have heard many people describe changing a school to be like trying to turn the QE2: “it might turn,” we say, “but it will not turn quickly.” My issue with this metaphor is that it implies that everything has to […]
Another Essay Prompt Headed to Retirement (Part 2)
[This post and the one preceding it contain high school essay prompts ready to be retired for awhile from my teaching. While they were a good fit for my seniors, they seem less appropriate for my ninth graders.] Pathos is an element in art or literature that evokes feelings of compassion in the viewer or reader. Great […]
Another Essay Prompt Headed to Retirement
[This post and the one to follow contain high school essay prompts ready to be retired for awhile from my teaching. While they were a good fit for my seniors, they seem less appropriate for my ninth graders. The first is a poetry prompt from a final exam.] Poetry Essay. Respond […]