Recently I had two photographs framed. Made by Katelyn Jones, member of The Westminster Schools Class of 2013, right now they are leaning against the wall of my office ready to be hung. By digitally layering images on top of each other, she created something compelling. There is a magical, somehow dreamlike, quality to each. They leave […]
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 […]
Thinking About Process Change (Part One): Contextualizing Technology Use in a Progress Culture
From Wednesday to Friday I attended, along with three other Westminster folks, the AASA Leadership Symposium in Boston, led by Alan November, and since we finished, I have been thinking about the cosmetic changes schools traditionally undertake versus the possibility of what November called process change. The conversation we had overlays my ongoing reflection on […]
“Aligning Schedule with Mission”: The Chance to do a Presentation on the Hawken Schedule
Excited enough that I am writing with my elbows pinched to my sides and my laptop angled awkwardly and wedged on my knees, I am flying back to Atlanta from Chicago where I had a great experience this morning speaking at the MSBP Heads Meeting about the Hawken Upper School Schedule—its genesis and its initial […]
School Transformation: Becoming a Progress Culture
When we talk about creating a transformative moment in a school, the goal is to move the curriculum and the culture to a new place. What is misleading about this kind of talk is that it sounds as if the place where the school lands will represent a new stationary normal. But in fact the goal is to transform the school into a progress-culture, in which normal will include the ongoing ability to reflect on and respond to a changing world.