When I was a kid, I used to make the most sickeningly sweet Kool-Aid. I would put as much of the sugary substance as I could into our biggest green glass and still have it dissolve. The result was cloyingly sweet. In the end, I was the only one that …
My mother is proud of her cooking style, something she calls redemption cooking. She takes lot of different fully cooked meals that she has previously made and she concocts some master recipe out of them. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but it is always interesting and you could …
I have never been a part of a truly visionary team. In every team I have been on, I have held the role of the designated question asker. I have always assumed that I would need to create whatever revolutionary environment I needed for my own learning. I now know …
I am struck with a few questions after meeting with representatives from a school that hasn’t even opened yet: What does it truly mean to go on an expedition? What would we do and where would we go? What does it mean that we want to go exploring? Are we …
Quiet wisdom is often the best kind. It is the ability to shut out what doesn’t matter, and focus on what is truly important. It is in picking and choosing those things we advocate for, not based upon their current status, but rather on their actual value to ourselves and …
Saying that the students are our future is a little bit like saying that we trust gravity to hold us to the earth. Students are our future is the truth, but that in and of itself is not profound. The future will occur and those students will be a part …
Running a program for one year is something to talk about. Running one for two years is a trend. After three years, even the laggards start to take notice. Doubts fade after four years. And if you are running a program into your fifth year, well then you are an …
What does a grade mean? Does an “A” look like the same thing from all perspectives? Does it feel like a slap in the face to some and a stunning achievement to others? Does it measure attendance or does it measure understanding? And really, what do we want it to …
Piloting something new can be a natural process. We have the capacity to do it all the time within ourselves. Our ability to see something of value out of the world, pursue it and then to build capacity towards being able to use it should be something we do almost …
Project ownership is hard, mostly because it’s hard to own people or their time. I mean, can you really own someone’s tasks or their ideas? At the end of the day, it becomes struggle to own much of anything. And yet we have lots of projects that seemingly need ownership. …