Book Review / Differentiated Instruction / Learning / Multi-Genre Writing Posted on:

Fearless Writing

Fearless Writing What is a multi-genre project? “A multi-genre paper arises from research, experience, and imagination. It is not an uninterrupted, expository monolog nor a seamless narrative. A multi-genre paper is composed of many genres and sub-genres, each piece self-contained, making a point of its own, yet connected to other pieces by theme and content and sometimes by repeated languages, images, and genres. A multi-genre paper may also contain many voices, not just the author’s. The craft then–the challenge for the writer–is to make such a paper hang together as one unified whole.” Why should you and your students write […]

Read More
Book Review Posted on:

Adopt a Letter of the Alphabet

Adopt a Letter of the Alphabet Roy Peter Clark wrote a book that I absolutely love called Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer. Each chapter is a brief, accessible skill that can be read and implemented instantly. For example, I learned the power of descriptive verbs that show action, not from any of my teachers, but from Clark’s book. It transformed my writing. I taught action verbs to my AP students to help their essays stand out as more descriptive amongst the stacks of essays read each summer by the evaluators. So, when I noticed Roy Peter Clark wrote […]

Read More
Book Review / Leadership Posted on:

Great by Choice

Great by Choice In preparation for an upcoming executive team meeting, our team read chapter 2 of Jim Collins’ book ‘Great by Choice.’ The introduction was particularly fun to read as it compared two expedition team leaders – Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon, in their preparation and pursuit of being the first to reach the South Pole. ‘One leader led his team to victory and safety. The other led is team to defeat and death. What separated these two men? Some favorite quotes: ‘You don’t wait until you’re in an unexpected storm to discover that you need more strength and […]

Read More
Book Review / Coaching & Feedback / Instructional Rounds / Reflective Practice / Teamwork Posted on:

Thanks for the Feedback

Thanks for the Feedback Our team has recently discovered this fabulous book, recommended by Meredith Monk from Folio Collaborative. The authors outline the 3 types of feedback we all need and receive as human beings: appreciation, coaching, and evaluation. None of these concepts are new, but the clarification of each one, as well as the interconnectedness of them are providing important insights for us. Just the summary from Chapter 1 alone has given us great fodder for discussion and reflection. “Feedback” is really three different things, with different purposes: Appreciation – motivates and encourages. Coaching – helps increase knowledge, skill, […]

Read More
Book Review / Leadership / Teamwork Posted on:

Book Insights: The Advantage

Book Insights: The Advantage A couple of years ago, our executive team read ‘The Advantage’ by Patrick Lencioni. The book is rich with insights and guiding ideas for any team or organization. Here are a few of the key takeaways. Question 1: Why do we exist? Employees in every organization, and at every level, need to know that at the heart of what they do lies something grand and aspirational. Question 2: How do we behave? If an organization is tolerant of everything, it will stand for nothing. Question 3: What do we do? a simple, one-sentence definition, something your […]

Read More
Book Review / Design Thinking / Innovation Posted on:

Lean Startup, Design Thinking, & Innovation

  I’m reading a series of books together this month and enjoying the common threads of design thinking, as well as a process/cycle for innovation. It’s rewarding to see a high degree of similarity between what entrepreneurs and adults in the marketplace are reading/doing alongside what is being discussed and practiced regularly by students and teachers in our school.

Read More
Book Review / Decision-Making Posted on:

WRAP Your Decisions

People are actually kinda bad at making good decisions. The book “Decisive” identifies the 4 villains of decision making as well as 4 steps for improving the process. These 4 steps are known as the WRAP process. This morning, our administrative team participated in an exercise to help reinforce that process as part of our regular practice.

Read More
Book Review Posted on:

Scaling Up Excellence – Notes from Chapter 2 (Part 3 of 3)

There are numerous scaling choices including… * national culture v organization mindset (how strongly should you weigh each when you expand to a new country?) * careful advanced planning v learning by doing (how and when do you make the trade-off?) * centralization v decentralization (how much power should rest with a few people at the top v many people throughout the organization?) do you believe loss of control will mean a loss of excellence? * make, buy or rent decision (is it better to create your own pocket of excellence, buy an existing team, or smaller organization that has what you need, or […]

Read More
Book Review / Innovation Posted on:

Scaling Up Excellence – Notes from Chapter 2 (Part 2 of 3)

“Though there is no magic formula to make the vexing tensions and trade-offs vanish, the best leaders and teams stay on the lookout for signs of overkill. They search for signs of excessive “localization” or “standardization” – signs that it is time to move a little, or a lot, toward the other end of the continuum.” Three Questions That Can Help Detect When a Move is Wise 1. Do you suffer from delusions of uniqueness?  Shrewd adaptations to local constraints are essential for expanding a footprint. But beware of leadership teams that balk at replication because they–or the settings they […]

Read More
Book Review / Innovation Posted on:

Scaling Up Excellence – Notes from Chapter 2 (Part 1 of 3)

Chapter 2 begins with a story about ‘Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, or as everyone calls it, “the d.school” – founded in 2005 to teach and spread design thinking – a hands-on approach to creativity that focuses on identifying and filling human needs.’ A philosophical debate about how to “scale up” began with some questions…”What is our goal? Is it more like Catholicism, where the aim is to replicate preordained design beliefs and practices? Or is it more like Buddhism, where an underlying mindset guides why people do certain things – but the specifics of what they do can […]

Read More
Scroll Up