Important News: You can now listen to this blog in podcast format below. The feed should be available on iTunes and Stitcher soon: We step out of the car and instantly my kids start shivering. They say nothing, stoically bracing against a wind that seems…
I’m sitting on a plane right now writing this blog post. I just spent an hour working on a sketchy video and before that, I worked on another blog post. I’m nestled up against a window where I can look to my right and remember,…
I am currently on my fifth solid day of doing things that I find difficult, scary, or boring. Two days ago, I called the cable company to set up my internet. This might not seem like a big deal, but I am terrified of phone calls — especially…
Brainstorming Is Broken Brainstorming can be fun. You get together and generate a massive list of ideas. Everyone is shouting all over each other. It’s exciting. It’s passionate. But what if it’s not all it’s cracked up to be? That’s a key argument in “Why…
When I taught middle school, I wanted my students to be curious. I wanted to see them tap into their own natural wonder and ask tons of questions. I wanted them to ask, “Why?” and “Why not?” I wanted them to question answers as…
My friend Josh Stumpenhorst once wrote an excellent post about the chasm between what teachers are told to do and what teachers can actually accomplish in the system. One line in particular stood out to me. “They will insist that innovation, creativity, risk-taking and failure…
When my oldest son was five, he asked me whether the leaves were falling because the air was getting colder or because the sun was setting earlier. We gathered leaves. We conducted experiments. We looked at maps of leaves and sunlight and temperature. He wasn’t…
This week, I asked my cohort to analyze different unit planning models. This is a challenging part of the graduate classes, when teachers are learning the nitty gritty craft of creating units and lessons from scratch. I walked over to the group analyzing the design…
I still remember the day. I was in my first year of teaching and I sat there holding my printed lesson plan. This was supposed to be my greatest lesson of the school year. I had planned it for hours, revising various aspects of it…
The LAUNCH Cycle: A K-12 Design Thinking Framework The term “design thinking” is often attached to maker spaces and STEM labs. However, design thinking is bigger than STEM. It begins with the premise of tapping into student curiosity and allowing them to create, test and…
