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Showing posts with the label educational change

Why AI in Education Isn’t the Threat You Think It Is

“We didn’t ban calculators. We taught math differently. We didn’t ban the internet. We taught research differently. So why are we trying to ban AI instead of doing the same?” We’ve been here before. I was a young teacher when the internet showed up in classrooms in the 90s. Educators panicked. Teachers worried it would make students lazy, that it would only be used for cheating, and that memorizing facts and dates would go out the window. They were right. Sort of. The internet did change things. But it didn’t destroy learning. It made us rethink what was worth teaching and how we wanted to spend instructional time. It pushed us away from memorizing trivia and toward analyzing, questioning, creating, and connecting. The same thing happened with calculators decades before. There was real fear that students would lose the ability to compute. But what actually happened was that students stopped getting stuck in multi-digit calculations and started spending more time doing real math. They m...
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Why Schools and Teachers Need to Grow Together (or Growth Spurts Aren’t Just for Teenagers: The School System Edition)

“Growing together isn’t just a strategy; it’s a school’s superpower. When teachers learn and systems evolve, we don’t just teach lessons—we transform futures.” Part of the “Barriers to Professional Learning & Doing” series… Ever noticed how teacher training can sometimes feel like it’s happening in a bubble? Teachers get all this new knowledge and then, without the right support from the system, it just… fizzles out. It’s not just a hunch—research shows that for teacher training to stick, the whole school environment needs to evolve alongside our educators.   One key study by Timperley et al. (2007) drives this point home. It found that effective professional development isn’t just about learning new strategies; it’s about the whole school system—policies, resources, culture—adapting to support these strategies.   And it’s not just about systems. Leaders playing an active role in this learning matters a ton. A study by Darling-Hammond, Hyler, and Gardner (2017) showed that...
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Committing to Change

  “True professional development begins not with learning, but with a commitment to transform learning into doing.”   Let’s delve into the realm of learning (PL) for educators. I'm fully onboard with shaking things up a bit through what I like to term “Commitment-driven Professional Learning.” You know the outside consultant drill; some experts come in do their thing and leave without any real impact. In this model, I say that outside consultants tend to, “Blow in. Blow off. Blow out.” Not a lot changes. If we're not going to apply what we've learned to make improvements, why spend the time and money? It's essential to reframe PL not as an exercise in learning, but as a system for effecting change. Whether it involves altering perspectives, behaviors, or teaching methods the key is to commit to that change. Then see it through. In my professional development (PL) sessions, I champion a three-step cycle for learners: 1) Learn and Experience, 2) Implement and Practice, a...
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