Events of the last year have many of us contemplating the future of public education. This is both healthy and necessary. A year into the pandemic, we’ve learned much about both technology and the centrality of schools in the lives of young people. But “returning to school” or “embracing instructional technology” in a post-COVID world [...]
Friends, I hope this finds you well. I am working to get ready for two workshops in March—Acceleration and Coaching for Equity—so I wanted to publish a Coaching Letter before March starts, because I’m not sure I will have time to write much during the next few weeks. I am both excited and daunted—hundreds of [...]
Hello, I hope you’re having a quiet, restful weekend. The view out my window is great right now: snow on the ground and along the branches, low winter sun, very Breughel. This Coaching Letter is ostensibly about the projects that I’m working on at the moment—because they are large and overwhelming and I can’t think [...]
In Memoriam: Richard F. Elmore (1953-2021) Last Wednesday, the field of education lost one of its most energetic champions as well as one of its most insightful and constructive critics. Richard F. Elmore, retired professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, passed away last week, leaving behind a rich and lasting legacy. Among his [...]
Hello, I hope you're doing well. This Coaching Letter is about my day today. But it’s not a diary entry—honest. There are big ideas, including strategy, meaning-making, mental models, and even metaphysics. But it will probably be Thursday by the time you read it… I started writing this Coaching Letter while watching Dr. Miguel Cardona being [...]
Friends, I hope this finds you well. I learned this week that my dad has an appointment for his first Covid vaccination, so I’m very happy and relieved about that. Everything else pales in comparison, actually. Appropriately, then, this Coaching Letter is a follow up to the resources from last week on taking care [...]
Happy New Year! I know a Coaching Letter is way overdue, but I have so many projects on the go at the moment that I haven’t had much time, although what to write in the Coaching Letter is always on my mind. (I talked to someone recently who assumed that writing the Coaching Letter [...]
Good morning, I hope this finds you well. Right now we have about 18 inches of snow at our house. I’m sure there’s a joke to be made about how nice it is to be able to work from home in my pajamas, but maybe not. I’ve been thinking a lot about what we [...]
Hi, I hope you’re well, I hope you got some rest over Thanksgiving, and I hope that these 9 months since we first closed schools have given you some insight into how powerful you are. This Coaching Letter is about systems, entropy, and strategy. At some point yesterday I looked up from my usual [...]
Hello, I hope this finds you well. I’ve been thinking a lot about what to write this Thanksgiving; it feels so much more momentous this year. I decided that I couldn’t do better than to re-post the Coaching Letter that I wrote at Thanksgiving the first year that I started sending it out, partly [...]