Happy Presidents’ Day. I hope you’ve been able to disconnect from work today. This Coaching Letter is about lots of things, but mostly about the idea of "complicating the narrative". And how that should impact our decision-making. I was a first-year principal when the Columbine shootings happened. I have written about this before, and [...]
Good evening, and I hope you had a relaxing weekend. I was asked to do some consulting for a public defender’s office in another state. They are working with new lawyers and training them to be public defenders, and wanted help making their training more in line with best practices in adult learning. This [...]
Over the course of five hours, I had the opportunity to shadow a leader I have long admired. I sat in this superintendent’s meetings, followed her as she strolled corridors, observed her conversations with educators, and listened to how she spoke with leadership teams. It was mesmerizing. While this leader has granted me permission [...]
Good evening, I hope you’re doing well. The Super Bowl is on. This year, like so many others, I ordered wings for the boys and put on the game. But for various reasons, I’m the only one in front of the TV right now, and without anyone to explain to me what’s going on, [...]
This week must win some prize for weirdest weather ever. Beginning of the week my driveway was Greenland ice sheet, and today it was positively tropical outside—60 degrees warmer, windy, and bucketing down with rain. Driving to Boston this morning was NO FUN. But I’m glad I did it—I’m writing this at the Nellie [...]
Thank you! Before the holidays I posted a blog about the importance of academic tasks within classrooms. Drawing from both learning theory and research on improving instruction, I argued that there tends to be wide variation in the cognitive demand asked of students in the tasks provided by their teachers. To quote that blog: [...]
Good evening. I hope that the weather isn’t going to be too disruptive to your plans over the next few days. I’m kind of hoping we get trapped in the house for a couple of days, to be honest. I could use the time. A lot’s been going on recently. I wrote the Letter [...]
Hello, I hope this finds you well. I have had the privilege of having some very challenging conversations recently, employing the adjective "challenging" in several ways. Some have been cognitively challenging, some emotionally taxing, and some have involved difficult topics. Here I just want to register that we (at the Center) have lots of [...]
Happy New Year! As I wrote in CL #20, this time last year, I am not a huge fan of New Year’s resolutions. I know there are studies that show the percentages of people who give up on their resolutions by mid-February. I should probably go track down a couple for maximum intellectual integrity, [...]
Hi, I hope you’re well. My dad was supposed to get here yesterday, but he missed his connection because his flight was late leaving Edinburgh, so he is stuck in Dublin for the weekend. Aer Lingus doesn’t fly to Hartford every day. So I find myself with a little more time on my hands [...]