Whoa! A New Framework for Curriculum Design
In a recent presentation with Eduplanet21, Heidi Hayes Jacobs and I showed a Curriculum Storyboards example written by a fifth-grade teacher at Virginia Beach City Public Schools. When I look at this example, my eye is immediately drawn to the visuals. I see the roller coaster and then my eye follows that up to the […]
Curriculum Is Not a Script
“The job of teaching is not to ‘execute’ the paper curriculum irrespective of results, any more than it is the coach’s job to execute the playbook irrespective of the score. The teacher’s job is to flesh out the lessons in the curriculum and adjust instruction, whenever needed, to ensure optimal learning and performance. Given that […]
The Millennium Project: Students Can Have An Impact Before Graduation
As we continue to push the idea of helping students to think cognitively to think, create, and produce, we must recognize that there isn’t a Fast Track version of that. We must allow them to hone those skills, but do so in ways that it is visible and in front of us. One way is […]
Matching Workforce Demands to What We Teach in Our Schools
Take a look at the slide below and begin to think about what you notice. What do you observe? What do you see? You might notice that this document hasn’t been updated since 2010, though you can probably hypothesize based on the trends how those trends will continue. You might notice that, in 1960, everything […]
How Curriculum Storyboards Provided Better Time Management to One First Grade Teacher
Laying out traditional curriculum within a storyboard provided efficiency and organization Last August, I conducted a virtual presentation to teachers at Colegio Maya in Guatamala, clarifying the Curriculum Storyboards concept and providing design feedback to the teachers. Today I had the pleasure of meeting the teachers for the first time, hearing from one of the […]
My Time at PASCD: A Sweet Treat to Debut Latest Material on Curriculum Storyboards
Last month I had the privilege to showcase the magic of curriculum storyboards as one of the featured conference speakers at Pennsylvania ASCD.
10 Decisions Finland Makes In Schools That Can Directly Inform Our Post Pandemic Response
When Finland was recently crowned happiest country again in 2020, we reached out to our Finnish colleague to check in and see how he and his country were faring. Two and a half years ago , we had an opportunity to co-design and take a tour of Finnish schools with Educational Leadership Consultant Mikko Salonen. We recently corresponded […]
Cool Summer School: An Appalachian District Leads The Way
Headlines announce and policies pronounce that 2021 will be the mother of all summer schools. With schools and districts scrambling to make up for learning loss due to the pandemic, dollars are being thrown at summer schools to lift up students in order to prepare for the start of the upcoming academic year. Summer enrichment […]
Reexamining An Overstuffed Curriculum – Does It Spark Joy?
This past year, many of us tidied up our closets and junk drawers inspired by Marie Kondo’s prompt to “keep only those things that speak to the heart and discard items that no longer spark joy. Thank them for their service and let them go.” Sparking joy is strikingly on-point when it comes to cleaning out an […]