We make decisions to fulfill our goals. Those goals can be immediate, short term or long term. Goals that affect us, our families, peers, society and the environment we live in. Many of these decisions are fairly simple to make. But some, require a bit more deliberation, thought and rationality. I came across Force Feed…… Continue Reading →
Tags: Principals, School Leaders, Senior Management Team, Work HabitsRe-culturing and not Re-structuring: Collaboration
As Michael Fullan said, ‘words travel faster than concept.’ This is more true now than ever, what with the penetration of media and the onslaught of information and new jargon that keeps erupting all the time. There is a lot more conversation around collaboration between teachers in schools and creating professional learning communities, PLCs. Which is…… Continue Reading →
Tags: Principals, School Leaders, Senior Management TeamHow to catch a monkey in the wild: A Cautionary Tale
There are probably many ways to catch a monkey in the wild. One of the most effective is insidious in its simplicity. The hunter gets a coconut and bores a small, cone shaped hole in its shell, just large enough to allow a monkey to squeeze its paw inside. The hunter drains the coconut, ties…… Continue Reading →
Tags: #teachers, School Leaders, Senior Management TeamSAMR- Meeting needs
Most often two processes, auditory and visual come into play for learning to take place. The information is received and processed cognitively to create knowledge structures. With the past paced growth of technology in the field of education, it is now becoming more and more important to decide and select the ed tech tools that…… Continue Reading →
Tags: Classroom Teaching, Senior Management Team, teaching and learningCognitive load
I have always found the experience of conducting lesson observations and class walkthru’s a learning experience full of insight and an opportunity for engaging in action research. For me lesson observation is not necessarily about observing the teacher but largely about observing the students. After all that is why it is called lesson observation. How…… Continue Reading →
Tags: #teachers, Classroom Teaching, teaching and learningMeasuring impact of learning
Recently I attended a Cambridge workshop on educational leadership and now, am in the process of planning one for teachers. The one big learning that I have gained in the past few years, which has been further reinforced by this workshop, is the importance and need for measuring impact. Impact of what we teach in…… Continue Reading →
Tags: #teachers, Classroom Teaching, teaching and learningPush, Pull and Nudge
Action should lead to movement from point A to point B. It must break the status quo. When it comes to children or colleagues it is important that we engage in proactive action. As Michael Fullan describes, action can be a pull, a push, a nudge, or a combination of all three. Push is when you are…… Continue Reading →
Tags: #Parents, #teachers, ParentingGagne’s Nine Levels of Learning
As I read about theories in education, I feel that teaching is, to quite an extent intuitive. Perhaps it would be safer to say that we do follow the process of teaching even though we may not know the research behind why we do, what we do. Therefore, theories create a shared common language for…… Continue Reading →
Tags: Classroom Teaching, Reflective Learning, School Leaders, teaching and learningFinancial literacy for students
As early as 2005, the OECD recommendation advised that “financial education should start at school. People should be educated about financial matters as early as possible in their lives” (OECD, 2005a). It is important to establish early foundation in financial literacy as children today will not only experience complexity in financial products but also bear…… Continue Reading →
Tags: Budgeting, Financial Literacy, Personal Finance, Principals, School Leaders, School Life, StudentsReceived Wisdom- Can it get restrictive?
We go about our day and tasks based on our knowledge of what we need to get done through the day. Some of these tasks are where we apply our thinking, but many are routine, and we get conditioned into doing them. Conditioned to the point that we believe them to be true and have…… Continue Reading →
Tags: #Reflections, School Life, teaching and learningWhat we measure is a reflection of what we value
In schools we measure student achievement in academics, sports and co-curricular. We measure number of admissions in an year. All this data gives you a good indication of perhaps how effective the school is. But does this indicate how successful the school is? To measure how successful a school is, should we not be looking…… Continue Reading →
Tags: Classroom Teaching, PrincipalsDevelop the attitude of a winner
The tennis match started dot on time. The two teams start with warm up as the spectators settled down to a match of tennis. Each of the four players have their distinct style and presence on court. They are being observed by every one and they know it. Yet, there is something absolutely honest about…… Continue Reading →
Tags: #Parents, School Life, Students, Work HabitsExpectations from monthly review meetings
I have always wondered if every one who attends a review meeting has a common understanding of the purpose of it? What are the expectations from these meetings? My experience of working in schools and working in corporate have been similar in some ways and different in many. In schools, it is more about what…… Continue Reading →
Tags: #teachers, Principals, Senior Management TeamHow strong are my aspirations
Aspirations give us the motivation to do something. Aspirations come from our dreams and unmet drams can lead to frustrations. The question therefore is what are we doing to fulfill our dreams? Research suggests that our aspirations go through a U-phase. As we reach mid twenties our aspiration peak and sometime during our fifties it hits the…… Continue Reading →
Tags: #teachers, StudentsExisting ideas are as powerful as the next new
Why are we so quick to denounce a new idea, a new initiative, a new thought when it does not come from us? Do we fear the idea itself or the thought, that the person who came up with the idea would gain acclaim and attention? Complex question, but easy answers. We definitely fear the…… Continue Reading →
Tags: #SchoolLife, #teachers