Here is a big mistake I made for many years: I thought I knew what was best for students, for communities, and for organizations. Not all the time, and not…
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This is the second post of a four-part series on making curriculum relevant, meaningful, and adaptable (link to the first post). This article focuses on the curriculum as a series…
Reminder: This year’s Global Day of Design is on May 6, 2019. We already have over 75,000 learners signed up to participate! When John and I wrote LAUNCH, one of…
Last year over 60,000 students from 600+ schools, in over 12 countries and four different continents participated in our second annual Global Day of Design. The hashtag went viral as students and…
Three of my favorite Project-Based Learning experiences took shape in completely different ways and circumstances. My students and I created “Project: Global Inform” together, after tweaking the original assignment. My students…
I’m sharing out my process below for writing my new book, The PBL Playbook: A Guide to ACTUALLY Doing Project-Based Learning. I used design thinking as a framework to write the book…
The most successful teaching begins, therefore, with clarity about desired learning outcomes and about the evidence that will show that learning has occurred. Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, The Understanding by…
Ahh, IKEA. If you are anything like me, you probably have a love/hate relationship with IKEA. I love walking through their store, putting our kids in childcare, and seeing all…
Let’s be honest. Being a teacher and school leader can be overwhelming. There is so much to do (not enough time), so much to learn (where do we even start),…
“Our job, sometimes, is simply to be the spark, help build confidence, and then get out of the way. If innovation in any school is solely dependent upon one person,…
Ahh, summer is coming to an end. For some of us, school has already started, for others, we still have a few weeks left before the doors flood open with…
Creativity isn’t limited to STEM or STEAM or even the arts. Every time a student is designing, building, tinkering, and problem-solving, it becomes a chance to develop a maker mindset….
A few years ago, during the school year, my students and I had a similar problem: There wasn’t an opportunity for me to find out what they really enjoyed doing,…
“Yea, but what does it look like?” This is the question I hear and see most frequently online and at conferences when someone mentions the phrase empower students. As someone who…
You may have missed it along the way, but your class has a story. You might have been caught up in the everyday grind, or overwhelmed, or possibly just enjoying…
I often get asked about the steps for running a Genius Hour Project or a 20% Time project in your class. I tend to give the same answer every time:…
Many teachers have done the spaghetti and marshmallow challenge in the classroom and called it a STEM project. It’s a great activity, but is it really a STEM activity? Sure there’s…
The Global Day of Design just wrapped up on May 2nd. If you want to see what happens when 80,000+ students embrace design thinking, check out the Twitter stream and…
This is a guest-post written by a middle school teacher in my district, Annemarie Catalano. This year has been a big push to create a “maker culture” within our district….
When I was in 3rd grade my best friend Mark and I built a treehouse out of wood scraps we found in the forest behind his house. We were makers….
Last year over 40,000 students and 450 schools from 5 continents participated in the very first Global Day of Design. The hashtag went viral as students and teachers shared and…
In 9th grade, I cut my thumb on a saw in wood shop and had to get stitches. It wasn’t too bad… However, that was the last year I took…
I distinctly remembering learning how to type. It was hard. I had been a hunt and peck perfectionist up until age 14 when my school provided a computer course focused…
A few years ago a colleague of mine shared a slide deck with me that completely transformed my perspective on leadership and building culture. I was new to a leadership…
Hacking Project Based Learning: 10 Easy Steps to PBL and Inquiry in the Classroom Last year I had a teacher in my district come up and ask me if I…
1. Learning starts with attention. It’s almost impossible to learn if you aren’t paying attention. And whatever you are giving attention has the ability to turn into learning. 2. Attention…
Last April, we had over 50,000 students participate in the Global Day of Design (and next year’s GDD is slated for May 2nd). It was powerful to watch students embrace design thinking…
A fresh start. Isn’t that what so many want in education? Whether you are a student, parent, teacher, administrator, or community member, we all have our opinions on what school…
As I work with students and teachers there is one common thread that the “stand-out” classrooms share: They take risks. Not only do these students and teachers take learning risks,…
A week ago at this time my family and I were packing our bags to head home from Disney World. As the kids played in the pool, my wife and I…
When I was in sixth grade we were tasked with one of my favorite school projects of all time. We were allowed to choose a book to read and then,…
This is the most fun I’ve ever had reading a “professional” education book. I’m serious. Maybe you are just thinking about getting started with a makerspace at your school. Maybe…
My grandmom is wise. And at 91 years old, she’s still as curious as ever. Yesterday we were having a discussion about the work we are doing in my school…
In the year 1820, a person could expect to live less than 35 years, 94% of the global population lived in extreme poverty, and less that 20% of the population…
You may have missed it along the way, but your class has a story. You might have been caught up in the everyday grind, or overwhelmed, or possibly just enjoying…
A few years ago a group of educators started talking about one of the biggest issues we continued to see in school after school, classroom after classroom: The classroom still…
It’s the morning of Edcamp Leadership, and all around the world educational leaders will be learning from each other, sharing ideas, and talking about how to better their schools, classrooms,…
I failed a lot this year (you can read about them all here in my failure report), but also had some amazing successes with teachers and students at our school….
Our new book, LAUNCH: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student, has been out for almost a month now and the response has…
Why are you using technology? Or more importantly, how are you using technology to better the learning in your classroom and/or school? If you are like me, then you’ve had…
When my students were doing the 20% Project (Genius Hour) in my class we had an “Epic Failure Board” (inspired by a number of people) where they would pin up…
“What do you want to do today?” “Where do you want to go for dinner?” “What song should I put on?” “Who said what???” It seems all day long we…
In the widely known “invisible gorilla” experiment, volunteers watched a video of different groups tossing a ball and were asked to count the number of times the ball was tossed. In the middle…
Thanks to everyone for making our new book, LAUNCH: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student, a #1 bestseller on Amazon this weekend!…
When I was in high school I spent most of my time playing sports (football and basketball) and worrying about my so-called social life. In school, I rarely was allowed…
This is the third post in the “Design Thinking in the Classroom” series. Read the first and second post here. In David and Tom Kelley’s book, Creative Confidence, the authors…
In the first post of this series, I shared my biggest fear as an educator (being ineffective and my students not caring about learning). We looked at the role choice, inquiry,…
It is almost time! Tomorrow, on April 26th, 2016, thousands of students from around the world will participate in the very first Global Day of Design. Over 350 schools from…
A little over a year ago, John Spencer and I tossed around an idea for a book called The Creative Classroom. Given our combined experience with design thinking (as educators, leaders,…
Over 300 schools and 20,000 students are now signed up to participate in the Global Day of Design! Any new challenges for Elementary students? Yes, we’ve got new challenges listed for…
Ok, this is my third article in a series of posts on Snapchat. If you don’t know much about Snapchat, you can learn more by reading “The Complete Guide to…
When I was in 3rd grade my best friend Mark and I built a treehouse out of wood scraps we found in the forest behind his house. We were makers….
What is the Global Day of Design all about? Students need to make, build, and tinker. The Global Day of Design is one-day that focuses on using the Design Thinking…
Joanne’s mother had died a few years earlier, and now she was a single parent (recently divorced) with no job, living off welfare benefits so she could provide for her…
While John Spencer and I were developing the LAUNCH Cycle, we came up with a few areas that were likely stumbling blocks in the creative (design-thinking inspired) process. One of…
Design thinking is a flexible framework for getting the most out of the creative process. It is used in the arts, in engineering, in the corporate world, and in social…
In the movie, The Martian, there was a quote in the last scene that really hit home, when thinking about my role as a teacher and leader. It comes from…
After writing my post on “100 books every teacher should read” I received a number of emails about finding the time to read all of those books (without going broke…
I leaned over the shoulder of a student in the library. She was quietly working with headphones in, and completely focused. What caught my attention is that she would continually…
Note: I’m halfway through a series of blog posts answering the question, “Does education really need to change?” This is like a half-time post. It is hopefully an unexpected surprise!…
Note: This is the first post in a four-part series. You can read the second, third, and fourth articles in the series here. The year was 2007. I was a relatively…
You ever have one of those moments where you wonder what you are doing with your life? I mean, at the very least, you are like me and have had…
I recently had the opportunity to Keynote the University of Pennsylvania Literacy Network’s Winter Symposium. Penn Literacy Network founder Mort Botel (who was also a former President of the International Reading…
A 2001 study found that 92 percent of teachers believe classroom design has a strong impact on students’ learning and achievement. The study goes on to state the following: These statistics demonstrate…
When we look at what research says about becoming better at something, two pieces of evidence stand out. First, we must have clarity on what our goals are, and where…
Last year over 2000 educators signed up to learn more about classroom design, as we launched the first ever Classroom Cribs challenge! We had four amazing grand finalist winners and…
This is the first post in a three-part series on “Intentional Innovation”, specifically for education. Stay tuned for the second post, “The Intentional Innovation Manifesto” and the third post, “PLASMA:…
Last week I asked you to fill out a survey about professional development. Many of you (342 to be exact) took time to fill out this survey and share your…
I cringe when people ask me, “Are you handy?” Partly because I don’t consider myself to be the best with tools, but also because it is asking me to judge whether…
I want to build an app. And I need your help in creating it. I know you may think, “He’s not talking about me”, but yes, I am talking about…
Professional development is needed now more than any other time. With the change of pace in learning, and the changing lives of our learners, we must teach different to meet…
Students continue to fall into the same trap year after year with traditional schooling. They rarely have a chance to choose their learning path in school, and routinely treat school…
When I first saw this infographic (created by Dr. Roland Rios) based on Schlechty’s Levels of Engagement, it actually took me a moment to collect my thoughts. I quickly asked myself,…
It’s almost here! TEDxPennsburgED is finally happening in one week, and we’ll be broadcasting it live to the world (at Upper Perkiomen High School) on May 7th from 12:30-4:30pm (EST)….
What is flow? It is a term and concept you’ve probably heard before. It’s also a feeling or state that you’ve had many times in your life. We often call…
“This atmosphere of excitement, arising from imaginative consideration, transforms knowledge. A fact is no longer a bare fact: it is invested with all its possibilities. It is no longer a…
This post is inspired by my new book, Learning by Choice: 10 Ways Choice and Differentiation Create An Engaged Learning Experience for Every Student. You can get the book on Amazon now! Are…
“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” ― Steve Jobs There are moments of…
Get good grades they say. Take Honors and AP classes they say. Go to college they say. Get a good internship they say. Get a good job and work hard…
And just like that…it was over. I’d pitched the 20% time project to my students with only a few days of planning, but it turned out to be the project…
When I was 5 years old I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I still didn’t know at age 17. And guess what? I’m still…
I’ve heard this question in various forms many different times: How is technology going to save education? Radio and TV were going to save education, but of course they didn’t. They…
This is a live blogging event of the work PDE SAS Institute teachers and leaders will be doing during our four sessions today. Please join in on twitter with the…
The Holstee Manifesto is a reminder of what life is about. As we continue to help students prepare themselves for anything, let’s not forget about their lives right now. It is…
With a little over 2 weeks to go in the Classroom Cribs Challenge, I’d like to share some of our favorite submissions so far! We’d love to see your classroom featured…
Each school year I try to take a new approach and have a renewed focus on my work as an educator. As a teacher this would often be impacted by…
Over 2000 educators have signed up to learn more about classroom design on ClassroomCribs.com, and we are excited to partner with all of you in rethinking and redesigning learning spaces…
I openly admit that I’m a sucker for Disney movies and shows. There was a weird time as a teenager and college student that I didn’t watch much Disney…but now…
