I recently heard a friend ask his student a question that captures how parents and teachers should discuss future aspirations. The question was not “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Instead, he asked the boy, “What problems do you want to solve when you grow up?” Today’s students will enter a […]

High-quality, collaborative, professional development for teachers is a difference-maker for students. I have witnessed firsthand its power as a teacher and mathematics curriculum chair at Monsignor John Pereyma Catholic Secondary School in Oshawa, Ontario. Our school is in an urban area with significant socio-economic challenges not unlike those found in many U.S. cities. The inner-city […]

How closely is professional development linked to student achievement? Professionalism expects learning to be in the collective. We should think of our own learning and growth as part of a mutually beneficial ongoing professional development process. A big part of that idea is that we share and become more transparent in our practice as educators. […]

I work with schools to teach brand and marketing strategies to educators. That job didn’t exist a few short years ago. It’s not typical work and neither is school branding, which I characterize as “business as unusual.” Branding is an empowering trend for educators who move out of their typical professional silos into understanding marketing […]