Transforming Education

It's been awhile since I've blogged. Turns out being Associate Superintendent of Iowa's 2nd largest school district is a bit time consuming. I'm loving my new job and the opportunities the district and community are giving me to transform education. I'm busy helping our community and district have deeper conversations about learning and what "school" needs to look like and be. As I hit my 100th day mark in this new job, I'm taking a bit of time to reflect on some of the things I've been thinking about and been presented with as of late. First, and this is somewhat of a 'derp' comment, it has become rather obvious to me that the professionals able to survive and thrive in these exciting and turbulent times have one gift or skill separating them from the pack. They are highly reflective - about their practice, about the system they're in, about their contributions to the problems and solutions, and about themselves as learners and hum...

Watching the annual legislative session and the political posturing by the groups and people in power I'm constantly struck by something my doc chair said to me almost a decade ago now. "Trace, we are in an ideological war that's just as contentious as the one that birthed Newtonian science and the mechanical age. Make no mistake, the current Newtonian view of the world will not go down without a fight." He couldn't have been more right. A constant struggle for me is finding ways to assist people in bridging the gap between the old way of organizing and changing the world and the new. I find almost everyone I meet cognitively recognizes that things are different. They can use the words correctly but many struggle to recognize the implicit and cultural patterns they continue to apply to the problems we face. The beauty in all of this is that almost all are incredibly passionate and bright. It took me a decade after I was first exposed to this way of thinking a...