Wanted: Authors, Designers, Producers, Engineers

Wanted: Authors, Designers, Producers, Engineers

by | Nov 10, 2013 | Blog

If you are one of the following please report to the classroom and continue reading: Last week I was given the chance to fly to Bangkok for the EARCOS Leadership Conference.  It was at this conference last year that I presided over a symposium of school heads to discuss their thoughts on leadership.  If you attended the symposium or have followed the blog you may know that it was designed to be the capstone on a year long journey of interviewing various school leaders from around the world.  Capturing this knowledge was the original purpose of this blog, and really mostly for my own selfish benefit.  In the process I took some steps to make the blog visually appealing, namely contracting a young Filipina web designer that I’ve actually never met in person (thanks Cat). As I traveled over to the conference this year I changed planes in Seoul, South Korea where I began to see some familiar international school faces.  In a brief conversation with a school head that I had never previously met, he asked whether I was that guy who started the blog, and mentioned enjoying reading it.  In reflection of this conversation I’ve seen how my simple quest for leadership knowledge in some small way has been helpful for others.  I mention this because although I never originally intended this site to be a product, in some ways it has become a way for others to learn more about education and leadership ideas around the world. Two weeks ago I had the privilege of meeting with Dr. Yong Zhao, author of World Class Learners: Educating...

The Art of Pitching

by | Oct 7, 2013 | Blog

I wasn’t much of an athlete in my adolescence, and truthfully I’m not that stellar of an athlete now, but like many boys growing up in the US midwest I felt pressure to be in the “ball sports.”  It’s not that I lacked functioning limbs, had bad eyesight, or enough heart for the game.  I just wasn’t very coordinated and could be easily distracted by the simplest of things. Yet, every year I’d try my luck in baseball, football, and even basketball.  Most of my coaches successfully limited my harm by keeping me on the bench or occasionally I’d be relegated to the position that seemed to cause the least harm, which I quickly proved didn’t exist.  However, on one occasion I convinced my baseball coach to put me in as the pitcher.  I had no previous experience in this position, unless you count what I saw from the bench or while watching the pros on TV…but how hard could it be? If you ever watch pro pitchers successfully finish an inning, you’ll notice that they rarely celebrate, or launch their glove into the air as I would often do while coming off the field.  Instead they more often move deliberately and quietly to the end of the bench in order to keep their focus. In many ways I’m beginning to see how this characteristic of pitchers is similar to what leaders often need to exude in their positions.  Although, it’s not always assumed that a pitcher is leading the team, both pitchers and leaders benefit their teammates by remaining calm in tense moments.  Schools, like any organization are...
Pay Attention to the Signs

Pay Attention to the Signs

by | Sep 9, 2013 | Blog

After living in and out of Asia over the last decade I’ve learned to appreciate the greater use of symbolism from that region.  Whether it be incense burning at an alter in Thailand, famers lighting their fields on fire on lunar new year in Korea, or the tradition of singing a special song at the opening of the first day of school.  So much can be learned and passed down to newcomers through the use of symbolism. It would be disingenuous to say my midwestern-American background stripped me of an upbringing rich with symbolism.  After all there are plenty of symbols at church, religious holidays, funerals, weddings, etc.  However, in comparison to some of the place I’ve lived and worked it seems at the very least that what might be missing is the use of symbolism in day-to-day life. Recently I moved out of Asia and to Hawai’i, and although I’m technically in the USA it doesn’t feel much like it.  One example has been the rich use of symbolism by my new school (Punahou) to usher in the new school year.  The use of leis and flowers alone has been stunning, but also the time taken at the first faculty chapel to begin the year with song, story, chants, and pictures to help draw a path forward for the year. I’ll admit as the oldest private school west of the Mississippi with a massive campus that was handed down from Hawaiian royalty to the school’s founders and that has a sacred and natural lily pond at its center, Punahou doesn’t have to work very hard to see opportunities...

You're Hired…Now What?

by | Jul 18, 2013 | Blog

For many of us, part of this last year was spent entrenched in a job search. As spring approached, we said our goodbyes, packed up, and shipped our stuff off to our next adventure. In many ways our physical transition has already happened, but stuck in summer, it’s easy to exist in the in-between. If you’re like me, then you’re also transitioning into a full-time admin position. In someways this summer feels similar to two years ago when I became a dad for the first time. The summer was filled with transitions, purchasing, and thinking about the future. Then suddenly I was at the hospital, our daughter was born, and a day later we were saying goodbye to the nurses, and thinking ‘wait a second am I really qualified to do this?’ Actually the birth of a child is an appropriate metaphor for a career in leadership, in the sense, that no matter how much preparation a person does, you can’t truly understand the responsibility until your holding your helpless child…or in the case of leadership standing in front of a room of suspicious teachers promoting the next big idea. However, like a child learns and grows though experience and parenting, our careers mature as we do more and more and work closely with others. Still the road leaders must often walk in the community can be lonely. Over the last few months, I’ve been meandering through the book “Leading with a Limp” by Dr. Dan Allendar, President of Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle, Washington. In his book he describes the ruthless expectations we have for leaders saying,...
Disconnect[ed]: Confessions from the Zombified-Black-Hole

Disconnect[ed]: Confessions from the Zombified-Black-Hole

by | Jun 25, 2013 | Blog, Disconnect[ed]

Our summer series Disconnect[ed] is a collection of blogs, articles, and videos examining what we’re not doing right with technology in school.  Less about what software or hardware a school should be using, Disconnect[ed] examines what constant exposure to media, apps, texting, etc, is doing to the way we think and interact with each other, and what schools can do about it. Last week I came down pretty hard on how undisciplined technology use is rotting the soul of our society and especially our students and children.  Concluding that if only we could develop a Tech-Control curriculum for students and parents, we could successfully develop the well-rounded students we speak about it in our school mission and vision statements. I still stand by those statements, but I have a confession, it’s really hard.  As a parent of an almost-2-year-old I’ve been amazed by how quickly our daughter has learned to love the all powerful iPad.  Truthfully, I think iPad was one of her first 5 words.  At the time it was cute, and seemed harmless to let her sit in our laps and scroll through the screen for a few minutes every other day.  Eventually she’d start demanding it, and looking in my bag for it.  I found myself hiding it, and placing it out of her reach.  When my wife or I needed it we’d ask each other questions like, “Have you seen the i.p.a.d.?” or “Where’s the device?” In a hope that speaking about it wouldn’t attract the attention of our perfectly content daughter.  We’d sneak around the house with it behind our backs, or hiding it...
Disconnect[ed]: Avoiding the Zombified-Attention-Span-Black-Hole

Disconnect[ed]: Avoiding the Zombified-Attention-Span-Black-Hole

by | Jun 10, 2013 | Blog, Disconnect[ed]

Our summer series Disconnect[ed] is a collection of blogs, articles, and videos examining what we’re not doing right with technology in school.  Less about what software or hardware a school should be using, Disconnect[ed] examines what constant exposure to media, apps, texting, etc, is doing to the way we think and interact with each other, and what schools can do about it. “I’m returning to the United States.”  There I’ve said it.  Yes, the guy who created a blog around international education is returning to the USA…well kind of.  Does Hawaii count as the USA?  Probably, but it’s not the mainland, and it seems to reflect the unique mixture of Asian and American culture my family and I have grown accustomed to.  Despite spending the majority of my life in the USA, in many ways I feel like an outsider looking in on a culture that is familiar, yet different at the same time.  I’m sure if you’ve spent time away and then returned you’ve felt the same. As I mentioned in my last blog, while in the Philippines, I’ve managed to avoid the change smartphones have brought to modern culture.  This is mostly because I’m too cheap and the network was too unreliable.  Of course that doesn’t mean that others weren’t using this technology.  The truth is I shouldn’t refer to smartphones with such distain, as it’s likely I’ll have one in a few short weeks, and they do provide a lot of convenient perks. However, I do have some frustrations and concerns as an educator and new repatriate that I need to get off my chest: Ok,...