Peter Gow, Trying to Further Education and Educators

Archive for the schools Category

A Whole-Child Education for Every Child: The Grand Unifying Theory of Education

On March 17, 2014   /   Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Chris Thinnes, ideals, NotYourFathersSchool, schools, strategic directions, students, whole-child learning  

I am not a huge fan of posts that start with a number and proceed to a command: “83 Things You Must Do To Be The Teacher You Want to Be”; “Thirteen C’s Your School Can’t Survive Without.” In general I find these overwhelming, dispiriting, and ultimately […]

Read more →
Back to Top

Why Twitter Beats February

On February 21, 2014   /   assessment, curriculum, design thinking, EdCamp, educational technology, experiential learning, National Association of Independent Schools, NotYourFathersSchool, PLNs, schools, Twitter  
Why Twitter Beats February

It’s February, in case you hadn’t noticed. The weather, mercifully not snowing in Boston, at least, remains bleak and gray, the skies matching the snowbanks along the streets and sidewalks. Some vast percentage of the Lower 48 has experienced extremes of weather in the past month or […]

Read more →
Back to Top

Getting Something Out of Snow Days (and not the way you think)

On February 13, 2014   /   learning, Mount Vernon Presbyterian School, NotYourFathersSchool, school closings, schools, snow days, students, summer reading  

The phone rang at 5:22 this morning, and she would have slept through it. But I answered and handed it to my spouse so that she could receive the news that she could go back to sleep. School was closed. This has been a common scenario this […]

Read more →
Back to Top

Profit and Profiteering in Education

On December 17, 2013   /   business investment, educational technology, entrepreneurship, for-profit schools, independent schools, NotYourFathersSchool, public schools, schools, standardized testing, students, textbooks  

Lately I was gently (and privately) chided for expressing skepticism about the role of business enterprises—the people who sell us our computers, our textbooks, our desks, our apps, our standardized tests, our paper towels, and our trays of ravioli—in schools. Can’t live without ’em. Gotta have ’em. […]

Read more →
Back to Top

Tradition! Remember, remember…

On November 5, 2013   /   Guy Fawkes, NotYourFathersSchool, schools, students, traditions  

At some point when I was off at college, my father had an idea: Since his school was at that point pretty close to half Canadian, perhaps adding some sort of Canada-friendly event to the year would be good. Since many students already (mostly) went home for […]

Read more →
Back to Top

Where Do Teachers Do Their Best Work?

On October 27, 2013   /   Angela Duckworth, boarding schools, Carol Dweck, character education, Diane Ravitch, Michelle Rhee, NotYourFathersSchool, school reform, schools, Socrates, Theodore Roosevelt  

Here’s a challenge: Ask your faculty, “Where, in all your efforts here, do you do your best, most important work?” If your school is truly mission-driven and values-based, and if you provide your students with anything more than a daily sequence of academic instruction, you’re likely to […]

Read more →
Back to Top

Back Here Soon—Please Stay Tuned!

On August 1, 2013   /   Education Week, ISED listserv, National Association of Independent Schools, NotYourFathersSchool, schools, Teachers of The Future, Vinnie Vrotny  

Just another quick update. If you’re a follower you see that the hosting for Not Your Father’s School has changed to my personal business website. I don’t plan to use the blog to push my business, other than in the ways that speculation can lead to ideas […]

Read more →
Back to Top

HOLIDAY WISHES

On December 24, 2012   /   Amber Dermont, NotYourFathersSchool, schools, stress, students, The Starboard Sea  

It’s been a long slog through autumn, but the solstice is past and the days are indeed growing longer again. Light is vanquishing darkness in our hemisphere. There’s still a lot of darkness around, but I feel quite certain that regular readers of this blog are determined […]

Read more →
Back to Top

MY COUSINS’ SCHOOL

On December 15, 2012   /   gun control, mental health, Newtown, NotYourFathersSchool, Sandy Hook, school shootings, schools, teachers  

My cousins’ school in western Connecticut is in the news. The younger generation has grown and moved on, but their mother—a teacher and counselor, author of a book on grief—lives in town, a few blocks from the school. I haven’t heard from any of them, but their […]

Read more →
Back to Top

373 CRITICAL INNOVATIONS THAT NO COMPETENT TEACHER CAN AFFORD TO IGNORE—INNOVATION AND ITS AUDIENCES (Part 2 of 3)

On October 1, 2012   /   best practice, NotYourFathersSchool, PLNs, professional learning, school change, schools, teachers, Twitter  

Does the first part of this headline sound familiar? How many similar headlines have you read, or had tweeted to you? I see about a dozen a day, sometimes bouncing around my PLNosphere like an asteroid field. I admit that sometimes I bite—usually when the number is […]

Read more →
Back to Top

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF TRADITIONAL LANDS

I here affirm that the offices from which I work are situated on lands that have a very long and continuing history as a locus of residence, livelihood, traditional expression, and exchange by the Massachusett, Wampanoag, Abenaki, Mohawk, Wabanaki, Hohokam, O’odam, Salt River Pima, and Maricopa people. The servers for this website are situated on Ute and Goshute land. We make this acknowledgment to remind ourselves, our educational partners, and our friends of our shared obligation to acknowledge and work toward righting the inequities and injustices that have alienated indigenous peoples from the full occupation and utilization of these spaces.