Leading Education: 10 Amazing Blog Posts From 2015

As the new year approaches, it's a great opportunity to reflect on the past year and to look forward to what lies ahead. So here is a collection of outstanding posts from 2015. It's an exciting time to be an educator. Innovation, creativity, and growth mindset continue to be important themes. These 10 posts are certain to give more clarity to your work as an educator as we head into the new year.

1. MindshiftKQED - Sir Ken Robinson: Creativity Is In Everything, Especially Teaching. 

Ken Robinson's newest book, Creative Schools, was published in April. This excellent post highlights a few of the main points from the book. Creativity is a process of having original ideas that have value. It's about fresh thinking. Creativity is not the opposite of discipline and control. It's not a linear process, but a passion for discovery and learning.  

Sir Ken Robinson: Creativity Is In Everything, Especially Teaching

2. Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator - The Teacher Is Not The Most Important Factor When It Comes To Learning

Conventional thinking is that the teacher has the greatest impact on student learning. Although teachers make an impact, Lisa Nielsen exposes the myths taking this thinking to far. She explains that the student is still the most important factor in learning, and if we would design learning with that in mind, we could make incredible progress in education. The questions below help to illustrate the point.

If the answer to any of the below questions is "no," even a great teacher will find their job difficult.

1. Does the students care about the topic?
2. Does the student want to learn the topic?
3. Is the teacher's style compatible with how the student learns best?
4. Is the student developmentally ready to learn the topic?
5. Is the student fluent in the language of the topic that is being taught?
6. Does the student live with his or her parents?
7. Does the student live above the poverty line?
8. Is the student healthy?

Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: The Teacher Is Not The Most Important Factor When It Comes To Learning

3. TeachThought - 7 Strategies to Help Students Ask Great Questions

This post was part two of the TeachThought feature on questioning as a strategy for learning. 

7 Strategies To Help Students Ask Great Questions

4. A.J. Juliani - Technology Can Transform Education, But Not Without People

As 18,000 educators were descending on Philadelphia for ISTE 2015, A.J. Juliani published this fantastic piece. He writes about the connections with people that are possible now as a result of technology, and that is the most important thing. It's not about the tools available themselves, but how they allow us to connect, build, and grow. 

Technology can transform education, but not without people #ISTE2015 - A.J. JULIANI


5. Classroom Q & A with Larry Ferlazzo - Response: Classroom Strategies to Foster a Growth Mindset

Growth mindset continued to be a major topic of discussion in 2015. Larry Ferlazzo published this piece with contributions from growth mindset guru Carol Dweck and a number of reader comments. Dweck gives three things you can do right away in the classroom to influence student mindsets. There is also a great video with a student reflecting and challenges and mistakes. 

Response: Classroom Strategies to Foster a Growth Mindset

6. Edutopia - The 8 Minutes That Matter Most

English teacher Brian Sztabnik addresses the most important part of lesson planning, the endings and beginnings. It's so important to create suspense and capture your students interest to keep curiosity and learning at a high level, even beyond the class period. You'll want to try the four strategies for beginning a lesson and four strategies for ending. Great stuff! 

The 8 Minutes That Matter Most

7. Bethany Hill - The Time is NOW to Innovate!

When is the right time to innovate? Right now of course! Innovation has been one of the hottest topics of 2015. And the Innovators Mindset by George Couros has fueled the discussion. In this blog post, Beth Hill reflects on how to start the discussion in your school. She reminds us we have to view innovation as a mindset. When we do, we can begin to innovate in every opportunity we have in our school.

The Time is NOW to Innovate!

8. Aaron Hogan - 5 Ways To Spread Optimism in Times of Change

It's not uncommon to encounter resistance to change, but how can we turn negative comments into opportunities for positive growth? Aaron Hogan details five ways to influence the person who is set on responding to every idea with "yeah but" phrases. Responding with optimism is essential for an effective leader.

5 Ways To Spread Optimism in Times of Change - Leading, Learning, Questioning


9. David Geurin - What If Schools Were More Like Google and Starbucks

Warning: Shameless plug alert! Yes, at the risk of self-promotion, I will include one of the top posts from my blog in 2015. But I must credit Eric Sheninger for his inspiration. After spending a day learning with him in Kansas City, I just needed to explore some of the ideas a little further. Can you imagine if we took lessons from some of the most forward thinking companies and applied them to education? Well, that's what I describe in this post.


@DavidGeurin Blog

10. We Are Teachers - The Emojis of Teaching

Perhaps one of the most fun pieces of 2015, this post looks at how emojis can be used to describe the teacher experience, both the ups and the downs of the profession. Every educator will get a good laugh out of this post, and you'll be able to relate I promise.  

WeAreTeachers: What These 34 Emojis Really Mean to Teachers


Question: What are some of your favorite blog posts from 2015? Share a link in the comment section or give a shout out to your favorite blogger on or .

Schools Should Never Confuse Excellence and Success

The problem with success is that it usually involves comparison to others. How do I measure up? Did I win? Was I the best? Was I the smartest? When individuals, teams, or schools are focused on success, anything less than first place is disappointing. Setbacks and failures can be devastating.    

In contrast, excellence is a habit of mind. It's about being the best we can be. Excellence is giving your best effort, maximizing your talents and gifts, and reaching for your highest potential. When you seek excellence, you realize failures and successes are inevitable along the way. 

Even when you seek success, you may still find failure. But when you seek excellence, success usually finds you.

10 Thoughts on Success vs. Excellence

1. Positive culture and motivation are harmed when schools focus on success. We should take success and failure in stride and aim for excellence. Even when we fall short of the expectations of others, we can still demonstrate excellence daily.

2. It's too bad that excellent things happening in a school might be overshadowed by test scores, or other measures, that weren't as successful compared to a neighboring school or district.

3. Some of the best work happening in schools is overlooked. Quiet excellence needs to be recognized and celebrated too. 

4. Often the school or teacher that is celebrated for "success" enjoyed a distinct advantage from the start. They started at third base, but everyone thinks they hit a home run.

5. Schools seeking success play the testing game. They take actions that are not really best for student learning, hoping they might result in higher test scores. Test prep and teaching to the test are unfortunate examples of this.

6. When teachers compare themselves to others, it invites either despair or pride. The despairing teacher: "I can never be as well-liked by the students as so-and-so." The prideful teacher: "I am so glad I don't have classroom management problems like so-and-so." Excellence isn't about comparison.

7. Educators motivated by success are often seeking to elevate their own status, even climbing over the backs of others.. 

8. Educators motivated by excellence value others and are happy when others are successful. 

9. In Missouri, our state department of education has a goal, Top 10 by 20. The catchy slogan means Missouri will be one of the top 10 states for education in the nation by 2020. The idea of creating a statewide vision for improvement is a good one. But does this goal focus on success or excellence? Does this goal rely on comparison to others? 

10. To be excellent, we must focus on the actions, attitudes, and commitments that lead to excellence. As Albert Einstein noted, "Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value." Creating value for self and others is excellence.

Question: Are schools too focused on success over excellence? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below, or on or .

A Teacher's Christmas Wish

As the carol reminds us, "It's the most wonderful time of the year." We especially know how magical Christmas can be for kids. It's supposed to be a time filled with joy and happiness for all.  

But for many students, and some teachers too, the holidays are stressful and difficult. The hardships of life seem magnified around the holidays. In our school, two families were suddenly faced with heartbreaking personal loss just before the break.

So as we gather with our families to rejoice and be thankful, I know that teachers in our community and all over the world will also be thinking of a student, a family, or a fellow teacher, who might be suffering during the holiday season. 

Teachers have generous and caring hearts. I can just imagine that in the midst of the holiday bustle, a teacher is thinking of her students, lifting them up in prayer. 

It's a teacher's Christmas wish.

That she will have love and care during the holidays and all through the year.

That he will have a warm bed, food to eat, and someone to keep him safe.

That she won't be afraid.

That he won't feel lonely.

That someone will pick them up, dust them off, and wipe their tears.

That there will be something under the tree.

That there will be peace at home.

That there will be loving hugs.

And that after the holidays are over, all of the students will return to school with good memories of Christmas, feeling supported and ready to learn.

It's a teacher's Christmas wish.



Question: How are you mindful of your students during this season? Leave a comment below or respond on or .