In his classic Essentialism, Greg McKeown observes: Clarity of purpose…consistently predicts how people do their jobs… The fact is, motivation and cooperation deteriorate when there is a lack of purpose. You can train leaders on communication and teamwork and conduct 360 feedback reports until you are blue in the face, but if a team does […]
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On Sunk Costs (and Whether You Should Change Your Curriculum Even When You Recently Spent a Lot of Money on the Current One)
If the curriculum your district spent X dollars on two years ago is bad,* then sticking with it because you spent X dollars on it two years ago doesn’t make sense. The X dollars is a sunk cost — money you can’t recover, whether you stick with the curriculum for ten more years or you […]
The Four Pillars of High School Success
Recently, I shared the Everest statement of our social studies team. I’m not the leader of the team, but boy, am I privileged to be a part of it. This time, I’d like to share how our ninth grade transition team focuses its work. Why Ninth Grade? Every year of a child’s education is important, […]
An Everest Statement for a Social Studies Department
In our social studies PLC, we brainstormed an Everest statement* a couple of months ago, and I’ve been meaning to share it. The secondary social studies department aims to produce productive, contributing, and positive CITIZENS who are: –KNOWLEDGEABLE (historically, economically, and civically literate); –WISE (mature, open-minded, and globally aware); and –ENGAGED (participate in civic duties; […]
Why ‘the Best’? Will Good Do Instead?
We lose all kinds of energy and vitality when we aim to be the best at something rather than trying to be good at it. Aiming at best will guide our hearts toward competition, comparison, and viewing others as threats. It has to. That’s what best means. There can only be one. Best means scarcity. […]