What makes a 500-year-old printing process new? Master printer and publisher Jacob Samuel has brought etchings—prints created by transferring ink from a metal plate to paper—into the 21st century through collaborations with more than 60 contemporary artists. In this video, we filmed Samuel making his last print.
As he inks, hand wipes, and rolls his final print through the press, he reflects on his philosophy. “My goal is to leave no fingerprints,” he says. All you see is the artist’s work. I’m just another pencil. I’m just another brush. But I want the pencil to be sharpened really well. I want the brush to be sable. And to do that and be completely spontaneous, I trust the materials.”
House’s focus on technology and AI aligns with the district’s commitment to preparing students for a technologically advanced future. The partnership with the AI Education Project, as part of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s broader economic initiative, aims to provide cutting-edge education to students, teachers, staff, and school leaders. The district has also prioritized AI literacy and training, empowering nearly 1,500 educators to confidently use and innovate with AI tools. Addressing challenges such as data privacy, algorithmic bias, and ethical use, Prince George’s County Public Schools is dedicated to shaping a future where their community thrives in the age of AI.
AI is no longer a futuristic concept; it is a tangible reality with the potential to enhance and individualize the educational experience for a student population with diverse needs and teachers in our district. So far during the course of this school year, we have trained nearly 1,500 educators. It was amazing to watch the excitement on the staff’s faces when they got to engage with AI tools to support their work and help their students understand the power of AI.
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One of my favorite places to check for reviews of tech tools, sites, and such is Common Sense Media. I like their content so much, that I use their digital citizenship curriculum in my schools.
They’ve launched an AI tool review system to help everyone understand a little more about the current AI invasion.
Key components of the initiative include:
AI Product Reviews: Common Sense Media recognizes that AI is a socio-technical system, meaning it’s inseparable from the humans and processes that shape its development and use. Their AI product reviews provide contextual analysis, examining how these products fit within society and identifying potential blind spots in AI systems. These reviews serve as “nutrition labels for AI,” detailing a product’s opportunities, considerations, and limitations.
AI Principles and Assessment: The initiative grounds its AI product reviews in eight principles that reflect Common Sense Media’s values for AI. These principles create a shared understanding and guide for evaluating AI products.
Review Categories: AI products are categorized into three types: Multi-Use (like generative AI for chatbots, image creation, translation tools), Applied Use (specific-purpose AI not designed for kids, like streaming recommendations), and Designed for Kids (AI specifically built for children’s use at home or in school, including educational products for teachers).
Currently, they have 10 reviews posted, including reviews for ChatGPT and Bard.
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“Nontraditional students appear to be more at home and successful as learners in classrooms where teachers connect them to subjects in new ways. The students we interviewed recognized and appreciated teachers’ efforts to get to know them and to create classroom settings that encouraged academic engagement and expression of ideas. Yet nontraditional students describe most of their classes as highly structured, teacher-controlled, and regimented.”
No one fully understood how smartphones or social media would transform every aspect of our life in the span of fifteen years. AI is a dynamic field, and its impact on education is beyond what any of us could probably comprehend today. The only way we can keep up is by building strong guardrails and regularly assessing and evaluating the extent to which AI tools are enhancing educational outcomes. We must also constantly anticipate and respond to unintended consequences as they emerge. This should include information from academic assessments, surveys, and feedback from teachers and students. The data collected should be used to refine AI implementation strategies and inform policy decisions.
At my daughter’s academic team match last night, I thought I’d grab a quick pic of one of the library shelves. Apparently, there are some Brandon Sanderson fans at this school.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you’ve probably heard me talk about my obsession with Notion as my primary productivity tool. I do my best to put everything in my Notion workspace in some form.
Today, Notion released a beta of the “Q&A” feature that allows you to “talk” with the information in your workspace.
I’m chasing the ultimate content curation strategy with my own Zettelkasten implementation, and this may just be the final piece to the puzzle form. Imagine having quick access to the thousands of articles, highlights, and more you have stored in your Notion workspace. All just by asking a simple question.
Pretty frickin’ cool.
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“The month of November makes me feel that life is passing more quickly. In an effort to slow it down, I try to fill the hours more meaningfully.” – Henry Rollins
Is it just me, or are the short work weeks the ones filled with craziness? It’s been a crazy busy week around these parts, and it’ll be even crazier as we head toward Thanksgiving.
Innovation spreads faster when you can observe it happening. Seeing is believing.
Alice Keeler has a great FigJam activity on gratitude you can use with your whole class (FigJam, btw, is my recommended replacement for the soon-to-be-extinct Jamboard)
Finally, I wonder if the Manifesto of the Idle Parent could be modified into a Manifesto of the Idle Teacher. Certainly, we should push our students to do more and more of the work on their own as they grow, giving us time to help those who still struggle. Oh, and give us time to drink coffee…
BONUS: I’ve been jamming to this album from Azymuth, a Brazilian jazz-funk band. It’s fantastic and makes for great background music while you work
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“In November, a man will eat his heart, if in any month.” —Henry David Thoreau, 1852
Happy Friday! It’s been a busy week around here with all the things happening: school visits, doctoral work, and the joys of a new puppy at home. I hope your November is off to a great start and that you are heading into the holiday season with hope and love. I know we all have so many things on our plates this time of year and I hope those things bring you joy.
Music: I’ve had the latest from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds on repeat for at least a week. 90s kids, here’s your chance to keep those Oasis feels going.
Why do we read/listen to/perform Shakespeare? Maybe so we can all be as awesome as Dame Judi Dench (or even SirPatStew)
I’m reading about the Medici Effect and thinking about connecting other industries with education to create some great innovative leaps.
Also, have you heard of blue lobsters? They’re extremely rare. Almost as rare as a great idea to solve some of our greatest struggles in education. Maybe we need a little moonshot thinking to find our blue lobsters…
I’ve just spent two days with the fine folks at Eminence Independent Schools. Yes, it was a blast. It was my first trip there, even though I’ve known and worked with several current and former staff members over the past decade. It is a magical place (heck, I even got in a round of Pac-Man before walking out the door!), and much of that magic has been driven by the “Yes… and…” philosophy. I wonder how we might take advantage of that thinking in all our schools…
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“All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again.”
― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
Change is good. At least, that’s what I’ve heard from any number of well-meaning people. Change often means growth and fresh ideas, but it also means the death and destruction of old ideas. And, change often means returning to another time or to other practices that worked.
Or maybe they didn’t. Perhaps we just long for a return to comfort and normalcy.
Regardless, every institution can and does experience change, whether people on the inside of the organization deliberately create change or outside forces create “jolts” in the system and force change (cite p. 330).
Kentucky public education has had two considerable jolts that I’m aware of (and I’m showing my age for one of them): the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1990 and, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. KERA was a jolt that began as the work of change agents, but that whole COVID thing… we’re still not sure who the change agents were (it was totally the bats), but it was still one heck of a jolt.
I was in high school when KERA became a thing. Along with it came these things called “portfolios” that were going to revolutionize Kentucky schools. Spoiler alert: they didn’t. That failure has more to do with the implementation of change than the idea of change.
What many public schools in Kentucky have been able to do since the days of KERA is to continue pushing for creative solutions to difficult problems. They’ve also continued to make space for change agents in various positions across the state and in local schools. Of course, without effective leaders ready to change the constructed reality within a school, any change efforts will likely fail, and the same cycle of “all this has happened before,” continues as it has so many times in education.
“What’s past is prologue.”
– Shakespeare, The Tempest
After the COVID-19 pandemic (has it ended yet?), I’ve seen more concerted efforts to maintain institutional change here in Kentucky. With many districts instituting graduate profiles, the structures needed to support and maintain change are moving into place.
With the environment ripe for change after the COVID-19 upheaval, small changes in institutional processes are making their way across the state and have the potential to sustain change for the future.
References:
Marion, R., & Gonzales, L. D. (2014). Leadership in education: Organizational theory for the practitioner (Second). Waveland Press.
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“I am convinced that people are much better off when their whole city is flourishing than when certain citizens prosper, but the community has gone off course. When a man is doing well for himself, but his country is falling to pieces, he goes to pieces along with it, but a struggling individual has much better hopes if his country is thriving.”
Is that a line from the newest radical left-wing idealist politician?
Stewart Riddle emphasizes the importance of public institutions in caring, democratic societies, where markets and market relations are subordinate to the public good and the production of a thick democracy. He suggests that economic systems that foster individual wealth accumulation and rampant greed must be replaced with economic systems that foster sustainability and reindustrialization. Investment into people’s livelihoods within their local communities is emphasized, and people should be allowed to engage in meaningful, collaborative work.
Of course, for me, this sounds similar to the work of instituting a graduate profile in schools rather than relying on the tired, outdated, and ineffective measures of standardized testing. Connecting students with authentic learning opportunities, encouraging them to work on hard problems that don’t have simple answers, and contributing to their communities for the benefit of the many and not the few are key to shifting away from the late-stage capitalist disaster we live in now.
Marcus Aurelius said, “What harms the bee, harms the hive,” emphasizing that if we are harming anyone in society, the whole society suffers. This was never more apparent than during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as some cried that their individual freedoms were more important than the good of everyone, essentially placing themselves above everyone else.
Connecting students with opportunities to enact real change within the structures of education can only improve our society. Will we still have people who think they are more important than anyone else? Of course.
But maybe we can raise up a generation of action-takers who want what is best for everyone.
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I shared this note with my team on our last day before Fall Break. I hope you find encouragement here, as well.
“Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.”
You may have already figured this out, but Fall Break is my favorite break of the year. We’ve navigated the busyness of beginning a new school year and made some progress toward our goals. For me, this break comes at the perfect time. The weather cools, mornings begin on the back porch with a cup of coffee, and evenings end with a backyard fire. It’s not so much a break as it is a pause—the deep breath before diving into winter. I need this break. You need this break. We all need a moment away.
Blaise Pascal wrote, “All of humanity’s problems stem from our inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Most adults lead very busy lives. Teachers, arguably more so. Rarely do we have a moment during our day to call our own, even if it means we just have the chance to catch our breath.
During the break, I encourage you to find time to call your own. Amidst all the plans we make for fun and family, find some time to hide away from it all. Forget, for a few moments, the demands of the classroom, of testing, of dealing with parents, and the demands of your administration and coaches.
You need rest. Spirit, soul, and body all need a break from time to time to face this madness we call life.
The great Stoic philosopher Seneca said, “The mind must be given relaxation; it will rise improved and sharper after a good break.” Stephen Covey reminds us of the 7th habit of Highly Effective People to “sharpen your saw.” Make sure to take care of yourself. We all did this pretty well during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but I fear we may have lost some of these lessons in our return to the world of deadlines and demands.
Please take time for yourself over the break. You won’t regret it.
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As an instructional coach, the ability to foster and maintain strong relationships with teachers is not just a desirable trait; it’s a fundamental necessity. These relationships form the cornerstone of impactful teacher decisions and student growth. The following strategies provide a comprehensive guide to building these vital connections:
1. Acknowledge and Celebrate Successes
Recognizing and applauding the good work that teachers are doing is more than a mere pat on the back. It’s a powerful way to build trust and demonstrate that you are genuinely invested in their success. Regularly highlighting their big and small achievements fosters a positive environment and encourages continuous improvement.
2. Maintain a Student-Centric Approach
Emphasizing that your primary goal is to support teachers in enhancing student learning creates a shared sense of purpose. It aligns your objectives with theirs and underscores that the ultimate focus is on student achievement. This alignment fosters collaboration and ensures all efforts are directed towards a common goal.
3. Understand the Individual Behind the Teacher
Building a relationship goes beyond knowing a teacher’s name and subject area. It involves delving into their values, beliefs, motivations, and personal interests. By understanding what drives them, you can tailor your approach and demonstrate that you see them as unique individuals, not just professionals.
4. Share Your Journey and Vision
Transparency about your own journey, including why you became an instructional coach and what your goals are, creates a connection on a personal level. It helps teachers understand your perspective and shows you are committed to a shared vision of success.
5. Be a Constant Presence
Availability is key to building relationships. Being visible in various school spaces, attending meetings, and regularly checking in with teachers shows that you value their time and are actively engaged in their professional development. It’s not just about being there; it’s about being accessible and approachable[4].
6. Adapt to Individual Needs
Different teachers have different needs, challenges, and learning styles. Learning how to differentiate your approach for each teacher shows empathy and understanding. It builds trust by demonstrating that you recognize their unique circumstances and are willing to adapt your methods to support them effectively.
Conclusion
Building relationships as an instructional coach is a complex and nuanced process that requires time, effort, empathy, and understanding. It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach but a dynamic and evolving journey. By implementing these strategies, instructional coaches can create meaningful connections that lead to positive teacher decisions and, ultimately, enhance student growth.
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