Mo’ Better Teacher Evaluation

Since we can’t seem to get away from formally evaluating teachers – here are some thoughts on improving the process: Teacher evaluation and professional growth is an essential factor in the health and culture of a school and its collective of learners. As such it must be a clear and understandable part of every teacher’s […]

The Mathematics of Gratitude

I’m fortunate to work closely with two math teachers smart enough to realize that math is Beautiful, Everywhere, and Typically taught in a way that hides its beauty and its universal value. The three of us work with several other teachers in an interdisciplinary learning environment that, by design, forces teachers and students to often […]

The Day The Bells Stopped

September 28, 2015: One year, one month, twenty one days, three hours, and twenty minutes after the launch of our Mosaic program. It was a Monday. And it was the day and date of one of the most profound moments of my career as an educator. For on this day, at approximately 11:00am MST, the bells […]

Mosaic FNG – Of Supernovae and Vision

As one of my colleagues put it, You can ask each Mosaic teacher about what Mosaic is and what it isn’t and you’ll get different responses from each of us. No surprise or disagreement from me. Much has been written about Mosaic over the past three years. We’ve each contributed in our own way to […]

The Freedoms to Learn and to Question

I was asked to respond to a question, which I will, but first a bit of a good old-fashioned soapbox style rant: When I think of popular movies like Good Will Hunting, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Stand and Deliver, Dead Poet’s Society, School of Rock, and a few others, I think of how these movies celebrate […]

Teachers be Teaching and Assessors be Assessing

…Teachers crowded into a few rooms “learning” to assess their assessments, that is, slow-motion what is used to assess students, whether as formative, interim, or summative, and effectively grade the assessment using a rubric of sorts. The end result being a score of 1-20 where anything above 14 is considered a “gold-standard” assessment. (Note: the ACT […]

Mosaic Development, Our Working “Bio”

Snapshot in the development of The Mosaic Collective… As we continue to develop here’s a “bio” that best describes our program right now: Born in 2014 out of experience, frustration, curiosity, and a sense of educational righteousness, The Mosaic Collective is a project-based, problem-based, inquiry-based, and challenge-based learning environment housed in a traditional public high school. […]

Twenty Percent Time, Really, Seriously, Like Totally 20%

A foundational idea to the Mosaic Collective is beginning to gather momentum. It’s the idea of 20% time, made famous by organizations and companies like Google. Can you imagine dedicating 20% of your work time to personal curiosity, inquiry, and experimentation; operating only under the caveat that what you develop and create must benefit the […]

Futurcation and Prensky

I spent some time with Marc Prensky and some fellow teachers today. We were there to discuss anything education. The format was a bit hinky as we were arranged in a large circle and were asked to simply, well, ask Marc questions. We had an hour. Now, to know me is to know that I can talk […]

Student Perspective on the State of Education

From a recent email: Thank you for all your hard work during term one. Congratulate yourself for everything you have done – creating your e-portfolio, formulating your goals and professional growth plan, developing performance task assessments, posting your grades, establishing your club, participating in STOMP and/or Showdown, mentoring an intern and/or colleague, taking tickets at […]