I went into a class the other day and the kids showed me a flyer (the image to the left). I was curious about it so I asked if I could read it.  I was hooked by the first two lines…. Houston, we have a problem! We attempted our project once, but we are learning […]

I had no idea one of my twitter buddies did a TEDx. I knew he was there, and I knew it was in his back yard… But, Brad, you never told me you did a TEDx talk… Let alone a completely amazing, inspiring, awesome TEDx talk!   In this TEDx Talk, Brad talks about a […]

Sometimes I like to rely on the non-linguistic representations (ie pictures/images) to describe a day in the life of a principal. Below you see the awesomeness that I stumble upon on an average day in my school.   The energy is contagious. It emanates from the staff and students like a perfume shop in a […]

The modern day principal (insert: lead learner, instructional leader, etc, etc) wears a myriad of hats. One of the most important aspects to our job is monitoring and understanding the curriculum. The curriculum sets standards to which the students learn information and how the teachers teach that information. This leads me to a few questions […]

The other day I was leading a staff team building session on Genius Hour (I blogged about it here and here). After everyone reported out, one of the teachers asked, “What is your passion, Dr. Cook?” Right on, I thought. Great question.   What is my passion? I can honestly say that my passion has […]

Part 2 The other day I blogged about using a team building exercise to help staff share their passions. So what did this activity produce? In my humble opinion, teachers have a greater understanding for how their passion is not something they should check at the front door of the school. Many teachers reported to […]

Where do we find problems? When do we have time to find problems? In researching information for Genius Hour, I came across this video by Ewan McIntosh from his TEDx presentation. Even though the talk is almost 3 years old, the topic could not be more relevant. How do we find problems and how do […]

I have been doing a lot of reflecting and planning for the upcoming school year. Yesterday, I posted about seeing an increase in Genius Hour and Makerspace opportunities for students. Today, I want expand on these ideas in terms of staff development. Genius hour, 20 rule, and a list of other initiatives are based off […]