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Education Needs To Be Different. Not Better.

21st Century Learning 

Do Schools Really Stifle Creativity?

Brad Latzke 0 Comments , , ,

Orville and Wilbur Wright’s father was a bishop with responsibilities that required travel. He often brought home gifts and toys for his children. The family home was filled with artifacts of learning but the Wright brothers trace their interest in aviation back to playing with a rubber band-powered toy helicopter gifted by their father.

Flash forward to April 19, 2021. A tiny helicopter named Ingenuity has hitched a ride on the latest NASA Mars Perseverance expedition. It was a seven-month voyage covering 173 million miles.  In contrast, the Wright brothers’ famous first flight at Kitty Hawk traveled 120 feet for about 12 seconds. While the Wright flight is recognized as the first manned flight on Earth, the Ingenuity became the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet. It lasted 39 seconds after rising to a height of 10 feet. Fittingly, NASA has honored these two historic flights by naming the location on Mars, Wright Brothers Field. read more

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21st Century Learning 

Why The SAT/ACT Are Going Down Like The Titanic

Brad Latzke

The luxury passenger liner Titanic was widely believed at the time to be unsinkable. Then, came the shocking revelation that an unseen obstacle easily sank it to the bottom of the ocean on its maiden voyage. It always seems impossible right up to the moment it happens. The SAT was born from the same era as the Titanic and will suffer a matching fate from obstacles exacerbated and accelerated by Covid-19. Unlike the infamous ship that fell victim to a single iceberg, the SAT/ACT are colliding with multiple, smaller icebergs that will send the tests to the bottom of the sea of education. read more

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21st Century Learning 

The Fuse Is Lit

Brad Latzke

In the aftermath of JFK’s assassination, I vividly remember watching Jack Ruby shoot and kill Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV in November 1963. I was a kid. It was shocking. The Sixties was a turbulent decade for America. The assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, growing national protests against the Vietnam War, and civil rights issues and conflicts were incredibly significant historical events. The country held together even though buffeted by these tenuous times.

Not since then have I witnessed anything so threatening as the mob storming Capitol Hill. Yes, that includes 9-11. America’s democratic institutions dodged a bullet on January 6, 2021. Had rioters gotten to the Electoral College ballots on the Senate floor and destroyed them, widespread national chaos would have ensued and ignited a full-blown constitutional crisis. read more

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21st Century Learning 

The Failure of Leadership

Brad Latzke

Having lauded leadership characteristics like humility, transparency, relationship-building as essential to leading effective schools, I’ve watched with dismay the leader of the United States exhibit none of these values over the past four years. Not being a school leader for the past few years, I’ve often wondered how I would encourage and support students’ leadership journeys in light of the inability of elected leaders, especially the former President, to provide examples worth modeling. read more

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21st Century Learning 

The Amazing CURRICULUM CHOP-O-MATIC

Brad Latzke

There is no question the pandemic has profoundly impacted education. Toggling between in-school, online, and/or hybrid models of learning is a logistical nightmare. How do we cover the curriculum? Our researchers have discovered tons of assigned curriculum are not being taught, especially the content kids are actually interested in.

Too Much Curriculum! Not Enough Time!

Help has arrived! Curriculum coordinators and teachers around the world are singing the praises of the CURRICULUM CHOP-O-MATIC™! It’s efficient, reliable, and completely safe to use (with or without a mask).  read more

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