How Do We Improve Teaching and Learning in Our Schools? Have We Considered . . . Rigor, Relevance and Relationships?

Willard Daggett makes the point that if we are to prepare our learners to successfully perform in an uncertain world of the future, we must consider our practice as educational practitioners. He encourages us to be innovative and to rethink our current practices which all to often effectively prepares our students to live and work  in a world that no longer exists. In Barbara Blackburn's book "Rigor is Not a Four Letter Word" she explicitly describes strategies, techniques and policies we as school leaders can implement to improve the level of instruction and prepare our students to become the critical, reflective thinkers they will need to become as contributing citizens of this or any society.

How do we equip students with "Habit of Mind" to equate Effort with Ability? The Growth Mindset Offers An Empowering Strategy.

Throughout our NYC schools, a major goal is to assist our students with adopting the mindset that their success, intellectual growth and social development are predicated upon their degree of effort applied towards learning, practicing and taking calculated risks. Carol Dweck shares her thinking and ideology concerning the considerations educational leaders must make in establishing and maintaining school cultures where an emphasis is placed on the dynamic improvement of student practice and not on empty compliments that all too often prove static and unfruitful.