Walking off the stage at my high school graduation, I remember thinking that the transition into my “next chapter” would consist entirely of the extended weekend of freshman orientation at Linfield College, moving all of my stuff into my dorm room, meeting my new roommates, and attending my first day of classes. Period.
It’s finally summer! Time to take a well-deserved break….or start thinking about next school year. 😉 Here at Inflexion we’ve all been making our summer reading lists, and came across a few books we wanted to share.
Recently, I had the opportunity to ask Dr. Kristine Chadwick for her thoughts on how our research can be useful to educators. We are inspired by Kristine’s vision of how our research will empower educators and ultimately students to use the power already within their communities to better prepare all students to be ready for their futures.
Education is hard. So, whatever role you find yourself filling in the vast world of education, we hear you when you say it’s hard. We do what we do because we know none of us can do it alone, and we believe, like you, that there are few things more important than preparing our students for the future.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve had the opportunity to work with schools not just in our area, but also around the world. Through a number of research and consulting projects, we visited schools and spoke with educators about how they prepare students to be ready for life after high school.
What’s the secret to empowering students? How can we unleash their hidden potential? While I’m not sure I’m qualified to answer this question fully, I have gleaned a few important strategies from working at Inflexion and living with a veteran teacher who is really skilled at tapping into students’ strengths.
Like it or not, the cultural identity of your school drives everything else you do. Who you truly are and what you believe about yourself at the core is defined by what you do. In an increasingly competitive climate, it’s more important than ever to clarify who you are and what you value.
Our conversations at Inflexion this past week have been dominated by the familiar sadness, anger, and empathy we have every time there is another mass shooting. But this time it has been coupled with a deep respect and awe for the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who are demanding laws change in our country to make schools safer.
Over the past several years working with Inflexion, we’ve observed the immense value to school leadership teams of simply taking a pause, and having the opportunity to step back and gain a new perspective and the insights that come with that.
This last year has been full of airplane rides and early mornings for the School Partnerships team here at Inflexion as we work with school leadership teams up and down the West Coast. Listening to the radio on one of my late night drives home from the airport, I caught part of a Freakonomics interview with the managing director of a team that started as part of the British government known as the Nudge Unit.