Why Matter Matters: Kaitlin Pomerantz
I recently caught up with Kaitlin Pomerantz, an artist and adjunct lecturer in Philadelphia, and my former student at #HGSE. After developing her ideas and initiative in my class, Building Democratic Schools, she received a grant for curricular development from...
A Masterful Teacher: Demetrius Fuller
Demetrius in front of the "HOMies" If energy can be electric and calming at the same time, that’s the feeling in Mr. Demetrius Fuller’s art classroom at the Sokolowski School in Chelsea MA. Student letter plates I walk in and observe twenty-two fourth graders...
Building Readers in the Midst of Controversy
Nora Hassan Haddadi is an alumna of Perrone-Sizer Institute for Creative Leadership (PSi-5). Her Capstone Project focused on the design and implementation of progressive reform of inequitable instructional practices and systems that have historically underserved...
HomePlace Collective: An idea whose time has come
Kassie Infante and Marianela Rivera In this on-going series of short posts, I catch up with some of the authors in our upcoming book Building Democratic Learning Environments: A Global Perspective, to be published by Palgrave this fall. Kassie Infante and Marianela...
Civic Engagement at Humanities IV Charter High School
Hannah Kehn is the founding principal of Humanities IV in the Rockaways (a part of Queens, NY). The school is now in its 6 year. She is the founding principal. This week her seniors will defend their Capstone Projects before a series of community judges–...
How do we know what students know: Who decides?
For decades, questions of assessment have polarized educators. Assessment comes from the root word assidere, or, to sit beside. Over the last forty years, assessment in schools has become synonymous with high stakes tests and the results often dictate whether a...
Building Democratic Learning Environments: A focus on Maw Maw Kaing
In the mid-1980s, before Pilot schools and Charter schools were mainstream, I opened a middle school for the arts that had more autonomy than traditional district schools. Although we had no special governance status, the fact that we were a bilingual school for the...
New Beginnings, 2023
I sit in my kitchen in the quiet of the morning and my amaryllis bulb catches my gaze. It is tilting to one side, unable to hold its beautiful blossoms erect. That bending towards the light captures my attention. I realize that I am ready for change. After ten...
Reflections on India: There is no such thing as indifference
In Gandhi's Ashram I read somewhere that India is like marmite: you can’t be indifferent. There's some truth to that statement. Colors, sights, smells, noise, people, experiences and the sheer vastness of the country all demand a reaction. I have been to India before...
On Whose Shoulders We Stand: a Brief History
September, 2022 The inaugural Deeper Learning Boston is here: a unique collaboration between Hale Education and Deeper Learning Global, an offshoot of High Tech High Graduate School of Education. When we began planning this event, my long-time colleague and dear...