Teacher Mindsets Drive Classroom Change
One of the assumptions at the heart of programs like the CityBridge Education Innovation Fellowship is that teachers can make transformational changes to the way classrooms and schools operate. Well, actually, there are two parts to that assumption: the first is that we at CityBridge believe that teachers can play a pivotal role in redesigning…
Starting With Students: One Teacher’s Design Thinking Journey
“Innovation” was a buzzword humming around the educational zeitgeist when I started the Education Innovation Fellowship in January. When I talk to people about the program, they often ask what that word, “innovation,” means, and I have to admit, I was wary of the fuzzy term. Luckily, the innovation I have found is something clear…
And the Winners Are…
Drumroll, please…the winning ideas from Startup Weekend EDU D.C.: Next Gen Schools! The teams were lined up, the mic check was done, more than 50 people had arrived to watch, our judges were in place—and our emcee, Caroline Hill, started the slow clap announcing the kickoff to Sunday’s final Startup Weekend EDU D.C.: Next Gen…
Disrupting Education: Startup Weekend EDU D.C.
Early in the tech industry’s meteoric rise, it brought us the concept of the startup. Traditionally, we picture startups as small organizations, headquartered in garages, with lots of promise and little certainty. And we know that sometimes, on the power of an idea, those startups become billion-dollar companies like Apple or Hewlett-Packard. What we often…
How to Avoid Post-REVIVAL Stress Disorder (PRSD)
I’m a PK (Pastor’s Kid), so I know a spiritual revival when I see one. On the Education Innovation Fellows‘ 2015 trip to California, we have not entered any makeshift churches out of white tents, but in equally inspiring, open, and creative spaces, we have been challenged to respond to a call of action to join…
Rethinking American Schools
The world looks very different today than it did when our current school system was designed. Ours is no longer an agricultural economy; we rely on skills over content knowledge; we carry computers in our pockets. And, as times have changed, our school systems’ shortcomings are showing. In order to serve all students in the…
Trust (in Project-Based Learning)
I was 13 minutes late to City Neighbors Charter School today. Not because I woke up late or traffic was bad, but because I wanted to experience Baltimore—take some pictures, talk with locals, walk some of the neighborhood blocks. Baltimore feels different than D.C. I don’t know exactly why, yet. But it is. Maybe it’s…