featured Archives

How to Package a Process, with Bedtime in a Box

Sofía Tannenhaus talks to Jarrod Bolte, CEO of both Improving Education and Bedtime in a Box, a nonprofit that provides families with boxes containing everything you need for a positive bedtime routine. Each Box contains four age-appropriate books; bath wash, a towel, and bath toys; a toothbrush and toothpaste; pajamas; a stuffed animal; an alarm clock; a Teach My Learning Kit; and a kid-friendly routine log. Bedtime in a Box has delivered more than 50,000 Boxes so far, with 80% going to families experiencing poverty.

Play It By Ear Project

Students partnered with the SoCal Beep Baseball Association to design soldered equipment to make the game more available.

How to collaborate on a mural with 200 elementary-schoolers

Alec and Nuvia talk to artist Scarlett Baily about her life, her art, and in particular the process of collaborating with 200 elementary school students

Tempered

Students learned about music, rhythm, and self-awareness by creating instruments from objects made of glass.

Kicking A** by Taking Names, with Ben Daley

Alec talks to High Tech High Graduate School of Education president Ben Daley about one of the most powerful (and simplest) data-collection tools in the world: the “by-name list.”

Green School: Regenerative Education in the Balinese Jungle

Kelly Wilson, HTH GSE Dean, talks to Benjamin Freud, head of Upper School at Green School in Bali, about doing socially-meaningful, student-driven PBL grounded in the local community, in a school with bamboo buildings and no walls.

Derek Mitchell and Scott Sampson on Regenerative Education

Alec talks to Partners in School Innovation CEO Derek Mitchell and Executive Director of California Academy of Sciences Scott Sampson about what “regenerative education” is, and why the world needs it right now.

Kofi B on the power of teachers, peers, and music

Alec talked to 23-year-old keyboard player, band leader, public speaker, and Akron, Ohio native Kofi B mere hours before Kofi kicked off the 2024 Deeper Learning conference with an incendiary set!

Cause for Paws

“I learned that animals are not just creatures, they can be a big part of your family and life.”

The Route To School Improvement Is Hiding In Plain Sight

“You know how you can tell you’re in a happy school within 30 seconds of walking through the front door?” This is a statement/question that I’ve experienced on countless occasions during a lifetime spent in education. It has a ring of truth to it and we’ve all felt it as visitors or (worse) inspectors.

Giving Teachers a chance to “Test Drive” their Lessons

M’s fourth graders were buzzing as they worked in pairs to solve the math problem M. had just presented to them. The other educators in the room circulated and listened in as students used academic language to discuss their answers with each other, jotting down notes about what their partner had said and the language they had used.

Exploring Internship Opportunities

Thirty potential mentors from local organizations, nonprofits and businesses were sitting across tables facing dozens of eleventh-grade students.

Your Classroom Isn’t An Island

My fourth-grade classroom was covered in cardboard boxes. The entire back wall was piled high with donated boxes. The tables were covered in glue and paint cups sat in the sink. As I began to clean up some paint splatters, I smiled to myself as I thought about how I ended up in this situation.

Superintendent (and High School Dropout) Jessica Waters

At Deeper Learning, Alec just started recording this interview to show Jessica how the mics worked—but once she started talking, he knew it was going to be an episode!

Continuous Improvement In Social Impact Organizations

During a time when people feel overwhelmed by endless professional development opportunities, new technology, and new approaches to doing their work, we wanted to emphasize that the continuous improvement model is not a totally new framework for most organizations.

A Handbook for Community Partnerships: Internship

This is one in a trio of articles that provide tried-and-tested, actionable advice for community partnerships in school. This article focuses on internship. You should also check out the other articles, on service learning and externship.

A Handbook for Community Partnerships: Externship

This is one in a trio of articles that provide tried-and-tested, actionable advice for community partnerships in school. This article focuses on externship. You should also check out the other articles, on internship and service learning.

How to Bring Your Full Artistic Self to School

At Deeper Learning 2024, artist/choreographer Aysha Upchurch and Enrique Lugo talk about being artists in school, and the power of the cypher (and cuffed Levis 501s).

A Kindergarten Geology Project You Should Know About

Rosemarie Biocarles-Rydeen talks to Alec about “Everybody Needs a Rock”, the kindergarten geology project she designed and ran at High Tech Elementary Chula Vista

Finding Your Leadership Soul

Big Picture Learning Co-Executive Director Carlos Moreno and Co-founder Elliot Washor talk about love, care, and vulnerability, the three key characteristics of leadership that Moreno identifies in his book, Finding Your Leadership Soul

How Iowa WTF organized a state-wide school walkout

Alec talks to Waverly Zhao and David Lee, co-founders of Iowa WTF, about what it took to organize a state-wide school walkout in response to anti-Gay legislation in 2023

The Iowa High School Students Fighting for Free Speech

Alec talks to Waverly Zhao and David Lee, co-founders of Iowa WTF, an organization founded by Iowa High School students in response to state laws restricting what they could talk about in schools.

Rock On! A Virtual Reality Geology Project

A fourth grader from High Tech elementary North County stood inside a crater of an extinct volcano. He contemplated where to go next…

How to nurture and sustain school change in challenging times

Derek Mitchell talks to Stacey Caillier about what he’s learned about how to help schools get better at giving every kid what they need to thrive, and about why this work matters so much to him.

It Takes a Village to Raise a Writer

We called our project the Earth Authors Program. It began with Ramnath setting the groundwork by giving children an authentic reason for writing.

Beach Hoppers

Students conducted a comprehensive study of San Diego’s sensitive coastline, observing environmental interactions, interviewing individuals, and analyzing data to create various media forms, aiming to engage diverse audiences while connecting with younger students to share their experiences.

A Troubleshooting Tool for School Improvement

NYC Outward Bound Schools have developed a new version of the Lippitt-Knoster model to aid school leaders and teams in managing complex change for equity improvement.

Talking about Dancing and Deeper Learning with Jillian Juman

Alec talks to Envision Education CEO Jillian Juman about the experiences that brought her here, and shaped her vision for education

Putting the Science of Reading into Practice

Lesson study works especially well for areas of teaching that have rigorous research, like the science of reading.

They Have a Point…

I want to tell you a story. It’s a story about innovation. It’s a story about improvement. It’s a story about equity.

If the Work Matters, Every Child’s Work Matters

Alec talks to the XP Trust’s Chief Academic Officer, Andy Sprakes, about how XP schools make sure every child’s work makes it into the final product, and the hard lesson that made them take this so seriously.

For Bernita Bedah, Language is Foundational to Building Identity

Navajo teacher Bernita Bedah teaches a bilingual kindergarten class in Navajo and English. She talks to Alec about why that’s important for her students, and her community.

A Weekly Student Survey Transformed my Teaching

We learn most from the real experts in our classrooms: our students

Hero vs Villian

Students investigated the perception of duality in society through a historical, literature, civics, and modern day lens

Sharing Canada’s Indigenous History Through Skateboards

Teacher Kristian Basaraba and his former student Layla Jonas explain “The Colonialism Project” to Alec

Kaleb & Rob’s Fireside Chats: Adult Learning At High Tech High

High Tech High Interim CEO Kaleb Rashad and co-founder Rob Riordan talk about how High Tech High’s approach to teaching and learning informs professional development in the organization.

Light on Literacy

Kinder buddies were the audience for the design and creation of literacy lanterns by 9th grade students at HTHCV

How to Collaborate with a Park: A Guide for Teachers

One of the biggest time-sucks in project planning is locating, vetting, and integrating relevant resources required for project-based learning

The Peace and Well-Being Film Project

How did the teachers connect the perspectives of different subjects into a single film project?

What are the Conditions for Grade 9 Success?

Stacey Caillier interviews Connecticut RISE’s Nichelle Woodson and Peter Lorinser about how to keep it simple while improving 9th grade on-track for students furthest from opportunity

Sharing Seeds

Students studied local plants and wrote seed paper books to be put into neighborhood Little Free Libraries

Dr. Michelle Pledger’s Rodeo Days

This is a special bonus episode. The jury’s out on whether it’s “educational” but this is not a story you want to miss.

At ISLC, Data + Relationships=100% FAFSA Completion

Garett Brownlee Plantz talks to Alison Murray and Antonia Guzmán to find out how International Studies Learning Center (ISLC) achieved its extraordinary 100% FAFSA completion rate.

Students should build something on day one of the project

Veteran teacher Andrew Lerario talks to Alec about “sharing the cognitive load” with students, and treating the project as a shared journey you go on together. He also talks about doing rocket science with high schoolers.

Getting to Great

He hesitated, “In general, I think anyone can do what they set their mind to do as long as they know they are not alone in doing it,”

“Optional is not equitable”

Sofia Tannenhaus talks to High Tech High International’s College Advisor, Erik Castillo, about how his team makes sure no student slips through the cracks

Improvement as Teacher Empowerment

Stacey Caillier interviews math teacher Janet Hanshaw and instructional coach Joanna Burt-Kinderman, both of West Virginia, about the Mountaineer Mathematics Master Teachers (M3T).

Cures For Cancer Project

Students worked in small teams to design experiments testing different drugs or therapies on live mouse cancer cells

Shift

Students studied the geological processes of changing the land via erosion, human impact, and other forces to model gradual change in their topographical maps

Two Sides to a Screen

Students took a deep look into screens to see how they can both negatively and positively affect our lives

The Great Ceramicist Throw Down

Students learned from local ceramics artists to make their own creations

The Joy of Collaborative Short Story Writing

What would it look like if you got three students to write a beginning, middle, and end to a short story?

Assessing Student Work with Next Generation Science Standards

“Creating a project-based curriculum in science was going to be a challenging albeit passionate undertaking.”

Strengthening Family-School Partnerships

Could a partnership between the school and families with open communication be the key to student success?

What Does It Take For Black Teachers To Thrive?

Currently, our nation is experiencing a national teacher shortage that has disproportionate effects on students

Learning Behind the Lens

A student reflection on collaborative project work

The Price of a Good Education

“Hey, I’m gonna need that hundred dollars by the end of the day,” Max said as he double-checked the owed amount on his collection sheet.

Lightning In A Bottle: The Al Qamar School Story

“Paagalon ka school” (“School for lunatics”), “The Motley Crew’, “The Rag-Tag Army” were the not-so-flattering epithets the community used to describe our school —one would have thought we had started a rock band, not a tiny little school with nine children and grand ambitions.

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