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"While John Spencer and I were developing the LAUNCH Cycle, we came up with a few areas that were likely stumbling blocks in the creative (design-thinking inspired) process. One of the keys to the Launch Cycle is taking the time to Look, Listen, and Learn throughout the entire process (that is the L in the LAUNCH acronym). In talking with George Couros about the Launch Cycle we had a good conversation about when it was appropriate to share that learning. The quick answer: all the time. From start to finish you can be learning and sharing during the process. Whether it is students doing a Genius Hour Project, teachers creating their own PD, or school leaders implementing an initiative - the key is to be transparent with that learning process."

"Many people find mathematics daunting. If true, this piece is for you. If not, this piece is still for you. What do you think of when you think about mathematics? Perhaps you think about x's and y's, intractable fractions, or nonsensical word problems. The cartoonist Gary Larson once depicted hell's library as containing only giant tomes of word problems. You know, "If a train leaves New York…" I was trained as a mathematician, and I will let you in on a trade secret: That is not what mathematics is, nor where it lives. It's true that learning mathematics often involves solving problems, but it should focus on the joy of solving puzzles, rather than memorizing rules. I invite you to see yourself as a problem solver and mathematician. And I'd like to introduce you to the man who once invited me to the study of problem solving: George Pólya."

In this week Media Literacy Digest: the social value of new media, the information cycle, a nice presentation tool, and the real help we get from technology as human beings.

"Simple things can make a significant difference in our classroom environments, yet we should be intentional about them.  Every year we should strive to make it the best year students have, and if we all did this, school would only progressively get better for our students."