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Our district is very focused on integrating 21st Century Learning Skills with our current Common Core Standards. What else can we be doing to prepare our students for this type of learning environment? At what age is it appropriate to begin this type of learning? What cost will this have on the emotional/personal relations between students and teachers?

How to build a culture of active learning in your building

"Build Community - The school should bring all learners together into a supportive community that nurtures both the individual and the group. The community should permeate all possible spaces, in the classroom, in the home and Online. 2. Encourage Critical Thinking - The school should actively encourage learners to think critically, continually asking the question, "Why do we teach what we teach?" 3. Reward Risk Taking - The school should actively encourage learners to risk failure in the pursuit of understanding. 4. Focus on all Learners - The school should surround the learner with ideas and information, encouraging the learner to pursue a wide variety of paths to knowledge, and supporting the personal growth for all who inhabit the community. 5. Value Diversity - The school should actively encourage and value the input of those both inside and outside the community with a diversity of opinions and experiences. The school should consistently check that it is inclusive and supportive of learners from diverse backgrounds. 6. Nurture all learners - The school should provide opportunities and encouragement for all members of the community including teachers, students and parents to learn and grow. 7. Pursue Innovation - The school should actively explore, pursue and assess new ideas and technologies, while always keeping the learner at the heart of the pursuit. 8. Teach Empathy - The school should actively and explicitly teach learners to think beyond themselves, encouraging students to value kindness and generosity. 9. Break down the walls - The school should provide access and opportunities for learners to reach outside the walls of the school to the neighboring, national and global community. "

Coaching in education has grown rapidly in education contexts in the last 5 years (van Nieuwerburgh, 2012). It has moved beyond the provision of coaching as a professional learning activity for school leaders to include: coaching training as a leadership development skill; various coaching initiatives designed to enhance teaching practice as well as coaching involving students either by staff or even by fellow students. Educators have embraced coaching in all of these school conversational contexts.

Engaging with 21st century learning and education; application of NETS-T with practical solutions and activities for teachers

Really interesting set of linked protocols for organizational planning. "The Collective Action Toolkit isn't a rigid template for problem solving. It's designed to be flexible and accessible, with an action map and activities arranged into six categories, from building a group, to imagining new ideas, to planning change. The toolkit challenges groups to move beyond discussion to action, continually clarifying their shared goals based on what they learn through the problem-solving process."

"Like diplomas, credentialing is a market signalling activity -- credentials tell the world what you know and can do. With all of the new learning options, it is becoming more important to have widely recognized means to show what you know and can do."

This is the evolution of education. Certificates of Focus, online learning, competency-based learning, internships, ELOs...the signs are everywhere. It is just going to take a school with the guts to blow up the system and make real and deep changes.

Some advice on leadership development activities.