Book Review: How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell Jenny Odell’s How to Do Nothing is not a guide to idleness but a thought-provoking exploration of how we can reclaim our attention and agency in a world that constantly demands our productivity. For educators, this book offers an essential critique of the attention economy and…
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Who knew it has been 25 years since the publication of Gladwell’s The Tipping Point! This new book, where he revisits key points of Tipping Points and updates examples and brings to life the pressures, forces and mores that make a movement tip, is an excellent read. The book explores the pivotal moments when ideas, trends, or…
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How might we understand the confluence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI), Synthetic Biology, and conceive of a habitable future, with ethical considerations of what it means to be human – this books sets out to answer this ambitious question. The coming wave is defined by two core technologies: GAI and synthetic biology. Together they will…
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“The Future is Analog” (2022) is David Sax’s follow up to “The Revenge of Analog” (2016). In this very readable, incredibly well researched, with a wide diversity of people referenced and interviewed, David Sax offers a welcome version of the future based on the tough lessons that we’ve learned through our experiences of the pandemic….
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Girls on the Brink brings together personal stories of young women, neuroscience and social science to bring an understanding of the biological, societal and personal forces acting on girls. Her thesis is this: I don’t present this research to amplify fear, but rather as a clarion call to change the landscape in which girls come…
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Stolen Focus, Why you Can’t Pay Attention – and How to Think Deeply Again, by Johann Hari, is a game-changer for me. It captures the tension, the friction, the challenge, opportunity and hope that faces education in the face of diminishing ability to think deeply, pay mindful attention, and to learn deeply. This book explores…
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In organizations such as Independent Schools rich in history, precedent, tradition and long-standing community members (faculty and families), there is a lot of inertia to move these schools into position of agility, responsiveness and ‘new’. “New Power: How anyone can persuade, mobilize and succeed in our chaotic connected age”, by Heimans and Timms, offers a…
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Many of us struggle with the role of technology in the lives of our students and within the culture of our organizations, and even in our own lives. I’ve been thinking about this throughout this year, and was able to capture some of my earlier thinking in this BLOG POST of an Email conversation with @edaigle….
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I read @edaigle’s post on Google+ about social media, and this started a very generative conversation – one that I hope keeps going! – that I am now taking back to my the hallways and offices on my own school. It centers around Rousseau Lake College’s Social Media policy. Rousseau is a smaller school than…
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George Couros is a Canadian educational leader, who is also prolific social media contributor. He espouses innovation in education, and through his posts has created a sea change in the way people are talking about education, and its future. This is a book that coalesces these thoughts, and adds in some excellent examples of innovation….
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