Predicted primary themes in my blog posts in 2014:

• interdependence
• avoiding labels; supporting all learners to find their Element; fighting the fundamental attribution error; identifying how we are smart over how smart we are
• rewilding school to more closely align with education and learning
• curiosity-driven, persistently gritty, learner-centered engagement
• slowing down to accelerate and amplify change; pedagography – making better maps of where we are and where we intend to be

Patches of a common quilt, for sure…

From a speech given in September 2005, at Thunderbird School of Global Management:

We are more than six billion people and we are suffering from complex global problems, many of them man-made. The world is one-unit, one body, but our minds still think in terms of we and they. In reality, however, there is no such thing as us and them. We are one body. So the destruction of one part is the destruction of the whole. We must make an effort to recognize that the “others” are also part of humanity, that my future depends on your future. We may find some comfort in the notion of independence, the idea that we control our destiny and can take care of ourselves, but that idea only exists in our mind. In reality, we are all interdependent.

– the Dali Lama, as quoted in Being Global: How to Think, Act, and Lead in a Transformed World, by Angel Cabrera and Gregory Unruh

– reminded me, too, of Roman 12:4

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Derek Paravicini and Adam Ockelford: In the key of genius (TED talk)

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George Monbiot: For more wonder, rewild the world (TED talk)

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From “Creating Great Students,” Ben Johnson, Edutopia, Dec. 23, 2013

We know (and have known for a long time) that the best all-around way to get students to learn is student-directed learning (also known as student-centered), but after all this time, we are still trying to get the teachers to quit doing so much direct instruction and engage more students with inquiry, project-based learning, and experiential learning.

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From “Teachers: How Slowing Down Can Lead to Great Change,” Elena Aguilar, Edutopia, Dec. 11, 2013

If we slowed down, we could reflect on what we’ve been doing and what’s been working; we could ask questions, explore root causes, and we could listen to each other. And if we engaged in some of these practices, there’s a greater likelihood that we’d uncover authentic solutions, make some significant changes, feel better about our work, and deliver some sustainable results.