I’ve been expending a lot of bandwidth lately reading and thinking about the meta story of school, not just the history of the system and of pedagogy, but, more specifically, the motivations behind the story we’re currently living and how they effect the potential for deep and powerful learning that we all say we want […]

At some point in the last couple of months, someone recommended that I read Seth Kreisberg’s 1992 book Transforming Power: Domination, Empowerment, and Education. To whomever that person is, sincere thanks. It’s an amazing read. And it’s connecting really deeply with my recent thinking about the tension between schools as a public and private good […]

I’ve been thinking more about story since writing this recent post, and I’ve come across some more reading and thinking that I’m trying to make sense of. (If you haven’t read that post, this one will make much more sense if you do.) So in the spirit of blogging my way to greater understanding… Next […]

Right now, we have millions of parents shouldered up to their children trying to help them do school. I’m reading a fair share of both funny and sad accounts of parents who are trying to navigate this new role of surrogate teacher or coach in terms of setting schedules or giving feedback or making the […]

As educators, parents, and students have scrambled over the past couple of months to figure out how to move school online quickly and at scale, I can’t help but be reminded of a pivotal scene in the movie Apollo 13. After having to abandon their trip to the moon due to an explosion, the three […]

With respect to those who stand in awe of all that’s changed about schools in the past few months, I would ask “what’s actually changed?” I don’t mean to minimize the incredible work that educators around the world have done to respond to this crisis. It’s amazing the scale and speed with which we moved […]

(Note: I originally wrote this in July, 2016. I wish I could say that we’d evolved since then into a much more sane, loving, enlightened, literate, just society. But as you’ll see, almost all of it could have been written this week. What will we do to make sure this post won’t be relevant four […]

(1/4 Newsletter Repost) First, Happy New Year! May 2023 bring us all good health, deeper relationships, and as much joy as we can handle! With those aspirations in mind, we want to tee up some of the themes that will be most on our minds here at BQI over the coming year. We see the […]

“Never,” was the answer. The question? “Do you ever have conversations in school that touch on the changes that are happening in the world that will affect your life outside of school?” Honestly? Not shocked. That student is a part of a diverse team we’re working with in a school that’s trying to figure out […]