Great Career Advice From Indiana Jones

Yesterday, my husband and I walked to the local theater here in our Buenos Aires neighborhood to see the new Indiana Jones movie (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).  It was a fun movie, very Spielberg, pretty much what we expected.
My favorite parts, though, were a couple of one-liners tossed out by [...]

Mini-Term: An Experiment In No-Pressure, For-Its-Own-Sake Learning

This post by Anthony Chivetta, one of the students over at Students 2.0 provides a glimpse of the kind of learning experiences that are surprisingly simple but result in a great deal of both real learning and satisfaction. 
He describes a mini-term in which two or three teachers with a shared passion teamed up to offer a short course [...]

Clay Burell, Apple Distinguished Educator, Riffs On the Pitfalls of “Schooliness”

Found this great guest post on “schooliness” by Clay Burell, an Apple Distinguished Educator who now teaches in South Korea and blogs at www.Beyond-School.org, on Wesley Fryer’s Speed of Creativity blog. 
Key quote:
“I’m not sure how much longer I want to work for schools.  I’d so much rather teach.”
Exactly.  Read the full post here. 

High School Depression–or Meaning Crisis? Eric Maisel Shares Tips For Students Seeking Relevance

For more than 25 years, Eric Maisel (the godfather of creativity training) has been looking at the realities of the creative life and the make-up of the creative person in books like Fearless Creating, Creativity for Life, Coaching the Artist Within, and lots of others.
In The Van Gogh Blues, Eric explores the idea that meaning [...]

Arts Education Boosts Relevance For US Students In A Global Economy

I appreciate this recent editorial in Eduweek in which Stephanie Perrin, the head of the Walnut Hill School, in Natick, Mass. (one of the oldest secondary schools for the arts in the nation) calls for more emphasis on arts education in public schools. 
I love the fact that she points to the arts as a means of connecting with [...]

Author Toni Morrison Cites “Creative Imagination” in Endorsement of Barack Obama

Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison has endorsed Barack Obama for president.
Bloggers are having a heyday with this announcement, tearing apart Ms. Morrison’s words and accusing her of being racist. 
Wow.
But what strikes me most about this endorsement is the fact that she cites his “creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom.” 
Wow again.
When’s the last [...]

I’m BACK and Ready To Write in 2008

After enjoying the holidays with my family–visitors from Seattle, a trip to a lovely beach town in Argentina, time to relax with my oldest daughter who is visiting from New York–I’m ready to dig into 2008 and focus on the writing of my book and this blog.
I’ve had some great correspondence and conversations in the [...]

Top Ten Global Trends That Force Us To Rethink Education

I’m a fan of John Moravec and the rest of the gang over at Education Futures.  I mean, it’s one thing for me to blah-blah on this blog, but hearing the experts say the same things is, well, validating.  And exciting.
 You see, John is among a group of innovative thinkers who are calling for a critical shift in the way [...]

Negotiating In Business: Why Indians Rule

There’s been a lot of talk about why the people of India seem to be so good at math, science and engineering.  There’s also been a great deal of discussion about why many Indians have become outstanding entrepreneurs in a variety of fields. 
Tim Ferriss, the author of The 4-Hour Workweek, has a post on his [...]

Innovation Report Card for the US (You Might Want To Hide This One Under the Bed)

John Kao is the author of Innovation Nation:  How America Is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do About It. 
And everytime I have a conversation about the book or the concept, people are taken aback.  In most cases, they refuse to believe that the US is losing its title as Most Innovative Country.  [...]