Portfolios – A very tricky, simple idea.

It seems that organizing a process in schools where students gather evidence of their learning and compile a #portfolio is very simple. That is, it would be very simple if you didn’t need to bother about it being a meaningful process. This is where the difficulty lies. I have experimented with different types of portfolios, both

Long Live the Peace Poets

  Yesterday, I sat quietly for two hours and listed to 70 Peace Poets (K-12) recite their creations at the 15th Annual Oahu Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Poetry Awards. I enjoyed them all, leaving the auditorium with a host of images of peace in my mind. There was only one of the 70, however, that

True Misconceptions: Multi-tasking and concentration

I have just published my second novel, a much shorter process than the first, and in a recent conversation with Amy Burvall, digital trail blazer and the ultimate multi-tasker, we talked about the writing process, particularly as I balance my time between life as a middle school principal and the world of fiction, a dystopian world

Why get your feet wet?

  One of the greatest things about working in a school is the array of activities you become involved in, the different situations you effortlessly stumble into. The interesting part is that it is always new. In this photo we are cutting ‘cat tails’ in some reclaimed marshland in Kawainui Marsh, Oahu, Hawaii. I never really

Intersecting Lives

  Passing through life, we try on a variety of roles that all connect in the most surprising ways. We don’t usually realize how they all fit together until the moments pass. Specific events help us to see how the different strands have connected, supported, hindered and shaped our ideas, and therefore our identities. I lead many lives;