Top Posts of 2024

I must say that 2024 has been crazy in a good way. It was the first full year that my consultancy, Aspire Change EDU, served education systems worldwide.  While this kept me super busy, it also impacted my blogging schedule.  Well, that and the fact that it is so difficult to come up with unique topics to write about.  I must not be the only one in this boat, as there are fewer and fewer education bloggers these days.  Upon reflection, I might readjust my goal of one post a week, which I have stuck with since 2010, to one per month. Writing must come naturally and not be forced.

Another thing I have noticed is that readership is way down.  Either my blogging skills have deteriorated over the years, or maybe people just don’t read as much anymore. Regardless, my blog has always been a space for me to reflect and align relevant contexts to strategies and issues that educators can relate to meaningfully.  For someone who never saw themself as a writer, I am proud that I have stuck with it this long.  My hope is to churn out at least one more book. Time will tell on this goal.

Without further ado, here are my Top Blog posts of 2024 based on views.

Compliance vs Engagement

Personalize: Meeting the Needs of All Learners

11 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools to Support Effective Teaching and Leadership

Quantifying Innovative Practices

The Fallacy of Best Practices

Here's to a fantastic 2025!  If you have any ideas that you think I should write about please share in the comments. 

A New Era of Educational Leadership: The AI Advantage

A few weeks back, my friend Monica Burns reached out and asked to share some insight on my favorite artificial intelligence (AI) tool for a blog post she was writing. Since she was gathering perspectives from numerous educators, I wanted to avoid the well-known tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini. Thus, my decision was easy as I was able to zero in on one that I use routinely, which not only helps me when coaching, but also can be invaluable to practicing school leaders.  Here’s why.  To make data-enhanced decisions, it's crucial to have access to reliable and relevant research, something I stress in Digital Leadership extensively.  Consensus AI offers a powerful solution, enabling leaders to quickly and efficiently access peer-reviewed research to support and validate change initiatives.

What is Consensus AI?

Consensus AI is an advanced artificial intelligence platform designed to help educators find and understand complex research. By leveraging natural language processing and machine learning, this tool can quickly sift through vast amounts of scholarly literature to identify the most relevant studies. This allows school leaders to spend less time searching and more time analyzing and applying research findings.

How Can School Leaders Utilize Consensus AI?

It can be leveraged to curate support for evidence-based practices, ensuring that teachers have access to the most effective strategies to enhance student learning. Below are some specific examples:

1. Identify Evidence-Based Practices:
• Targeted Searches: Use Consensus AI to search for specific educational practices or interventions, such as early literacy strategies or behavior management techniques.
• Curate a Knowledge Base: Build a digital library of evidence-based practices that can be shared with teachers and staff.
2. Validate Proposed Initiatives 
• Research Review: Before implementing a new program or policy, use Consensus AI to review existing research on its effectiveness.
• Identify Potential Pitfalls: Uncover potential challenges or limitations that may arise from a particular approach.
3. Support Professional Learning:
• Personalized Learning: Tailor professional learning opportunities to the specific needs of individual educators.
• Collaborative Learning: Facilitate discussions among educators by providing access to shared research resources.
4. Inform Policy Decisions:
• Data-Driven Policymaking: Use Consensus AI to identify research that supports or refutes proposed educational policies.
• Advocate for Evidence-Based Practices: Present compelling evidence to policymakers to secure funding and support for innovative initiatives.

The Benefits of Using Consensus AI

Consensus AI empowers school leaders to make sound decisions by providing quick and easy access to peer-reviewed research, ultimately leading to improved student outcomes. Thus, there are many benefits, such as:

• Time Efficiency: Quickly access and understand complex research.
• Improved Decision-Making: Make informed choices based on credible evidence.
• Enhanced Professional Learning: Provide educators with high-quality resources to support their growth. 
• Increased Accountability: Demonstrate the impact of evidence-based practices.
• Stronger Advocacy: Use data to advocate for effective policies and programs.

By embracing Consensus AI, school leaders can revolutionize their approach to educational improvement. By leveraging the power of AI, they can ensure that their decisions are grounded in sound research, leading to better outcomes for all students.

Addressing Gaps in Practice with Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Unless you are living under a rock, AI is all the rage right now, and rightfully so.  It can revolutionize various practices by addressing gaps in efficiency, accuracy, and decision-making. By analyzing vast amounts of data, AI algorithms can uncover patterns and trends that human analysts may miss, leading to more informed and effective strategies. For instance, in healthcare, AI-powered tools can analyze patient data to predict disease outbreaks, optimize treatment plans, and streamline administrative tasks. In finance, AI can detect fraudulent activities, automate trading, and provide personalized financial advice.

Furthermore, AI can enhance human capabilities by automating repetitive tasks and augmenting decision-making processes. By freeing up time and resources, professionals can focus on more complex and creative tasks. For example, AI can assist lawyers in legal research, helping them identify relevant case law and regulations more efficiently. In the creative industries, AI can generate ideas, design products, and compose music, inspiring human creativity and innovation. As AI advances, its potential to address gaps in practice and improve various industries is immense.

So, what does this mean for educators? In coaching work with leaders, my Aspire Change EDU team and I facilitate numerous coaching cycles over the course of a year. During these visits, we collect a great deal of qualitative and quantitative evidence to analyze as part of the feedback process. We then use questioning techniques, research, and evidence to identify gaps in practice. There is typically consensus around the same practices that represent opportunities for growth, such as:

• Hooks at the beginning of the lesson
• Scaffolding questions to bump up thinking
• Relevance 
• Closure (exit tickets) at the end
• Developing common formative assessments (CFA’s) to obtain usable data to personalized and use in PLC’s
• Use of data in the classrooms to group, regroup, and differentiate as well as for interventions
• Data analysis for PLC’s
• Rubric development (especially when using an arbitrary scoring guide)
• Unpacking standards into learning targets

These are just a few areas where, once identified, AI can help to address the gap in practice with instant suggestions. During a recent coaching visit a modeled how this could be done.  After visiting high school classrooms most of the day, I then debriefed with the leadership team. Questions were used to calibrate and flesh out growth opportunities.  In this case, it was determined that even though teachers had time and were expected to be implementing common formative assessments (CFA,s), we didn’t see evidence to support that this was happening.  We also identified the need to utilize lesson hooks at the beginning of the class and find ways to make the standards relevant.  It was at this point that I modeled how AI could be used.

Below are the three prompts that I entered into Google Gemini. The beauty of this was that I could build on each previous response and didn’t have to re-enter the standard. 

Prompt 1: Create a 3-problem scaffolded formative assessment (easy, moderate, challenging) for this standard: A-SSE.1.a: Interpret parts of an expression, such as terms, factors, and coefficients.

Easy: Identify the coefficient in the following expression:

• 5x + 2

Moderate: Consider the expression: 3x^2 - 7x + 4

• How many terms are in the expression?
• Identify the coefficient of the x^2 term.

Challenging: Given the expression: 2πr(r + h)

• What does the "2πr" represent in terms of a cylinder?
• How many factors are in the expression?

Prompt 2: Create a hook based on this standard to begin the lesson

"Imagine you're a detective, and you're given a mysterious code. To crack the code, you need to understand its hidden parts. Today, we're going to be detectives of algebra, breaking down expressions to uncover their secrets. We'll learn how to identify the clues, or the parts of an expression, that will help us solve algebraic puzzles."

Prompt 3: How can a teacher make this standard relevant for students

Real-World Connections:

• Geometry: Relate coefficients to dimensions in formulas like the area of a rectangle (A = lw) or the volume of a rectangular prism (V = lwh).
• Physics: Discuss how coefficients represent physical quantities in equations like force (F = ma) or kinetic energy (KE = 0.5mv^2).
• Finance: Explain how coefficients influence financial calculations, such as interest rates in compound interest formulas or tax rates in income tax calculations.

Engaging Activities:

• Expression Match-Up: Create cards with expressions and their corresponding parts (terms, factors, coefficients). Students can match the cards to reinforce understanding.
• Real-World Expression Creation: Have students write expressions to represent real-world scenarios, such as calculating the cost of a phone plan with a base fee and per-minute charge.
• Expression Building Game: Use blocks or tiles to represent different parts of an expression. Students can build expressions and identify their components.
• Error Analysis: Present students with incorrect interpretations of expressions and have them identify and correct the mistakes.

As you can see, AI can be an invaluable tool for teachers, administrators, and coaches if and only if used after the gaps in practice have been identified. It is not a substitute for teaching and leading but an on-demand support that can help save time and maximize your impact. 

Using Student Discourse to Increase Engagement

As my Aspire Change EDU consultant team and I visit classrooms on a routine basis, we strive to lead administrators, coaches, and teachers in reflecting on their practice using questioning techniques.  The majority of these often revolve around engagement, and it is quickly realized that when students are compliant, it is because the adult is doing all the work or talking. A simple yet powerful strategy to move from compliance to engagement is discourse through turn & talk. 

So why is this so important when it comes to engagement? Student discourse, the interaction and exchange of ideas among students, is a vital component of learning. When students engage in meaningful conversations, they are not only actively constructing knowledge but also developing essential competencies for academic and personal success.

Cognitive Development and Critical Thinking

Research has consistently shown that student discourse is a powerful tool for cognitive development. As Mercer (2000) argues, "Talk is not simply a vehicle for transmitting information; it is a tool for thinking." When students articulate their thoughts and listen to the perspectives of their peers, they are challenged to think critically, analyze information, and construct new knowledge. This process helps students identify gaps in their understanding, refine their ideas, and develop a deeper appreciation for diverse viewpoints. 

Enhanced Communication 

The ability to articulate ideas clearly and persuasively is highly valued in today's interconnected world. Through classroom discussions, students learn to express themselves effectively orally and in writing. They also develop the ability to listen attentively, ask probing questions, and respond thoughtfully to the ideas of others. These skills are not only valuable for academic success but also for personal and professional growth.

Building Community and Belonging

When students feel safe and supported to share their thoughts and ideas, they are more likely to develop positive relationships with their peers and teachers. This sense of community can create a more inclusive and welcoming learning environment where all students feel valued and empowered to contribute, something Nicki Slaugh and I emphasize in Personalize. 

Nurturing Environments Conducive to Learning 

To maximize the benefits of student discourse through turn & talk or think-pair-share, educators must create a supportive classroom culture that encourages open dialogue and critical thinking. This involves establishing clear expectations for respectful interaction, providing opportunities for students to practice their communication skills, utilizing scaffolded questions, and modeling effective discourse practices themselves. As Weimer (2015) suggests, learner-centered teaching approaches, which prioritize student voice and active participation, can significantly enhance the impact of student discourse.

Quality discussion involves purposeful questions prepared in advance, assessment, and starting points for further conversations. I shared the following ideas in Disruptive Thinking:

• Facilitate face-to-face interaction 
• Pose open-ended questions 
• Encourage peer-to-peer dialogue 
• Prompt students to explain their reasoning 
• Diversify question formats
• Provide opportunities for all students to share out following the discussion to amplify voice (individual whiteboards, dry-erase surfaces, Post-it notes, technology)

By creating a space for authentic conversation, teachers can transform their classrooms into vibrant learning communities where students thrive. As the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2018) emphasize, student engagement is a key factor in promoting deep learning and long-lasting knowledge retention.

Student discourse is a powerful tool for fostering critical thinking, enhancing communication skills, and building a strong sense of community within the classroom. By prioritizing student voice and creating opportunities for meaningful conversation, teachers can create more engaging, inclusive, and transformative learning experiences for all students.

Mercer, N. (2000). Words and minds: How we use language to think together. Routledge.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2018). The science of learning: Organization, motivation, and engagement. National Academies Press.

Weimer, M. (2015). Learner-centered teaching: Five key changes to practice. Jossey-Bass.