Author Archives: sutterlearn

New Teachers

Being a new elementary teacher is quite possibly the most unsettling experience known to man (at least to this man) to such extent I cannot find a universal metaphor.  It is a total body insult.  Your self-confidence takes a hit, … Continue reading

Posted in Coaching, Leadership, Teachers | 1 Comment

What I Did Last Summer

What a cliché title, eh?  I’m not a fan of the long summer breaks in this profession, probably because I’ve heard so much ridiculous commentary from friends who work less and earn more about “lazy teachers who only work nine … Continue reading

Posted in Parenting, Teachers | 4 Comments

CREACTIVE

I’ve spent years reading leadership books, articles, allegories, and parables about the virtues of “laser-like focus”, “courageous conversations”, and “unapologetic direction”.  I like getting pumped up by such inspiring clichés.  It seems part of our animal spirit that the strong … Continue reading

Posted in Coaching, Leadership, Teachers | 1 Comment

Professional Learning Conception #8 – Creation

For the final post in my series on Professional Learning Conceptions, I want to echo off of the first one (Professional Learning Conception #1 – Managing Curriculum) where I wrote of either massaging a purchased curriculum into instructional shape or … Continue reading

Posted in Professional Learning Conceptions, Teachers | 1 Comment

Professional Learning Conception #7 – Online Collaborative Learning

Online learning is pounding on the doors of public education.  There are still lots of question, such as: are we using technology to merely economize or make the same procedures more efficient; or are we using it as a tool … Continue reading

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Does May Exist?

May could be the most elusive month of the school year.  November reels from the sugar-laden rise and fall of Halloween into the shortened week of Thanksgiving.  December can feel complete or not, simply based on when the holiday break … Continue reading

Posted in Leadership, Students, Teachers | 2 Comments

Book Review: Bob Marley – The Untold Story

In the summer of my 9th grade year, I had the chance to visit Jamaica on a mission trip.  Since that time, I have been a fan of Bob Marley’s music and his legend, but didn’t completely understand how he … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews | 1 Comment

TEDx Lansing 2012

Last week I did something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time.  After posting links to a few different TED talks here on my blog, I took part of a day to attend the Lansing TED conference.  TED … Continue reading

Posted in Leadership, School Reform, Teachers, Technology | 4 Comments

Professional Learning Conception #6 – Lesson Study

In a former life, I was a quality manager where my job was to study things like kaizen, a Japanese methodology of “gradual continuous improvement”.  In my current life, a form of kaizen, also from Japanese culture is the structure … Continue reading

Posted in Coaching, Professional Learning Conceptions, Teachers | 1 Comment

Professional Learning Conception #5 – Student Work Review

Picking up from the last Professional Learning Conception (#4 – Data Analysis), it seems that prerequisite to having data worth analyzing, there is student work that results in the data.  Before “data-driven” became the overused cliché that it has in … Continue reading

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