Peter DeWitt

Oct 29, 2024 | edweek.org | Peter DeWitt

Have you ever engaged in a self-reflection activity during a professional learning session that provided you with such clarity it changed your perspective immediately? One of us (Michael) remembers a jarring moment during a session that provided such clarity for him. At that time, he was a building principal sitting in a workshop, and the presenter asked the participants to take out their calendars. It was the late ‘90s, so many of the participants were using a paper calendar of some sort.

Oct 2, 2024 | edweek.org | Peter DeWitt |Michael Nelson

It was an unusual way to begin our leadership-team retreat. District leaders and principals were quickly divided into groups of five when they walked into the room. They were asked to select a team leader, pick out a large gift-wrapped box, and find a fairly large work spot in our high school library. Each work location had various tools, but no two work stations had the same ones. The teams were told they could not talk to each other from this point forward, even though they were in the same room.

Sep 23, 2024 | edweek.org | Peter DeWitt |Michael Nelson

With the second, and likely the last, presidential debate of the 2024 election behind us, there is no shortage of emotional opinions and viewpoints on social media. Those opinions and viewpoints focus on who actually won the debate, which candidate answered more of the actual questions asked by the moderators, and, of course, memes about dogs and cats. It’s interesting that we can all watch the same presidential debate in real time and come away with such different views.

Sep 11, 2024 | edweek.org | Peter DeWitt

Collective leader efficacy is a school or district leadership team’s ability to develop a shared understanding and engage in joint work that includes evaluating the impact they have on the learning of adults and students in a school. What this means is that leadership teams need to consider each member’s theory of learning. Cynthia Schubert-Irastorza, Ed. D., writes, “Learning theories help educators understand the process of learning.

Jul 31, 2024 | edweek.org | Peter DeWitt |Michael Nelson

In an Education Week Opinion Blog last year, Raj Tawney wrote a powerful story about a teacher that changed his life after many years of feeling like an outsider looking in. Tawney said, “In 10th grade, however, my English teacher, L. John Friia, saw me for the first time. He was cool and easy to talk to. I felt comfortable opening up to him and expressing my hobbies and interests.”What we know is that every student deserves to be seen and heard, but it doesn’t happen as often as we think.