venture academy
Letting Go: Cultivating Assessment-Capable Learners
I wasn’t always a successful teacher. In fact, when I first started teaching high school fresh out of college at 22, my role could better be described as kid-manager. I had a lot of passion and was great at keeping kids in class and putting out metaphorical fires, but most of my time wasn’t spent engaging students in true deeper learning. I would never have hired my past self.
Ten…
Recruiting Students for Your Blended School: Remember 3 Ps
Over the past year, your team has developed an exciting vision and detailed plan for a personalized, blended digital learning school that prepares all students for college and 21st century careers. You’ve found the perfect school leader, secured approval to open and a great facility, and are hiring terrific teachers. Enrolling students to fill your program is the easy part,…
Hire Edupreneurs: Advice for School Start-Ups
In the jargon-filled world of education, neologisms should be used sparingly. For a new school aimed at inspiring innovators and entrepreneurial leaders with a new learning model, the term edupreneur is indispensible. Edupreneur combines the concepts of education and entrepreneur – a person who undertakes any enterprise or venture, usually with considerable initiative and risk. …
In a Passionate Life, Lessons for Learning
A tribute to Verne Johnson, Blended Learning Trailblazer
The close of this year’s bitter, uninspiring campaign season marked the passing of a leader who embodied a very different approach to public life and leadership. The journey of civic and education pioneer Verne C. Johnson, who died last week at 87, offers a case study of a leader who catalyzed innovation and creative disruption over the…
Waiting for MacGyver
We’re looking for the MacGyvers of education, which is exactly how I describe the type of individuals I’m looking for as we begin recruiting for Venture Academy’s founding team. If you’re unfamiliar with the character MacGyver, take a look here.
Roger von Oech, who has spent his professional life focusing on the study of creativity, once said that “It’s easy to come up with…