We are about to close the curtain on 2025 and begin a new year. We like to think of this time brief period of time at the end of the year as an opportunity to slow down, to reflect on the year past and the year ahead. As we do so, let’s take a moment to reflect on all that many of us will be celebrating these next two weeks, what it means to move from one year to the next, and what lessons we can apply to ourselves and our field. Then let’s sit down and carefully plan out our Spring Resolutions for 2026.
Category Archives: Life
Dancing With Stars
Starbucks seems really focused on selling me coffee, iced tea, cake pops, etc.; that is, the Starbucks experience. Can we commit to being that same level of focused, creative, and yes, relentless in figuring out ways to sell the school experience to students.
The Current Life of A Former Me
Listening to The Life Of A Showgirl while snacking on the last of the Taylor Swift chai sugar cookies I baked for my class and drafting the submission for my 45th college reunion class report, it occurred to me: there’s a lot of similarity between a Taylor Swift album and my class report submissions.
A Tale of Two Icons
October baseball! The MLB postseason begins tonight and includes my Red Sox for the first time since 2021. It’s still the most selective and compact postseason of all the major men’s professional sports leagues – following a 162-game season that separated the wheat from the chaff. It extends the summer, and win or lose, it’s special. It’s baseball.
Seeking Balance
Attending the Center for Assessment’s RILS conference last week got me thinking not only about what it takes to implement balanced assessment systems, but about balance, in general, and the barriers to achieving it.
Is Writing The Hill To Die On?
As the dust settles and the smoke clears following the opening forays of artificial intelligence into the world of PK-12 and higher education, the battleground is becoming clear. Writing is the line in the sand that cannot be crossed, the tract of land that must be defended at all costs. But is writing the right battle to fight?
Go Home, Frank. Go Home.
While joining the rest of the world in mourning Pope Francis, there has also been another Francis weighing heavy on my heart and mind these past two weeks. A few days before Pope Francis passed away, my cousin Frank succumbed to the aggressive form of brain cancer he had been fighting these past few months.
Watching for White Smoke, Waiting for a Call
At some point in the next few weeks, my church is going to select a new leader. If called upon, I will serve to the best of my ability. If not, I will do the same.
A Mile In My Shoes
This week, turning 66, it’s shoes that are on my mind. As the poet said, we are shaped by the lessons of humanity taught to us by our elders and will be known forever by the tracks we leave. In my case, a lot of those lessons and tracks they helped shape involve shoes.
Suffering Fools Gladly
It was fun when April Fools’ Day came once a year. But what do we do to survive when every day feels like April Fools’ Day, when you’re sure that virtually every report, post, or announcement must be a joke.
Embrace the Absurd 