Wayfinder Learning Lab – Stephen Taylor

Educational Philosophy

  • The Spark

    It’s not AI, it’s me! Searching for The Spark in understanding. Continue reading

    The Spark

  • Content & Inquiry in an AI World

    What’s the role of curriculum in in the age of AI? A redux of a post from the “Just Google It” era. Continue reading

    Content & Inquiry in an AI World

  • How Much Better Is “Better Enough?”

    How can we decide what to take on, when schools are such busy places? Continue reading

    How Much Better Is “Better Enough?”

  • Shining A Light On Hopeful Learning

    Recording of a PD Day keynote on educating for hope, and why schools like ours serve an important mission in a changing world. Continue reading

    Shining A Light On Hopeful Learning

  • The Buoyant Force: L2 Talk & FOEN Workshop

    This was a great challenge during the Learning2 Conference last week in Nanjing. It was my first time at the conference and I was looking for an experience that would push me and provide something to think about. I presented… Continue reading

    The Buoyant Force: L2 Talk & FOEN Workshop

  • Clear is Kind.

    I love this post from Brené Brown, adapted from her book Dare to Lead: “Clear is Kind. Unclear is Unkind.” In leadership roles in spaces with many moving parts and challenges, I’ve learned that unnecessary ambiguity can lead to unnecessary… Continue reading

  • Middle Leadership: The Sponge

    A rough metaphor for leading from the middle, the Middle Leader Sponge often has to clean up spills and messes and absorb the stresses or worries of others so that they can go about their own job without passing on… Continue reading

  • Make It Easier To Do Better Things

    A simple mantra, but one I hold onto as a learning/tech coach, leaned on as PK-12 Director of Learning and will cling to next year as MYP Coordinator. It was the “key concept” of my #HackTheMYP IBAP Conference session in… Continue reading

  • Creating Cultures of Thinking: Summary Cards

    I love Creating Cultures of Thinking by Ron Ritchhart of Project Zero at HGSE so much, and refer to it so often, that I made these aide-mémoire cards and chapter summaries, and I carry them with me for planning, coaching… Continue reading

  • Making Learning Visible in Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences

    “Children grow into the intellectual life around them.”  (Vygotsky, quoted by Ron Ritchhart) I really enjoy parent-student-teacher conferences. (I’d rather do more of these and less report writing, but that’s a different post.) Even with a limited time-slot (my last… Continue reading

  • Wayfinders: Respecting The Journey

    After a decade acting in coordination/leadership/HOD/coaching-type roles, I think one of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned – and want to encourage in others – is to respect the journey. This generates more questions in my head than most topics,… Continue reading

  • The Buoyant Force of Continuum Learning

    If you’re new to this blog – welcome! Ideas on here often build on previous posts or conversations, so I hope this make sense. To find out more, please visit my about page, with posts by topic. ……….o0O0o………. As I… Continue reading

  • Bold Moves for Schools

    This is a quick-and-dirty review of a book that ticks all the boxes for a curriculum nerd like me: Bold Moves for Schools, by Heidi Hayes Jacobs & Marie Alcock, from the ASCD (2017, 207 pages). It’s a practical and comprehensive, yet… Continue reading

  • Live Fully Now

    A quick post on an Alan Watts quote that drew healthy discussion (and some tears) at a recent presentation. Continue reading

  • Global Contexts & Avoiding the ‘Single Story’

    This last couple of weeks we’ve been busy preparing faculty PD on the Global Contexts and their role in developing International Mindedness & Global Engagement (IMaGE) in our students. It has been a lot of work, but as we kicked… Continue reading