Hello there,

How are you? I’m writing to share the first edition of a newsletter I’m launching, which will highlight the brightest practices, lessons and ideas from the crossover of education and entrepreneurship.

Each month I’ll be sharing insights that are useful to read, easy to share, and, most importantly, practical to apply in your school or district.

I've included a preview below (it's organized by five key levers for continuous school improvement – people, processes, products, places, and time). I hope you get a chance to read through it and share your thoughts. If you'd like to subscribe to the newsletter (next email comes in January), just reply to this email or sign up here.

Best regards,

Eileen

People

The Power of Chatty Students

One of the most important things we can do for our students is to give them more opportunities to talk in the classroom. It helps build community, encourages learning from others, and helps with the acquisition of a language.

This infographic shows how students can leverage other students to learn in noisy classrooms, which accelerate learning for everyone (especially developing bilingual students).

Processes

Build, Measure, Learn: Lessons from a Lean Startup

In the book, The Lean Startup, entrepreneur Eric Ries spells out a step-by-step plan for success in the world of entrepreneurship, where having no resources, no time, and a huge problem to solve (sound familiar?) drives creative thinking.

How can instructional leaders approach school improvement like an entrepreneur? In this blog post, I review Ries’s five lean startup principles and how they can apply to education.

Places

Designing for a Teaching and Learning Workflow with the Classroom Planning Tool

Finding the right strategy for using ed-tech tools is tough, particularly when it comes to the different challenges teachers encounter in each classroom.

That's why we built the Classroom Planning Tool, which helps teachers explore blended learning models based on individual classroom needs. All models are designed to improve personalization without sacrificing collaboration, rigor, or student engagement.

Products

How Selling Milkshakes Can Help Us Select Better Ed-Tech Products

To help grow McDonald's milkshake sales, a Harvard Business School professor asked milkshake consumers one simple question: “What job are you hiring this milkshake to do?”

Administrators can use this same school of thought to select the right ed-tech products. Start asking yourself: "What am I hiring this tool to do?" 

Time

Time on Task: Measuring Key Performance Indicators to Improve Student Outcomes

We spend a lot of time building great curriculum, but how do we help students get the most from the experience? From the time students begin an in-class assignment to the ring of the bell, only 56 percent of them will complete a task.

To improve the start, persist, and finish rates (time on task) of students, educators can download a simple worksheet we created to measure goals and outcomes in the classroom.

Quote of the month:

“Recognizing the need is the primary condition for design.”

–Charles Eames