Last week I had the pleasure of spending a day at Providence Day School in Charlotte, North Carolina for a bootcamp. Among the people I had the opportunity to meet and talk with was Matt Scully, PDS’s director of technology, and the person who invited ESM to the school.

One of the things Matt and I discussed was his take on the need for meaningful change in the “general education model.” In particular, we talked about how often times adults can get in the way of change for fear of how it might impact us. Matt has put some of his thoughts into a new blog post. His premise:

I am a believer that our current model with its agrarian calendar and the industrial assembly line structure needs change. I also believe that educators in the classroom are the most important element in creating lasting, meaningful change. This is why I become so concerned when I witness examples of teachers acting as obstacles to growth based on it will impact us, the adults.

The post is well worth a read. I have no doubt that Matt would welcome a conversation on the topic.

It’s not a stretch to say that there are similar examples of well intentioned, but perhaps too comfortable, people acting as obstacles to change on the advancement and communications side of the school world as well. As Matt points out, change means taking risks and getting out of your comfort zone. We talked a lot about that in Charlotte, and it was fun to see a room full of people making the effort to become catalysts for – rather than obstacles to – change.

-Steve Ritchie

Follow Steve on twitter @steveritchie

Photo credit: dmason