The news is dominated today by the events of one national convention going on, another on the way, and a hurricane heading into the Southeast. All three events involve a lot of wind. One thing you can be sure of is that the 24-hour news cycle will be in full swing over the next week. One of the common strategies that will be used will be “people on the street” interviews, where one person will be thrust to the forefront and her perspective will be used to reflect that of everyone experiencing each event. As the school year starts, what will you do to make sure that this same strategy does not happen in your classroom or school? How will you hear all voices and make sure that the one who yells the loudest is not the substitute voice for all? What tools can you leverage to ensure that each student or other members of your school community are heard? How can you personalize learning to recognize students as people first, and learners second? As this year starts, I hope that we will make the effort to listen past whatever is blowing the loudest and find the voices that need us. -- Hank Thiele
