You are currently browsing the archives for the Growing Leaders category.

The Solution to All Our Problems (guaranteed!)

Published on: Author: bette Leave a comment

Almost 30 years ago I ran across an article by Michael Ventura with this title. It was a list of 38 suggestions that he boldly suggested would solve all our problems.  I cut it out – made copies – took some of them to heart and saved others to think about “later.” “Later” never came… Continue reading

What’s the Matter with You, Facebook?

Published on: Author: bette 2 Comments

I’m not sure why Mark Zukerberg decided to use the term “Newsfeed” for the string of posts that my friends put up on their own Facebook pages every day.  I honestly wish I could go to one of the Q and A’s that he hosts for Facebook employees every Friday and ask that question. My… Continue reading

Are You Listening?

Published on: Author: bette 5 Comments

As I write this post I’m listening to the kids from Stoneman Douglas High School speaking to massive crowds in Washington DC. David Hogg  called for every kid in the United States to REV up.  Register – Educate – Vote!   Sam Fuentes, the next speaker, asked the crowd to sing Happy Birthday to her friend, Nicholas… Continue reading

Leadership 2020 (revised)

Published on: Author: bette 4 Comments

In1997 when I began thinking about how we were educating leaders for our future, I was hopeful, even expectant, that the advances being made in neuroscience and emotional intelligence would transform the system by the year 2020.  We’re now almost there, and I’ve had to realize that when the focus changed from educating the Whole… Continue reading

Home Street Home

Published on: Author: bette 7 Comments

Kids have been dropping out of high school since there have been high schools, but our dropout “problem” is relatively new. At the age of 11, my grandfather, John Alfred “Benny” Benson, was sent to work on a stranger’s farm in the next county when his mother died.  His father, Otto Benson, an Iowa farmer… Continue reading

Brevity Works: Learning from Donald Trump

Published on: Author: bette 20 Comments

I don’t Tweet and I will probably never make much use of my Twitter account. That being said, I keep flashing back to something my good friend Deb Tucker tried to get me to learn when Tweeting first became a fad.  Bette, she told me, it would be very good for you to learn to… Continue reading

Beyond the End: Touring Facebook

Published on: Author: bette 12 Comments

They say that every ending is a new beginning.  I’m not sure if “they” really say that … but it’s a thought that has occurred to me a great many times over the years.   The first time was in 1986 when my kids and I were on our way to a family reunion in… Continue reading

A Vision Dimmed

Published on: Author: bette 5 Comments

As I write, I am listening to a teacher’s voice, on-line, conducting a live lesson intended to prepare a group of homeschooled fourth graders for their state testing.  These children have been pulled out of the public school system for many reasons.  Some are the children of free-spirited parents who are raising their children on… Continue reading

Reflections on Voices and Values – June 4, 1999

Published on: Author: bette 1 Comment

Even though I wrote “Breakfast at McDonald’s:Reflections on Voices and Values” in 1999, I still remember the thoughts that were running through my mind that day like it was yesterday.  I don’t think I ever shared it with anyone except Molly’s mother because I felt like it was too negative, too pessimistic.  I felt that… Continue reading

Focus on the Children – December 1998

Published on: Author: bette 4 Comments

Jesus says nothing about focusing on the family.  In fact, he said quite the opposite.  A quick Google search for the question “What did Jesus say about family?” led me to pages and pages of sites that try to dispel the literal interpretation of Luke 14:22-27 where He says we must “hate” our family to… Continue reading

What’s an Evangelical Voting Bloc?

Published on: Author: bette 10 Comments

On January 24, 2016 I heard the political commentators on CNN talking about which of the candidates for the Republican nomination for President would win the “Evangelical Voting Bloc.”  I started this blog post that night, but I have not been able to let go of it and move on. It’s now September 5, 2016,… Continue reading

Leadership 2020

Published on: Author: bette 3 Comments

The children who were the focus for Leadership 2020 when I began writing about them in 1997 are no longer children.  Their children will soon take their places, and the efforts that were being made 15 years ago to replace a one-size-fits-all school system with one that would support the uniqueness of each individual child… Continue reading

Turning Points …

Published on: Author: bette Leave a comment

Thirty years ago I attended a workshop called “Understanding the Middle School Circus.” My district was considering “reconfiguration.” That’s the term they used in the mid-1980’s when districts across the country were reassigning grade levels and changing junior high schools into middle schools. In my district and the K-6 elementary schools became K-5.  Middle school… Continue reading

Good Ideas – “Hackschooling”

Published on: Author: bette 2 Comments

Richard and I are back in Brookings and I’ve already spent many happy hours in my office above our motorhome garage.  This space has been little more than a storeroom since it was built – and it’s just now beginning to be used as we intended. The main reason we built this space was for… Continue reading

A Vision Dimmed

Published on: Author: bette 5 Comments

As I write, I am listening to a teacher’s voice, on-line, conducting a live lesson intended to prepare a group of homeschooled fourth graders for their state testing.  These children have been pulled out of the public school system for many reasons.  Some are the children of free-spirited parents who are raising their children on… Continue reading

Some Things Stick: S.T.A.R. Problem Solving

Published on: Author: bette Leave a comment

We’ve been sitting out in the middle of the desert about 5 miles from Quartzsite, Arizona for the past week and a half.    Today we’re leaving  for Lake Cahuilla – a little known County Park tucked directly behind PGA West in La Quinta, CA.   Quartzsite is a strange little town.  It’s almost a ghost… Continue reading

Creative Imagination

Published on: Author: bette Leave a comment

We arrived in Quartzsite, Arizona yesterday and will be here for a couple of weeks for the “Really Big” RV show.  It’s a pretty amazing phenomenon:  thousands of RVer’s descend on this tiny border town every winter to “boon dock” on BLM land and escape the weather at home.  There’s not much to do here… Continue reading

Tests that Teach

Published on: Author: bette 1 Comment

I called my daughter this morning as she was on her way to take her final in Anatomy and Physiology at Redwood Community College in Eureka, CA.   She sounded relaxed and actually excited about taking the test two days early.    Her words were something like this:   “You would  like this guy, Mom . .… Continue reading

Project-Based Learning

Published on: Author: bette Leave a comment

We’re on the road again and today find ourselves in Redwood City, California.  We parked the RV at Paul and Debbie’s house and have spent the past 11 days with the grandchildren:  Mason (7), Reese (5), and Miles (2).   I had a chance last week to spend some time at Adalante School, the Spanish… Continue reading