I launched this blog in May, 2014. And over the past seven months it has evolved week by week, with ideas and insights addressing education’s opportunities to help each child, and indeed the entire world, reach full potential. As we conclude the calendar year, I am showcasing my top original content from Actualization: The Human Potential Project in 2014. Rankings are determined by the total number of hits for each post during the calendar year. You can view my top curated content of 2014 here.
Whether this is your opportunity to revisit a favorite post or have a first glance at something yet discovered, I hope you enjoy this top twenty annotated list!
1. A Matter of Choice
American public education was the envy of the world in the last century, until it was hijacked and redefined as a business enterprise that needs to produce numbers to justify its value. The American public needs to reclaim its schools and take responsibility for their success.
2. Seriously, Why Are You Still In Education?
If these facts are all you need to know to walk away, then walk. Seriously, why are you still in education? On the other hand, if you know in your heart that nothing is going to get better until you step up, then we need you to lead from wherever you find yourself in your current position.
3. Welcoming New Leaders in Education
New leaders have arrived in education, and they’re not beholden to anyone or anything that came before them. They do not fit any one profile or group or demographic. They lead in ways of thinking and working and succeeding that look ahead, not behind.
4. Vet Depth: The Challenge of Social Media as Professional Development
Social media already provides us the tools. We simply need to make the most of them. Commit yourself to deep dives all the way down to vet depth, where we can advance one another’s professional development.
5. Ten Takeaways from Atlanta ISTE
I am just back to DC after my first ISTE conference in five years. Here are ten takeaways from my time in Atlanta. Thanks for a great conference, ISTE!
6. MI21: Multiple Intelligences & the Global Knowledge Economy
While Howard Gardner created his intelligence theory at the dusk of the industrial age, his greatest impact may well be its application in the dawn of the information age. My new working model in my ongoing work on MI & IT.
7. The Socratic Oath for Educators
I crafted this proposed oath for professional educators – a Socratic Oath – for your consideration. Thanks to everyone in my blog readership who offered feedback and input in refining this important creed for educators everywhere.
8. No Planned Obsolescence in Education
More than a century ago, Oscar Wilde famously observed, “Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” In an age of abundance, it’s time to shake off the resigned legacy of planned obsolescence, especially when it comes to our children and their future.
9. Studying: A 22nd Century Skill?
Studying seems incidental to the larger process of learning by doing. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. We have been aspiring to the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy for more than half a century now. Will studying be a 22nd century skill? My answer is, “No.”
10. Expect More
Shake off false-feel-good gratefulness and artificially-induced optimism. Think like a pedestrian: raise the bar high enough that you won’t trip over it. Finding yourself repeatedly unexpectedly face-down on the ground dazed and confused is no way to go through life.
11. Self-Selecting, Real-World Learning Communities
Picture in your mind hot spots that indicate places people go to learn new things and practice skills that are important to them. Where are those heat surges? Athletic fields? Dance studios? Book stores? Parks and beaches? Art galleries? Theaters? How about school buildings? No? Why not?
12. 2015: The Year of the Teacher
Now therefore, let it be proclaimed that the year 2015 is the Year of the Teacher, with a focus on the work of transforming our profession, our classrooms and society, so that our children are fully prepared to embrace their fast-approaching and fast-changing future.
13. Making That Choice Every Day
I continue to hold onto my belief that, regardless of what sphere of education in which we choose to work, the more educators who stand up and speak out for what is best for children today, the more the critical mass will build, and eventually real transformation can and will take place.
14. Future-Fluent
The tech experts that support businesses and government agencies are all about seamless functionality that support and (more importantly) don’t disrupt business. Why should education be different? Why is it still about the technology?
15. Brass Elephants
Imagine a world free of humanly-created obstacles; the bottled-up potential that would be unleashed. Imagine a world where we are no longer limited by our self-imposed impediments, and answers to our most long-standing problems begin to become evident.
16. No One Right Answers Anywhere
As uncomfortable and uncertain as it may be to let go of the world we once knew, it is time to acknowledge there is no one right answer anymore. Creativity. Innovation. Transformation. Buckle up, baby boomers. It’s going to be a wild ride.
17. 12 Ways to Make This Year Your Best! [INFOGRAPHIC]
12 simple ideas succinctly stated that can help you optimize your leadership in the coming year. This was the first original infographic I created, and the most popular one among my followers, to date!
18. Sing Out!
No one can make us change our world view. We need to choose to no longer be exclusively U.S.-centric, but us-centric…because “us” is no longer three-million people inhabiting the United States, but seven-billion people inhabiting the entire planet…we are all in this together.
19. On Ulysses, Yoda And The School of Hard Knocks
In many ways we are aspiring to a new image of that shining city on a hill. The only difference is, this time around, the city is not in a physical location, it’s virtual; and equitable access and opportunity, free from poverty, injustice and oppression, are the right of every citizen.
20. Let’s Have An Honest Conversation
What is the common denominator in each of these examples? Politics. Our professional discussions are becoming a reflection of the politicization of education. We recognize it in elected officials and decision makers, but do we recognize it in our selves?
Thank you for a wonderful first year of Actualization! Here’s to continuing our good work on behalf of children in 2015!
2015 is the year the focus will finally turn the corner by organizations in education and the business world to get it right: it is about the learner. It is not about calling it “Personalized Instruction” or “Personalized Education.” It is not about the technology, the curriculum, or instruction. It is about the learner making learning personal for his or herself. It is about teacher and learner roles changing. It is about calling students “learners.” It is about transforming the system because now is the time to change the system. The current system is broken. It isn’t working for most of our learners. The current system of content delivery and focusing on performance instead of learning is not making positive changes for our children and their future. So 
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