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Uncommon Learning: Creating Schools That Work for Kids
UnCommon Learning techniques set the stage for mastery and true student engagementIntegrate digital media and new applications with purpose and build a culture of learning with pleasure!Let students use real-world tools to do real-world work and develop skills society demands. Be the leader who creates this environment. UnCommon Learning shows you how to transform a learning culture through sustainable and innovative initiatives. It moves straight to the heart of using innovations such as Makerspaces, Blended Learning and Microcredentials. Included in the Vignettes to illustrate key ideas Real life examples to show what works Graphs and data to prove initiatives' impact
264 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 3, 2015
16 people are currently reading
171 people want to read
About the author
Eric C. Sheninger
7 books31 followersEric is a Senior Fellow and Thought Leader on Digital Leadership with the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE). Prior to this he was the award-winning Principal at New Milford High School. Under his leadership his school became a globally recognized model for innovative practices. Eric oversaw the successful implementation of several sustainable change initiatives that radically transformed the learning culture at his school while increasing achievement.
His work focuses on leading and learning in the digital age as a model for moving schools and districts forward. This has led to the formation of the Pillars of Digital Leadership, a framework for all educators to initiate sustainable change to transform school cultures. As a result Eric has emerged as an innovative leader, best selling author, and sought after speaker. His main focus is the use of social media and web 2.0 technology as tools to facilitate student learning, improve communications with stakeholders, enhance public relations, create a positive brand presence, discover opportunity, transform learning spaces, and help educators grow professionally.
Eric is a Bammy Award winner (2013), NASSP Digital Principal Award winner (2012), PDK Emerging Leader Award recipient (2012), winner of Learning Forward's Excellence in Professional Practice Award (20 12), Google Certified Teacher, Adobe Education Leader, and ASCD 2011 Conference Scholar.
He has also contributed on education for the Huffington Post, co-created the Edscape Conference, sits on the FEA Board of Directors, and was named to the NSBA "20 to Watch" list in 2010 for technology leadership. TIME Magazine also identified Eric as having one of the 140 Best Twitter Feeds in 2014. He now presents and speaks nationally to assist other school leaders embrace and effectively utilize technology. His blog, A Principal's Reflections, was selected as Best School Administrator Blog in 2013 and 2011 by Edublogs.
Eric began his career in education as a Science Teacher at Watchung Hills Regional High School where he taught a variety of subjects (Biology, Chemistry, Marine Biology, Ecology) and coached several sports (ice hockey, football, lacrosse). He then transitioned into the field of educational administration as an Athletic Director/Supervisor of Physical Education & Health and Vice Principal in the New Milford School District. During his administrative career he has served as District Affirmative Action Officer and was the president of the New Milford Administrator’s Association. During his tenure as high school principal he successfully implemented numerous initiatives including a new teacher evaluation system (McREL), oversaw Common Core implementation, and initiated a new grading philosophy. Eric received his M.Ed. in Educational Administration from East Stroudsburg University, B.S. in Biology from Salisbury University, and his B.S. in Marine/Environmental Science from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
His work focuses on leading and learning in the digital age as a model for moving schools and districts forward. This has led to the formation of the Pillars of Digital Leadership, a framework for all educators to initiate sustainable change to transform school cultures. As a result Eric has emerged as an innovative leader, best selling author, and sought after speaker. His main focus is the use of social media and web 2.0 technology as tools to facilitate student learning, improve communications with stakeholders, enhance public relations, create a positive brand presence, discover opportunity, transform learning spaces, and help educators grow professionally.
Eric is a Bammy Award winner (2013), NASSP Digital Principal Award winner (2012), PDK Emerging Leader Award recipient (2012), winner of Learning Forward's Excellence in Professional Practice Award (20 12), Google Certified Teacher, Adobe Education Leader, and ASCD 2011 Conference Scholar.
He has also contributed on education for the Huffington Post, co-created the Edscape Conference, sits on the FEA Board of Directors, and was named to the NSBA "20 to Watch" list in 2010 for technology leadership. TIME Magazine also identified Eric as having one of the 140 Best Twitter Feeds in 2014. He now presents and speaks nationally to assist other school leaders embrace and effectively utilize technology. His blog, A Principal's Reflections, was selected as Best School Administrator Blog in 2013 and 2011 by Edublogs.
Eric began his career in education as a Science Teacher at Watchung Hills Regional High School where he taught a variety of subjects (Biology, Chemistry, Marine Biology, Ecology) and coached several sports (ice hockey, football, lacrosse). He then transitioned into the field of educational administration as an Athletic Director/Supervisor of Physical Education & Health and Vice Principal in the New Milford School District. During his administrative career he has served as District Affirmative Action Officer and was the president of the New Milford Administrator’s Association. During his tenure as high school principal he successfully implemented numerous initiatives including a new teacher evaluation system (McREL), oversaw Common Core implementation, and initiated a new grading philosophy. Eric received his M.Ed. in Educational Administration from East Stroudsburg University, B.S. in Biology from Salisbury University, and his B.S. in Marine/Environmental Science from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 30, 2019
I read this book as part of an online course and could not have been happier with the information it provided. There were multiple technology apps that were provided in the book to utilize in the classroom. The book was very informative and gave insight into different tools I had either not heard of or had not had an opportunity to explore yet.
April 10, 2019
Lots of great ideas and resources.
August 3, 2020
Uncommon Learning gives a lot of great advice about how to use technology to transform education. I still struggled with how the true transformation can happen in an individual school that has to conform to the same level schools in a district. I also struggled with how to incorporate these ideas as a librarian--most rely on teacher instruction that I don't always get to be a part of.
May 23, 2017
Finished my Olathe summer reading assignment in May... I was hesitant going into this one with Marzano's glowing review on the back (his name has become a bit of a curse word in KCKPS), but overall I enjoyed this one. There were some neat ideas here and some resources that I want to check out.
September 11, 2017
Another solid addition by Sheninger for those interested in future ready learning.
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September 15, 2020More a school- or district-wide plan, a 30,000ft view for leaders than it is meant to give practical moves to teachers. Not much new here.
December 29, 2017
Nothing really new learned from reading this book. I feel like the whole thing could be summed up by saying, “Use technology in your classroom.” Done.
October 2, 2016
2.5/5 stars
I really wanted to like this book. The premise, to describe education initiatives that increase relevance, add context, construct new knowledge, and empower students and teachers, and to incorporate examples of schools that have already done these, is awesome and important. (The initiatives it focuses on are digital learning, makerspaces, blended/virtual learning, bring your own device, digital badging, academies/smaller learning communities, and connected learning.) Some of its basic philosophies, such as that a key part of educational leadership is empowering teachers and students to be leaders, I really believe in. However, in my opinion, this book failed to deliver on its promise.
Its best use may be a skim to get the general idea of these initiatives before heading off to other sources to really learn about how they work, because I never felt like it got into a lot of depth. For instance, one section suddenly starts talking about a virtual learning space where students and teachers are represented by avatars. That's really cool! I wasn't expecting that! But then it told me very little about how it worked, what the virtual learning space was, what people did in it, or what the results were, falling back on vague statements such as: "Users' avatars were able to interact in various ways within the five 'rooms,' and the collaborative learning activities that happened there allowed students to improve their performance in different ways" (bolding mine, where I would love more details). There were also some really weird organizational things going on: for example, the seven page case study at the start of the "Blending and Virtual Learning" chapter really seems to belong in the earlier "Digital Learning" chapter, since while some of the examples did involve blended learning, others were just more examples of teachers incorporating technology to create good lessons.
Overall, if you are interested in a general overview of different education initiatives with really laudable goals, Uncommon Learning could work for you. Just don't expect too much.
I really wanted to like this book. The premise, to describe education initiatives that increase relevance, add context, construct new knowledge, and empower students and teachers, and to incorporate examples of schools that have already done these, is awesome and important. (The initiatives it focuses on are digital learning, makerspaces, blended/virtual learning, bring your own device, digital badging, academies/smaller learning communities, and connected learning.) Some of its basic philosophies, such as that a key part of educational leadership is empowering teachers and students to be leaders, I really believe in. However, in my opinion, this book failed to deliver on its promise.
Its best use may be a skim to get the general idea of these initiatives before heading off to other sources to really learn about how they work, because I never felt like it got into a lot of depth. For instance, one section suddenly starts talking about a virtual learning space where students and teachers are represented by avatars. That's really cool! I wasn't expecting that! But then it told me very little about how it worked, what the virtual learning space was, what people did in it, or what the results were, falling back on vague statements such as: "Users' avatars were able to interact in various ways within the five 'rooms,' and the collaborative learning activities that happened there allowed students to improve their performance in different ways" (bolding mine, where I would love more details). There were also some really weird organizational things going on: for example, the seven page case study at the start of the "Blending and Virtual Learning" chapter really seems to belong in the earlier "Digital Learning" chapter, since while some of the examples did involve blended learning, others were just more examples of teachers incorporating technology to create good lessons.
Overall, if you are interested in a general overview of different education initiatives with really laudable goals, Uncommon Learning could work for you. Just don't expect too much.
July 16, 2016
Nothing new here folks! The message was clear. ..use technology in meaningful ways to personalize learning and engage students. Some good websites are referenced, but at times the author gets technical with different methodologies. Watch his TED talk and you'll get just as much from that as this book. This book needed more clear set examples and would have benefited more from narratives.
December 24, 2015
Great read! Full of quality ideas and resources that can be accessed and used right away.
June 6, 2016
Good book with uses of implementing a wide range of tools such as: makerspaces, badges, academies, digital learning and other new tools. More of a personal narrative towards implementation.
July 7, 2016
Poorly written, overall sloppiness seriously undercuts his credibility as an expert on education. Can't get past 1st chapter.
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July 8, 2016370.1 S5467 2016
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September 18, 2016Each chapter is a readers digest summary what I think of as hot topics in education today. If you've paying attention you already know what these are and where to find resources.
October 14, 2020
Great read and even better that I was able to meet and talk with him.
June 26, 2018
Good for a quick skim through to get some basic understanding of digital tools, blended learning, etc. but I have read far more detailed and helpful guides that I would use before this one.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews