In October 2022, acclaimed author and educational strategist Michael B. Horn joined Middle States President Christian Talbot for an exclusive live virtual interview and Q&A about reimagining education.
More than 180 educators from around the globe logged-in for the discussion centered around Horn’s game-changing ideas on education innovation as outlined in his book, From Reopen to Reinvent.
In a series of related blog posts, Talbot highlighted key takeaways of Horn’s approach starting with the argument that the COVID-19 pandemic should be viewed not only as a threat, but even more so as an opportunity. Using Horn’s book as a guide, Talbot laid out the following framework for leading change in schools:
From threat rigidity → to opportunity;
From zero sum → to positive sum;
From everything-to-everyone → to Jobs To Be Done;
From hygienic factors → to motivational factors;
From cognitive biases → to new narratives;
From waterfall planning → to discovery driven planning; and
From uneven levels of agreement → to tools of cooperation.
In his final post on the book, Talbot reminded Middle States members, as well as all educators, of the imperative to facilitate change in schools.