For the inaugural post of this blog, I would like to introduce myself and tell you the purpose of this website.  Over the course of nearly thirty years of teaching high school science, I developed a philosophy and a system of classroom structures that I believe offer a true antidote to the central problem facing schools everywhere – the simple fact that students, despite their best efforts and the heroic work of teachers, do not actually learn very much in school.

Here, then, is a highly effective, classroom-tested approach to replacing the boredom and busywork of “doing school” with genuine learning.  It is based on the premise that students can become self-directed learners and take ownership of their learning process.  It is also grounded in the establishment of a culture of learning in the classroom. (For more on the philosophical beliefs, see “Credo” on the homepage.)

After decades of development, the time has come to share this way of doing school. Since 2010, I have been working as a consultant, making presentations and helping teachers implement this approach.  I am also writing a book on the subject.

The goal of the Geni Project is to disseminate this approach as widely as possible.  Since these ideas evolved through close collaboration with my students and fellow teachers, it seems appropriate that task of sharing it should be a collaboration as well.  This time it will be through social media, starting with this website, a related Twitter feed, YouTube channel and Facebook page.  The “Core Ideas” section of the home page contains a digest of that book in progress.  New segments to the digest will be initially published as blog posts, along with a range of educational topics, including responses to current events, book reviews, personal experiences, and interviews.

I hope you will join me in finding new ways of getting these ideas out to a much wider audience.  You can subscribe by email, RSS feed or “like” the Facebook page.  I will also be generating an electronic newsletter that will inform subscribers of new developments.

It is my fervent hope that you will find ideas here to stimulate conversations about what schools can and should be, and that you will respond with your own reactions to what you read here.  I hope that you and I can both gain something from the conversation – it’s how we all learn, after all.

Note:  This post will also be found in “About the Geni Project” in the main menu.