Give Us 25 Minutes; You’ll Get Better 24 Hours

For the past 18 months, I’ve helped lead an in-person meditation group at Claremont Presbyterian Church. COVID interrupted that practice, but in the tradition of finding opportunity in crisis, we came upon a marvelous way to keep silence together on line. Since late June, Duane Bidwell, Sam Atwood, and I have been facilitating silent […]

New Stories on How California Flipped 7 U.S. House Seats from Red to Blue

Medium has just published the first installment of a five-part series on how grassroots organizing helped flip seven U.S. House of Representatives seats from Red to Blue in the 2018 midterm elections. Take a look https://medium.com/@charles.kerchner/the-fishhook-how-grassroots-politics-is-changing-californias-republican-heartland-a1b8a4bf50bb?source=friends_link&sk=b1adafe68b4f3793553db054dea96999

Old at the Beach

We’re living on Pacific Beach Time this week. It’s nice to be back. Beach time has been rare in recent years since the State of California kicked us out of our beach trailer Sangri-la at Crystal Cove. (What me, bitter and vengeful?) Beach time is fungible. Breakfast can be as late as you want. Cocktail […]

Nomadland: Exploring America’s Mobile Army of Older Workers

Jessica Bruder’s superbly-crafted book about wandering workers pitches itself as a mixture of resilience and economic fragility, of strong wills and empty gas tanks. It is that, certainly, and more. It’s a jumping off point for a reflection on how America got to the place that a RV army of at least 20,000 roams the […]

Tracking Tracy Lum in Outrigger Canoe Race 2,500 Miles Away

We’re home bound in Claremont, hunkered down in the 105 degree heat today tracking our daughter-in-law Tracy Lum as she and her crew from the Newport Outrigger Canoe Club race in the Queen Lili’uokalani race between Kailua and Honaunau off the Kona coast of Hawaii’s Big Island. It continues over four days and is billed […]

Five Days in La La Land: Hiding in plain sight in Hollywood

Leanne and I have explored Paris on the #69 bus that goes to the Pere Lachaise cemetery and Florence, where the #7 bus goes up the hills for a view of the city. We visited Berlin when we were young, before the Wall went up, and when we were old after it came down. We […]

Using the ‘R’ Word

Last week I put ‘On California,’ my column at EdWeek.org on hiatus, maybe permanently. Retirement has always been a funny concept to me. I’ve failed at earlier attempts, but it’s time for an earnest try. Here’s what I wrote: I was 16 when I walked into the Barrington (Illinois) Courier-Review with the object of […]

All the Stuff that Wasn’t in the Christmas Letter

In my Christmas letter, volume 54 of the Kerchner Chronicle, I promised readers an extension of the narrative here on the Mindworkers blog. That was probably a mistake. Christmas letters are a difficult genre. They veer from cute to seriously boring, and it’s hard to say anything substantive about family issues—no, no, too much information—religion, […]

Something Completely Different: The Red Sock Caper

Just when your eyes were beginning to cross reading ed policy verbiage, I offer the mystery of the Red Sock. The red sock disappeared. Leanne had given me a very comfy pair of bright red socks that I wore when I was feeling reckless, wanting to make a fashion statement, or to put out flares […]

A Small Tribute to a Fallen Photographer

I weep for fallen journalists, particularly photographers who put themselves in harm’s way to tell us stories that we find inconvenient. I never met Anja Niedringhaus, the Associated Press photographer who was intentionally shot by Afghan police officer on Friday, but I cry for her nonetheless. Reporting war is one of the most dangerous jobs […]

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'On California' at EdWeek.org

I have concluded my opinion blog on the Golden State's politics and education policies at EdWeek.org. An archive of the 281 posts can be reached by clicking HERE

Learning 2.0

Learning 2.0 is the next full scale version of public education, one that builds on the capacity of the Internet age.

The five elements of Learning 2.0 are explained by clicking HERE:

Mixing acquisition of knowledge and practice, head and hands.
An individual education plan for everyone.
Understanding that students are the real workers in the education system.
Unbundle teaching, testing, and mentoring.
Add collaboration and solving tough, ambiguous problems to the list of basic skills.

Recent Projects

Teacher Work and Teacher Unions
‘Learning from L.A.: Institutional Change in American Public Education’
Teacher-Run Schools

Currently Reading

About

Charles Taylor Kerchner is an Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Fellow at Claremont Graduate University. My daily musings appear in the blog. The archives of my EdWeek blog are available via link under the 'On California' head. Some of my photography can be seen by clicking on 'Gallery.' And numerous links to academic work and other research and commentary can be found by clicking on 'Projects.'

Mindworkers

Charlet T. Kerchner / MindWorkers