Much attention was drawn to the challenge of learning loss over the last couple of years as schools and the entire country have wrestled with COVID-19 and the best ways to navigate it. It has certainly been a learning experience, an entire school of hard knocks, with lots of bumps and bruises along the way.

The learning by doing principle is a widely known principle in education that refers to learning from experiences directly relating to one’s own actions. This hands-on approach concludes that people must interact with their environment in order to adapt and learn. Philosopher, John Dewey, most notably created and implemented this idea through the creation of the University of Chicago Laboratory School.

Students are more than race, ethnicity, ability, age, sexual orientation, family structure, and class. They have layers of lived experiences that directly impact their success in life and academia. For many students, their life experiences are just as much a piece of their educational framework as their in-class experiences. Sometimes, even more so. 

Teachers have been asked to navigate what is arguably one of the most difficult times in the history of the teaching profession. Before the pandemic, the roles and responsibilities of a teacher were already no easy feat. Long hours, large classrooms, and sometimes unrealistic expectations have long-plagued this profession. Since the pandemic, however, distance learning has added to the increased feeling of frustration and anxiety.

Simulations are developed because they can effectively drive a narrative and elicit emotional responses from the audience. Their purpose is to make the participants feel linked to one another and put themselves in the other person’s shoes. Our goal is to align the hearts of educators, resulting in a greater chance for aligned decision-making in our schools, and simulations may be the key to accomplishing this.

The uncertainty of recent years has presented difficult decision-making opportunities for school leaders. Teachers, students, parents, and the entire school community are frequently impacted by these decisions. How can I make the best decision in the most challenging of situations? It is normal to feel overwhelmed by this, but it is critical to remember your school’s mission and values in the face of decision-making. These 10 decision-making tips for school leaders can help tackle tough decisions this school year.

According to Turnbill et al. (2016), preparation programs and district professional development for principals should include specialized coaching and mentoring focused on developing leadership committed to educational equity. Principals should receive this type of strategic support to be successful in building their teams, decreasing the district’s turnover rate, and increasing all students’ achievement.

Simulations are real-world models of systems or processes that allow students to evaluate the effects of various activities on the model. The University of Pennsylvania created the SchoolSims software simulations as a professional development experience for K-12 in-service school leaders and ELPPs.

Over the years, we have taken valuable feedback from our clients and used it to tell others why simulations are the right choice for your organization’s professional development program. School leaders sift through past experiences when confronted with challenging situations, searching for relevant instances to draw knowledge. If learning from your mistakes is the best way to experience growth, how do we provide these learning experiences to current and aspiring leaders?

Over the last couple of centuries, technology in the classroom has transformed completely. In 1930, the overhead projector was introduced to the classroom to display images for the entire class to see. In 1972, handheld calculators made student’s lives easier to help quickly solve math problems, and in 1991, the first portable computer allowed users to have the world wide web at their fingertips. It is clear that technology plays a massive role in the way we navigate in and out of the classroom.