About the Writer

From a teacher to superintendent of schools, Rich Ten Eyck has spent more than four decades in education, including time spent as teacher, building administrator, Assistant Superintendent, Superintendent. In 2005, he retired from the New Jersey State Department of Education as an Assistant Commissioner. While with the Department, Rich was responsible for the following Offices:  Academic and Professional Standards,  Evaluation and Assessment,  Early Literacy, and  Vocational-Technical, Career and Innovative Programs

Upon retiring from the NJ DoE, Rich joined the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE) and the Successful Practices Network (SPN) as a senior consultant. In this capacity, he worked with model and/or aspiring model schools throughout the country and served as an executive coach for school leaders.  Before leaving ICLE and SPN, Rich served a founding member of  the SPN Career Readiness Institute.

In his latest attempt at retirement, Rich has turned to writing and occasional coaching.

Rich received his Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from Assumption College and Master of Arts in Education Administration from Lehigh University. He has taught as a Fulbright Exchange teacher in Germany and at all school levels here in the United States.

About the Blog

Rethinking Learning is a forum for the exchange and exploration of ideas. Spoiler alert… it is extremely unlikely that this will be published and/or updated according to any kind of fixed schedule.  If the blog and resources seem interesting and valuable to you, please use the Follow button to be notified of updates.

My contributions reflect a set of core values which underpin my work and writing. They also draw their inspiration from a variety of eclectic sources and experiences. I’ve included the core values here so that you might be better able to decide if subscribing to Rethinking Learning may be useful in your own explorations and growth.

Should you find resonance with these values, you may wish to explore the annotated resources page listed in the main menu (coming soon).  I sincerely hope that you will enrich the explorations that I include here by sharing your thoughts, experiences, and resources that you have found.

Core Values/Beliefs

• Learning is a joyful experience.
• Learning opportunities must never be limited by place or time — Everything can be an opportunity for learning.
• Learning is about making connections especially with people who can help cause learning.
• Learning is most effective when powered by learner passion, interests and needs.
• Learning belongs to the learner, not to a grade level or discipline/course.
• Learning is not a linear process.
• Teaching has moved beyond the delivery of content.
• Teaching involves causing learning though the intentional design and offering of engaging opportunities for learning.
• Evidence of learning can take many forms.
• Evidence of learning belongs to the learner who has many options for communicating and sharing the evidence.
• Evidence of learning can often be aligned to external “standards” or “expectations”.
• Learning tied to standards can be reflected on a transcript.
• Adults in schools should not set the curriculum for entire groups of students for jobs which do not yet exist in the belief that they can see tomorrow’s career opportunities.
• Newtonian “linear, sequential” approaches ignore the reality that neither the learning nor the learner is ever independent or isolated.