About Tom Lascher
Short Form: Tom helps learning teams achieve 21st Century excellence using simple principles and checklists.
The Institutions: Apple | Genentech | Stanford University | Northwestern University | LAUSD | NYC Schools
Infrequently Asked Questions:
What did you learn as an instructional designer?
Real learning is as neat and tidy as a toddler eating an ice cream cone.
When they say don’t call the baby ugly they probably mean it.
Sometimes learning is just cracking the shell around what you already know.
How many times have you gone looking for Nick Offerman’s negatives?
I don’t know, man. Too many.
How did this learning thing start for you?
The principal at my school started pushing education books at me. Decades later I realized they were leftover textbooks from his doc program. I ended up sitting on the school board at age 16 as a student member. Which was fascinating, except when it wasn’t.
What do like most about how the world has changed in your lifetime?
I love the explosion of knowledge. More books, more ideas, more insights drawn from research. There will never be enough time to appreciate what we have at our fingertips.
As an undergraduate, what was your greatest learning?
Sitting in my dorm room at Bennington, reading Edward Weston’s journals and realizing that, for him, seeing was more than just using your eyes. “Seeing” was a magical skill. As I began to take that in, the world grew.
What is your greatest fear?
That at the end of the tortuous war, stupid will vanquish smart.
Where would you most want to live?
That’s hard. Part of me would like to spend a year here and a year there. I’ve lived in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and here in Silicon Valley. I wouldn’t say this is the best place, but being able to hike in the redwoods is deeply satisfying.
Do you miss photography?
Sometimes, sure. The photography I did then is gone, except as a curiosity. Film. Black and white. Printing by hand in the darkroom.
How is teaching high school in the South Bronx different from teaching in South LA?
The South Bronx was more aggressive and hostile, but South LA was more lethal. I like seeing adolescents get curious, and that can happen anywhere.
Why this whole “Put Learners First” thing?
Mmmm.
Maybe because our learners deserve better.
Or because I only enjoy changing things that resist change.
Or maybe it’s just the path that opened up in front of me.
Should I hire you to work with my team?
Well, yeah. I think so.