It seems like the teacher’s journey goes something like this: I like this better than the two bottlenecks language from a couple weeks ago. A few reasons for that preference: This shows that the journey is cyclical. Good days can follow bad ones, and bad ones can be followed by good ones again. It’s applicable […]
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Let’s Make Teaching Better.
Dave Stuart Jr. is a husband, father, and high school teacher who writes about education. He reads extensively across the disciplines so that he can create uniquely satisfying professional development experiences for his colleagues around the world. His mission is to encourage and equip educators on the journey to long-term flourishing and professional excellence.
Professional development. (The good kind.)
If we’re going to make teaching better, we’ve got to improve professional development. I’m not the guru, but I have spent thousands of hours practicing and researching the art and science of educator-centered, high-impact PD. My hope with all of these is that they help.
And oh yeah: I’m still a teacher. I’ve never left the classroom. With 120 students on my roster each year, it’s impossible for me to detach theory from practice.
Online PD
My schedule-friendly, all-online professional development courses are designed with busy educators in mind. Whole staff or district applications are available — email support@davestuartjr.com with your needs.
In-Person PD
I speak and lead education workshops for a limited number of schools and organizations around the world each year.
Books + Blog
My best-selling book, These 6 Things, has been read and cherished by secondary teachers around the world. My blog is read by over 35,000 educators each month.
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The Latest from the Blog
The Change to Come
Community AND content. Humility AND boldness. Curriculum AND instruction. Hard work AND deep rest. The most impactful teachers in the world are masters of embracing paradox. They’ve got an eye for what Jim Collins calls “the genius of the AND.” Where do they acquire this sense for nuance? In their dogged pursuit of first principle […]
The Two Bottlenecks
So here’s the good news: a lot of teachers have experienced rich, rewarding careers in education, and a lot of teachers are even doing that right now in the midst of all the topsy turvy. On most days, I count myself among this group. Despite its difficulty, this work remains an excellent way to spend […]
Highly Qualified < Highly Competent
(Forgive me if what follows is obvious.) What we’ve called “highly qualified” since No Child Left Behind is not a super useful construct for deciding who should do what in a school building. It’s a way of making sure that the people leading the classrooms once passed enough classes and tests and practica to earn a […]
We’re in the Counterculture Business
The absolute best path to motivating a human being through the Value belief — especially an older one — is through meaning. Meaning acts like a fusion reactor in the human heart. With enough meaning, all manner of things can be endured, understood, pursued, gained. With meaning in mind, take a look at this chart, […]
It Might Not Be Zoom Fatigue
What if it’s not about the screen or the format but is instead about meetings that lack a purpose, an urgent agenda, a vibrant culture, a shared sense of “Isn’t it such a good feeling to be here with one another?” What if the problem isn’t Zoom but is instead an undercurrent of meaninglessness, valuelessness, […]
What If Schools Were Places Where the Value of Learning Was Obvious?
What would it be like if you went into a school building and shadowed a student for a day, and during that day you and the student experienced 100 or so signals that pointed to the following truths: Learning is transformative. When you learn what the solar system is and how stars work, you don’t […]
Ten Things Leaders Can Do to Improve Teacher Morale in Early 2021
According to a recent EdWeek survey, teacher morale isn’t great in the United States right now — at least not according to us teachers. Take a look: When you look at that, you might be nodding your head. Me too. Not exactly a revelation, right? A pause for perspective: it’s not only us Now listen. […]
Learning Strategy: Teaching Students to Use Quizlet Effectively
Early this school year, I taught my students to use Quizlet for mastering key knowledge. A bit of context: my curriculum assesses both knowledge and skills. I assess skills like argumentation via pop-up debates, essays, and short-answer questions. I assess knowledge through short-answer questions and multiple choice questions. (Now if you’re thinking “all multiple choice […]
The Whole World Blind
Hey there, colleague, First, I want to say thank you for a break that I needed. The last couple of weeks I have been resting, thinking, praying, and enjoying the simple gifts of life. I’ve got some blog posts in the hopper ready for you this month, but I didn’t feel that sending them over […]
How to Help Students Value Learning Just Because It’s Learning (Video)
Some time ago a colleague and I were talking about how the ways that we talk to students about learning can help or hinder the cultivation of student beliefs in learning. This is an important topic in terms of labor-saving for teachers because we all speak to our students anyways — be it through in-person […]
“We’re On Pause”
When my son and I are wrestling, he’s got a self-awarded superpower: any time he says, “Pause,” I’ve got to stop moving while he gets to reposition himself, readjust his cape, or (most frequently) obtain a lightsaber from his room. “Pause!” he’ll say with his almost-four-year-old voice. And off he goes to prepare for whatever […]
What Keeps the Fire? Here Are Two Skillsets that Motivated Career Educators Have in Common
Teaching is one of the best jobs in the world because of its large impact potential in two areas: Externally, teaching affords us the unmatched privilege of contributing to the education of human beings. Few endeavors are as wrought with possibility as the teaching of people. And each day, we’re paid to participate in this […]
Things That Help: Taking a Walk When I’m Stuck, or the Five-Out-Five-In
Most afternoons, I find myself stuck at least once: in a lesson plan, a stack of (digitally submitted) essays, a writer’s puzzle, a problem of practice I can’t solve. Now there are rare times when I find it best to push through when I’m stuck. But more frequently, I find that it’s better to take […]
“Cameras On… Please?” Ideas for Turning Empty Squares into Faces
This isn’t going to be me wading into the Great Camera Debate of 2020 but is instead me processing strategies for getting more students to turn their cameras on during whole-class, synchronous instruction. But Dave, why? Way back in the day, I wrote a post describing how humanization is only possible in spaces where we […]
Sandcastles v. the Himalayas: On Weak and Strong Boundaries
In a world of remote and hybrid instruction, there’s lots of talk about boundaries. It comes up in professional development, during staff meetings, on blogs and Twitter: boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. And the topic is a worthy one. As I’ve said, constraints make us better. The path to freeing ourselves up to doing our best work is marked by self-imposed […]