Workload and pressure work together deviously to demoralize and demotivate even the best teachers. Here’s how it works. First, workload. The default circumstance of teaching in the twenty-first century is that as time goes on, the teacher’s workload increases. Each year there is more of all the things we’re tasked with doing: More email to […]
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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
Thankful for You
My dear colleague, How could we have guessed, one year ago today, what was ahead of us professionally and personally? The hardship, the uncertainty, the fearfulness, the frustration, the angst, the triumphs and failures. None of us knew. This Thanksgiving morning, I’m thinking about you — about what it’s been like to travel through a […]
Things That Help: Weekly Wrap-Up Video for Parents
Recently, friend of the blog “Continuing Ed” McCarthy reached out to me with an example of his end-of-the-week wrap-up video to parents. This isn’t something I’ve done for my students’ families but, gosh, does it seem like a simple method for radically increasing teacher clarity, teacher credibility, and the home-school partnership. Let’s take a look […]
How to Teach and Reinforce Norms for the Synchronous Remote Classroom: Here’s the Simple Approach I Used
Recently, my school switched from in-person to remote learning, and I thought it might be useful to share how I approached establishing norms for our online “classroom.” (Zoomroom?) Normally I’d write this kind of thing down, but time is tight these days, and a video is better than nothing. (That’s also why I’m hosting a […]
How I Handled Misbehaviors on the First Day of Zoom Classroom
On the first day of synchronous learning at my school, I had a pair of students doing something I hadn’t seen before while the class was completing a writing warm-up. They were taking turns flashing their videos on and off, making funny faces each time they’d appear. I could tell they were getting a real […]
Things That Help: “Good Times”
While I don’t necessarily recommend the book,* Ben Courson’s Flirting with Darkness: Building Hope in the Face of Depression did give me a concept that’s been helpful in the days since I read it one night. It’s this habit amongst elite military groups of responding to adverse turns in events with the phrase, “Good times.” […]
My School Just Went Remote: Here Are Ten Things That Are Helping
The last couple of weeks have seemed like the capstone project for my master’s degree in pandemic pedagogy. (You know, that master’s degree program that we all enrolled in together about eight months ago this Friday?) For nine instructional days, I was on quarantine while my students were (mostly) in class — so I taught kids […]
Things That Help: Lisa Van Gemert’s Content Capsules Method for Creating Joyful, Knowledge-Rich Learning Spaces, Remotely or In-Person
Note from Dave: This summer, our colleague Lisa Van Gemert reached out to me to tell me about a new book she had written. I’ve always appreciated Lisa’s work, and I was particularly eager to share it in this case because it’s 100% in line with what I believe to be the best avenue for […]
Things That Help: Emails as Letters
This is weird to say: I’m enjoying email these days. Part of that is because I’m spending less time on it than I have in years — that feels really good given that I have a higher volume of it than I’ve ever had. But part of it is because, thanks to this neat book, […]
Books That Helped: October 2020
Dear Colleague, Some months ago, you signed up for my book club list. Since spring and summer seem like so long ago, you might remember that the book club had two phases: In spring, we read books on the equity-catapulting power of knowledge-rich curricula and learning experiences: Natalie Wexler’s Knowledge Gap David Didau’s Making Kids […]
Things That Help: Five Tips for Better PD This (Crazy) School Year
This is written for two people: You’re in charge of leading or organizing PD this year, and it’s overwhelming or frustrating. You feel angsty or sad or resigned. You’re a teacher who’s attending PD this year, and it’s overwhelming or frustrating. You feel angsty or sad or resigned. Take heart! If we attend to a […]
The Will to Learn: Practical Methods for Improving Motivation and Engagement in Virtual or In-Person Classrooms (Session Description)
Session Description: How do we help all of our students care enough to do the work and do it as best they can? I’ve spent the past five years of my teaching career reading, experimenting, and interviewing experts about what lies at the heart of student motivation. What I’ve found is straightforward: for our students […]
Workload and Pressure: Things That Help Teachers During Times Like These (Session Description)
Session Description: Educators around the nation are experiencing a harrowing double whammy right now: Schooling amidst the pandemic has produced a number of workload increases, no matter which model you’re teaching in; and Conscientious educators feel an enormous pressure to provide a world-class education for students who are experiencing an unprecedented disruption to their K-12 […]
Things That Help: One Fourth Grade Teacher’s Simple Method for Positive Parent Contacts During Distance Learning
Recently one of our colleagues wrote in to me with a tactic that ties right in to our desire to optimize the long-term flourishing outcomes of our students without burning ourselves out in the process: My name is Marisa Silver, a 4th grade teacher in Eugene, Oregon. I am a longtime reader of your material […]
Reflection Questions for a Simpler, Clearer Calendar
On Wednesday evening I recorded “Ten (Or So) Things That Are Happening Right Now,” and I was grateful for the live attendance of colleagues around the world. “Revitalizing, encouraging, humane, hopeful” — these are the adjectives folks used to describe the two hours of recorded content. It should work well for individuals, teams, or schools, […]
Ten (Or So) Things That Are Helping Right Now
Next Wednesday night, I’m going to record a set of practical insights that are slowly changing my experience of teaching this year. These are all topics that deserve their own blog posts, but I’ve just not had the time. I’m talking about: New insights on student motivation, such as: Why the most promising avenue for […]