In the March 2016 issue of Educational Leadership, Editor in Chief Marge Sherer poses a provocative question: “What about [our students’] learning today will they consider ‘Learning for Life’?” I have two answers to this question. First, teaching toward my students one day considering the learning in my class “Learning for Life” is not my objective. […]
Archives for April 2017
Relationships: Not a Separate Goal, but a Fruit of and a Means to *the* Goal
If you’re trying to decide whether you should spend class time developing relationships with and amongst your students or working on the curriculum toward the longest-term objectives, I think you’re asking the wrong question. When people set off on a Mount Everest trek (says the guy who has, of course, done this many times), they […]
The Critical Juncture
There are thousands of ways to be a great, master teacher, but there is really only one way to be a bad one. It has to do with how the critical juncture is handled. This is the critical juncture: the moment when you realize a negative difference between how you expected things to go, and […]
When Teachers Go on Autopilot: How to Recharge the Fundamentals of Instruction
Note from Dave: Gerard Dawson does good work, and I respect the fact that he seems to rightly prioritize his work: husband, father, teacher, writer. In that lattermost area, I have a lot of respect for what Gerard has been doing recently, consistently publishing helpful, actionable, thought-provoking articles based on what he’s learning in his teaching practice. Without further […]
