For the first three years of my career, I worked eighty hours per week. I didn’t know a bit of the research or much of the craft knowledge. Rich and productive relationships with students took hours of time. I won engagement and motivation through brute effort — lots of bells, whistles, and speeches. It’s not […]
Archives for June 2020
A Humane Email Norm that More Districts Should Consider
When I send out my email newsletter, sometimes I get an autoresponder like this: Thank you for your email. Staff email hours are 7:45 am – 4:00 pm Monday – Friday. It is common practice to expect a three-business day window between receipt of an email and a response. This is brilliant. I know when […]
Summer Books: On Race, Listening, and Work
Dear colleague, As those of us stateside enter summer break, my wish is that you do the kinds of things in the next 45 days or so that strengthen your soul, engage your intellect, refresh your body, and nourish your relationships. Will we think about teaching during these days away? Of course — especially so […]
“If You’re Not Building Knowledge, You’re Not Teaching Reading.”
In this brief talk, Robert Pondiscio makes the case for what he calls the “57 most important words in education reform.” This would serve as an excellent refresher or discussion-starter for teams or faculties that have read or are about to read Wexler or Didau, as we did recently in our blog-based book club. I […]
Beyond Coercion: Thinking Deeper than Carrots and Sticks
One of the big things we discovered during the COVID closures of spring 2020 is that many of our students are presently motivated by carrots and sticks: credit or no credit, GPA boosts or GPA reductions, prizes or penalties, incentives or consequences. Most educators did not find this surprising. This “play the game” mentality is […]