Whenever I talk to folks about tracking moments of genuine connection (MGC), I use three words again and again and again: valued, known, respected. These are the specific signals you try to send to a young person when you attempt an MGC with them. If you’re not meaning to signal one of these things when […]
Archives for August 2023
Ya Gotta Clear the Clouds
Most of your students don’t understand what school is for. They think it’s: It has been years since I held any misconceptions like these against my students. I respect what Jerry Graff long ago taught me in his book Clueless in Academe: even in college, most kids don’t “get” school. They don’t get what it’s […]
A Seek and Find Challenge for the First Weeks of School
There are several things I’m trying to do in the first weeks of school. Things like: This is just me creating the cosmos my students and I will inhabit in my room all year. But today, I wanted to share with you a first weeks of school task that I’ve not written about before: finding things to like about […]
Using the Godfather to Help with Belonging
When my students get their first assessment results of the school year, I like to share with them one of The Godfather’s many iconic lines: It’s not personal, it’s business. (Actually, the line is “It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.” It’s in one of several career-launching scenes for Al Pacino. Here’s a clip.) This […]
The Four Pillars: Defining Success at the Start of the Year (and Often Thereafter)
In my new book, one of the 10 strategies I feature is “Define Success Wisely, Early, and Often.” This made the cut from my initial list of over 50 strategies because, for most students, success is a deeply ambiguous and murky thing. And for many others, success is an overly simplistic thing, like “all As.” […]