Archives for May 2024

When a student slouches back, crosses their arms, and in the surliest tone possible says, “When am I ever going to use this?” we’re being given an indicator of a couple things. Situations like this are just what the Five Key Beliefs are for. So first of all, we need to figure out if this […]

Lots of times, educators seeing a decline in student motivation or engagement will try developing a sense of belonging in their classrooms. The student that doesn’t want to read — let’s help him think of himself as a reader. The student who “isn’t a math person” — let’s have him think of himself as a […]

If writing a book about teaching is something you’ve thought about more than ten times, then let’s start with: Yes — I think you should take the compulsion seriously. It’s not a thing that can be done on a whim, but where there’s a settled sense of calling to treat a topic in education with […]

Dear colleague, In the Speaking/Listening chapter of These 6 Things, I argue that teachers only need three kinds of speaking routines for their practice: This school year, one of the few experiments I’ve run in my practice is with pop-up debates. Based on promising results at the end of the previous year, I went into […]

The Rainbow of Why can be an overwhelming tool.* All these colored pathways to Valuing math or science or art class — great. But…where do I start? Today, let’s try this: start with your own love. In The Prelude, William Wordsworth writes, What we have loved, others will love, and we will teach them how. […]