Dear colleague, In my last article, I warned against using the evil eye and recommended the steady eye instead. That recommendation is just one of many that I gleaned from Kearney et al.’s 1991 study on Credibility-harming teacher behaviors. You can read the study here (or my treatment of the study on pp. 37-39 of […]
Don’t Use the Evil Eye! Try the Steady Eye Instead
Dear colleague, Few teacher moves are as classic and universal as the evil eye. That glare, meant to scare or intimidate or shame a misbehaving student back toward right behavior, is older than blackboards. (Heck, it’s probably older than folks drawing stuff on cave walls.) But just because it’s classic doesn’t mean it’s a good […]
Great Teachers = Great Rememberers
Dear colleague, I don’t have the best memory in the world when it comes to the names of former students, and it really bothers me. I’ll see a student I taught several years ago while doing some grocery shopping in our small town, and I’ll recognize the face, remember the delight I took in teaching […]
A Simple, End-of-Week Reflective Writing Activity for Secondary Students
Dear colleague, Some time ago, I was leading a Will to Learn workshop at a school in Palmdale, CA. During a break, middle school educator Teri Cook shared a writing activity she does with her students at the end of the week. I’m going to share it with you here — it’ll take just a […]
Don’t Start With Why
Dear colleague, With all due respect to Simon Sinek, why isn’t the best place to start in the classroom. It’s the place to linger, sure. It’s the place to point many dozens of creative and passionate and argumentative mini-sermons per semester, absolutely. But it’s not the place to start. Instead, start with WHERE. Teachers and […]