Dear colleague, Last year, my student Abby V shared something that I found hilarious: in her bedroom, she has photos of people she looks up to hanging near her door. Her rule for herself is that she is not allowed to leave her room unless she promises not to disappoint them. The list of people […]
Double Duty Strategies
Dear colleague, During my most recent workshops in South Dakota, Michigan, and Colorado, I tried to emphasize a simple point: a great teaching strategy should accomplish not just one of your objectives as a teacher but rather many of them simultaneously. In a job as complex and demanding as teaching, we’re after maximum bang for […]
Building Models: The First Task for a Strong MGC Game (Plus Other First-Week Insights)
Dear colleague, In The Will to Learn, I introduced a strategy called Tracking Attempted Moments of Genuine Connection (MGCs). I’ve covered MGCs extensively elsewhere on the blog (the most comprehensive treatment can be found here), so today I won’t repeat that work. Instead, I’d like to share with you some practical things I’ve noticed this […]
All Call: What Are You Woodenizing Right Now?
Dear colleague, The other day, I received a text message from the ever-enthusiastic and always-growing educator Mr. David T. Reese. (He wrote a guest blog several years ago that you can read right here.) David said, I’m not the boss of you; however, I think it’d be pretty cool if you did an ‘all call’ […]
20 Years In
Dear colleague, Tomorrow begins the 20th year of my teaching career, and as of this moment’s rosters (sure to change still), I’ve got 153 human beings that I’ll be getting to know in the weeks to come. (One of them, it turns out, is the child of a former student. I knew the day was […]