If you settle on the idea that the point of schools is the long-term flourishing of kids, you get to explore all kinds of interesting territory — in your own practice and in your teams (department, PLC, school). The opportunities for earnest and amicable professional arguments — loaded, of course, with paraphrasing and evidence and encouragement […]
“Hang Up Philosophy”: A Note on Philosophies of Education
When I was graduating from my teacher preparation program, I remember writing a “Philosophy of Education” statement in Microsoft Word. It had a cool font, and I printed it on cool paper. You looked at the thing, and you were like, “Dang. This guy.” So impressive… until you read it. That’s when you realized it should […]
“Worksheets Are the Worst”
It’s common enough to hear a well-meaning teacher use language like this: Worksheets are the worst. There should be zero worksheets allowed in schools. Only bad teachers use worksheets. In one sense, I get it. When a class period becomes nothing more than a teacher distributing worksheet after worksheet to keep kids busy, that class […]
Fast Feedback is Effective Feedback: Here’s How to Do Better
If we want our kids to become good at things, we need to give them feedback. It’s not grades that make a student become a better writer or speaker or knowledge-builder — it’s feedback. (I do work in a system where we use grades, by the way — I don’t spend much time thinking or […]
Wheel Alignments (and a Change to the Blog)
Every few years, my old and faithful Toyota Camry starts doing this weird thing where it wants to veer off the road. I take it in, and I find that it’s time for a wheel alignment. When the wheels are tilted even a fraction of an inch in the wrong direction, the car doesn’t drive […]