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 […]
Moments of Genuine Connection: A Piece of Paper, a Clipboard, and a Goal
Neat Update, Fall 2020: This strategy has been featured at Cult of Pedagogy! You can find it here. When we intentionally track moments of genuine connection with students, starting with the first day of school, a few important things happen: We connect with every kid. Using a clipboard and a single sheet of paper with all 120 or so […]
Simplify Responsibly
Educational “solutions” are often hopelessly complex. This flies in the face of a problem-solving principle you’re probably familiar with: Occam’s razor, or “the simplest solution is the best one.” I don’t mean to be a whiner when I say hopelessly. I just mean that if our objective in the United States is to improve long-term […]
Students Won’t Read? Start with Their Beliefs
For reading in any course to matter as much as it can, the students have to 1) do the reading, and 2) do the reading actively, with care (e.g., asking questions, looking up new terms, taking notes). Many teachers — myself included — encounter a few common situations in which kids don’t naturally do this […]