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 […]
6 Teaching Insights I Gained through Writing a Book
Today’s the day. The book is out. I hope you’ll read it, and I hope it spreads. Let me know what you think. Writing a book on top of teaching ninth grade isn’t something I’d recommend to anyone. It’s taken a supportive spouse, patient kids, and lots of failure. I thought it’d be good to share […]
Asking the Right Question: What’s It For?
When I was the ticking time bomb teacher — the one doing All The Things, reenacting the Hollywood-esque Savior Teacher storyline, rushing like a runaway train toward the inevitable moment when I’d need to quit — one of my problems, maybe my biggest one, was that I wasn’t asking the right questions. My sights were […]
Deciding: How I Stopped Quitting Teaching
Thankfully, things changed. I decided. (Part 1 of this story can be found here.) “So Dave, tell us — what professional books have you been reading lately?” This was the interview question that should have cost me the long-term subbing job. I didn’t know it yet, but when I came on at Cedar Springs High School, […]
