Last time, we looked at the CCP of teacher credibility. Now, let’s examine the top trick I know for building it rapidly. This is useful if you’re new at a school or if you feel like you’re credibility is stagnating. What Kevin Hart taught me about teaching I read a story recently about comedian Kevin […]
The CCPR of Teacher Credibility
Starting out at a new school is hard, whether you’ve got no years of experience or ten. You can bring instructional expertise, nuclear passion, and tomes of knowledge, but when you start at a new school, there’s a big thing you lack: credibility. Is this person a good teacher? That’s the question everyone’s asking, whether […]
The Folly (and Difficulty) of Yes-itis
At the end of this past school year, I reaped the sour fruits of saying yes to too much during the preceding few months. Yes-itis is not a noble condition, despite what 25-year-old Dave Stuart might tell you. Saying yes to too much is the epitome of foolishness; it consigns us to survival mode, where […]
Warm Self-Critique: A Mark of Great Teachers
If we stick to teaching as long as we ought to, we’re going to make bad decisions — all kinds of them. The key to becoming a wiser teacher, then, is not to aim at making no mistakes, but to learn from the mistakes of this year so that next year we can make different […]
What (and How) I’m Excited to Read This Summer
If I had a few clone Daves, I’d task one of them with reading all the time. Each morning I’d give him his daily ration of coffee, chocolate, and reading material, and then he’d go off to the library or the coffee shop or an empty classroom at my school or in a hammock in […]