Here’s a multiple choice question that can really teach us something: Learning is _____________. A) when I take in new information. B) about remembering, using, and ultimately understanding information. C) difficult but important. D) about improving as a person and widening my perspective. E) a process that takes place every day of our lives. F) not […]
How to Acquire a Distant or Super Famous Mentor
The most powerful kinds of mentorships are the ones where the mentee learns how the mentor thinks, essentially internalizing the mentor’s mind. In such arrangements, the mentor gives concerted effort and inquiry, and the mentee gains mental models. These models, be they for teaching, problem-solving, student motivation, literacy, or otherwise, are precious because they would likely not […]
The Growing Dragon of Student Anxiety & Swords for Fighting It
When Connie (not her real name) ran out of my classroom last spring, tears streaming down her face, I felt like a horrible idiot. On the first day of school, she had voluntarily identified herself as being anxious about public speaking on her index card, but through a simple progression from Think-Pair-Share experiences to Pop-Up Discussions and Debates, […]
Four Non-Negotiable Teacher Mindsets
If you can’t affirm and work from the four “mindset” statements that comprise this article, [1] you must either A) work to alter your beliefs, or B) work to leave the profession. Option A is where I live — repeatedly finding myself intellectually assenting to the four mindset statements that follow, but functionally, operationally working […]
Gotta Want It, Gotta Do It: The Motivational and Executional Hurdles to Student Success
This past summer’s speaking work led me to a clarification on how I think about the character strengths that hang on my ninth grade classroom wall. This is exciting to me because, while my students tend to engage with the reflective or experimental work we do around helping them grow the strengths, I’m not satisfied […]