Classroom management, to me, is the first skill a teacher must master. Lesson design, unit planning, and All The Other Things don’t matter much if your kids are hanging from the fluorescent lights or constantly speaking over and under you and each other. Sadly, classroom management is also a skill that most teaching certification programs […]
A Guide to the Start of the School Year
Ah! It’s almost August! The kids are coming! The kids are coming! Soon I won’t be able to have a pint with my lunch! This post has one purpose: Getting you to take a deep breath and collect some solace in the fact that your teacher friend Dave has a few years’ worth of articles […]
A Simple Activity for Teaching About Procrastination
My ninth graders tend to ride the struggle bus when it comes to procrastination. There are, of course, always the kids who make my jaw drop with their teachability on work habits — when I teach them how to apply bits of effort to their studies each day, these kids put it into practice and […]
Stopping the Snowball: Catching Struggling Learners Early On
As some of you know, last year I started a ninth grade Advanced Placement World History course at our school. (Read my rationale and why I ultimately found the age level of my students to be one of our chief advantages here: How to View Teaching Situations Where the Odds are Against You: A Personal Case […]
The 500-Word Guide to Satisficing for Teachers
Psst! Satisficing is a concept woven through my book These 6 Things: How to Focus Our Teaching on the Work that Matters Most. If you don’t have a copy, ask your school to buy you one. If you do, please consider leaving a review through the link above. –DSJR 🙏 Every teacher comes to a […]