Several years ago, I got pretty into Goodreads, mostly because I like measuring stuff and Goodreads made it fun to set goals for and keep track of how many books I read. It was also a big thing on Twitter — people would share how many books they were reading, and they would set reading goals for […]
PERMA and the Science of Flourishing
Here’s why today’s article matters: despite the pressure many of us feel to help our students succeed in whichever high stakes test comes next in their lives, we all got into this work because we wanted to make a long-term difference. Our Mt. Everests, when we were starting out, weren’t “help my kids for the […]
The Work of the Teacher Through Two Lenses
The tasks that comprise our work are not optional. The lens through which we view these tasks, however, is. Following are two lenses through which the teacher’s work can be viewed. The Lens of Minutiae What do teachers do? We greet students, dismiss students, guide students, counsel students. We collect papers, grade papers, teach papers, assign […]
A Simple “Craft Your Credo” Classroom Activity
This past week allowed me the opportunity to experiment with leading three groups of my students in a Craft Your Credo classroom activity, and I’d like to share that activity with you today. Two of the groups went quite well, and one didn’t. The credo classroom activity that went well The super short explanation Here’s the credo classroom […]
Two Practical “Reminder” Strategies for Overcoming Noise-Induced Aimlessness
The film Memento (2000, directed by Christopher Nolan) is the story of Leonard, a man with one abiding purpose in life — finding and bringing justice to his wife’s killers — and one serious handicap: he is unable to retain short-term memories. As a result, Leonard develops a system of reminders — including tattoos like those in Figure 1 — and […]