I want you to try something with me this week: what if, in a conversation or two — with our kids, with our colleagues, with our spouses, with our students, with crazy Uncle Harry who you only see at Thanksgiving — we tried asking four questions in a row. “In a row” isn’t the best way […]
Dealing with Teacher Information Overload
When this post publishes, I’ll be neck-deep in information at the annual NCTE conference. Actually, sitting here writing this and picturing what it was like at NCTE last year, let me correct that: I’ll be drowning, happily. But conferences are only an acute example of a situation that I suspect you, as a blog reader, […]
The Science of Mechanics Instruction that Sticks
At the time of this writing, Doug Stark’s Mechanics Instruction that Sticks: Using Simple Warm-Ups to Improve Student Writing has been purchased by half a thousand people; these educators come from seven different countries and 48 US states. (New Mexico and Delaware, if you’re wondering.) Needless to say, Doug and I are humbled and happy that the book seems […]
The Dangers of Externalism
“The big question about how people behave is whether they’ve got an Inner Scorecard or an Outer Scorecard. It helps if you can be satisfied with an Inner Scorecard. I always pose it this way. I say: ‘Lookit. Would you rather be the world’s greatest lover, but have everyone think you’re the world’s worst lover? […]
When Your State Reduces Your Profession to a Test Score
A while back, I wrote “The 300-Word Guide to Long-Term Flourishing,” and it elicited a heartfelt response about test scores and teacher evaluations from a passionate educator whom I’ll call D in this post. Her comment follows: Thank you for defining this concept so clearly! It is difficult to “refuse to freak out about high-stakes […]
