August is always my busiest month as a PD guy, and so this past month I ended up traveling half a dozen times across the country. When traveling alone, I like to pass the time sometimes by watching movies or shows that folks I respect have recommended to me. One of the shows I watched […]
Getting Specific with Valued, Known, Respected
Whenever I talk to folks about tracking moments of genuine connection (MGC), I use three words again and again and again: valued, known, respected. These are the specific signals you try to send to a young person when you attempt an MGC with them. If you’re not meaning to signal one of these things when […]
Ya Gotta Clear the Clouds
Most of your students don’t understand what school is for. They think it’s: It has been years since I held any misconceptions like these against my students. I respect what Jerry Graff long ago taught me in his book Clueless in Academe: even in college, most kids don’t “get” school. They don’t get what it’s […]
A Seek and Find Challenge for the First Weeks of School
There are several things I’m trying to do in the first weeks of school. Things like: This is just me creating the cosmos my students and I will inhabit in my room all year. But today, I wanted to share with you a first weeks of school task that I’ve not written about before: finding things to like about […]
Using the Godfather to Help with Belonging
When my students get their first assessment results of the school year, I like to share with them one of The Godfather’s many iconic lines: It’s not personal, it’s business. (Actually, the line is “It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.” It’s in one of several career-launching scenes for Al Pacino. Here’s a clip.) This […]