I will sometimes hear teachers complain that learning is not valued in the homes of their students. Here are the two problems with letting yourself think these things. First — how do I put this gently? — it’s profoundly misguided for me to assume that I can make claims about what is and isn’t valued […]
The Beautiful Question
Two days ago, I met this year’s students for the first time. Thinking through their names this morning and the little bits I’m starting to know about them, I feel a fondness forming. Each one of these young people has: Their own smile. Their own quirks. Their own hopes and dreams, spoken and unspoken. Their […]
We’re Signal Senders
Whether we like it or not, you and I are signal senders. We are constantly sending signals about what kind of a place our classroom and our school is. If you’re in a work-smarter-not-harder kind of vein this year, then you want to be intentional about sending these certain kinds of signals to your students: […]
Should You Tell Students You Like Them?
I was talking with one of our colleagues the other day, Mr. Adam Craig, who teaches mathematics in Amarillo, TX. He brought up a phenomenon that many of us can likely relate to: hearing a student bemoan the fact that one of their teachers doesn’t like them. I’m talking about things like this: “Oh, Mr. […]
Youthful Purpose Guru Bill Damon’s “Golden Opportunity”
In today’s article, we’re going to focus on a simple, research-backed method for developing a sense of purpose in young people. As you might remember, purpose is one of the colors on the Rainbow of Why palette we’ve looked at lately here on the blog. There’s this researcher out of Stanford who basically dedicated his […]