Practically everywhere I visit, I like to ask teachers, “What have you seen work well at helping students grow in their care about the work of learning?” In other words: What works for student motivation? What have you seen work in your practice as an educator? This prompt draws all kinds of ideas, and […]
Booker T. Washington on the Efficacy Belief
A bit ago, I found myself reflecting on a pair of lines from the American hero Booker T. Washington in his book Up from Slavery: Here’s a hunch I have: his second line is where his impatience in the first comes from. How you or I or our students define success is perhaps the most […]
On the Building of Strong Children
“It is easier to build strong children,” Frederick Douglass once remarked, “than to repair broken men.” Herein we see a partnership that all schools ought to aspire to: in school, we help our communities build strong children, specifically teaching them to master things that they are unlikely to learn about outside of school. The trouble, […]
The Five Key Beliefs in Five-ish Minutes
Dear colleague, As my new book* approaches its April release and my classroom practice walks its annual traverse through the universe, I got to thinking the other day, “Hmm… if I had to explain to someone the Five Key Beliefs methodology for understanding student motivation (especially secondary student motivation), how would I do it? So, […]
An Ode to the Teacher Who Introduced Me to Etymology
I don’t know which teacher it was at Thornapple Kellogg High School — maybe Ms. Davidson or Mr. Stein or Mr. Consadine — but someone was the first to introduce me to a field of learning I love to play in: etymology. Etymology: the study of the origin of words and how their meanings change […]