Well hey there, colleagues — how in the world are you doing? With my school year two weeks away from starting, this week finds me fortunate to learn with colleagues in Rootstown, OH; Colorado Springs, CO; and Lindon, UT. In all these places we get to play at unpacking the five key beliefs beneath student […]
The Desire for Knowledge: One of the Most Underplayed Approaches to Value-Based Motivation in US Public Education Today
Hey there, colleague — happy back to school season for you. In addition to preppin’ up for my own work in the classroom this year, I’m thankful to be visiting with some other faculties here and there. Last week: middle school teachers in Los Alamos, NM and high school teachers in Naples, FL — much […]
Guide: Three Simple, Robust Methods for Establishing Value in the First Weeks of School
Boring. Dumb. Pointless. Irrelevant. Annoying. Stupid. When students say words like these, they’re telling us this: I don’t value this kind of work. Value is one of five key beliefs beneath student motivation, and the only belief that I’ve found to be more powerful than it is Credibility (my first weeks of school guide on […]
Freaked Out About the First Day of School? Three Quick Things that Help
The first training I went to out of college was a Harry Wong presentation on the first days of school. Now look, I love me some Harry Wong. BUT that presentation cranked my pressure meter up a little higher than I want it. Pressure matters Here’s the thing: if you and I want to both […]
Can Ten Minutes of Reading Change a Whole Semester of Teaching? It May Have for This Teacher
I saw this the other day on Amazon, regarding These 6 Things. A colleague of ours named Nora Ishibashi wrote it, and my point in showing it to you is to demonstrate (yet again) that tiny interventions can create very large and positive differences in the lives of the folks we care about. My focus […]