What would it be like if you went into a school building and shadowed a student for a day, and during that day you and the student experienced 100 or so signals that pointed to the following truths: Learning is transformative. When you learn what the solar system is and how stars work, you don’t […]
Ten Things Leaders Can Do to Improve Teacher Morale in Early 2021
According to a recent EdWeek survey, teacher morale isn’t great in the United States right now — at least not according to us teachers. Take a look: When you look at that, you might be nodding your head. Me too. Not exactly a revelation, right? A pause for perspective: it’s not only us Now listen. […]
Learning Strategy: Teaching Students to Use Quizlet Effectively
Early this school year, I taught my students to use Quizlet for mastering key knowledge. A bit of context: my curriculum assesses both knowledge and skills. I assess skills like argumentation via pop-up debates, essays, and short-answer questions. I assess knowledge through short-answer questions and multiple choice questions. (Now if you’re thinking “all multiple choice […]
The Whole World Blind
Hey there, colleague, First, I want to say thank you for a break that I needed. The last couple of weeks I have been resting, thinking, praying, and enjoying the simple gifts of life. I’ve got some blog posts in the hopper ready for you this month, but I didn’t feel that sending them over […]
How to Help Students Value Learning Just Because It’s Learning (Video)
Some time ago a colleague and I were talking about how the ways that we talk to students about learning can help or hinder the cultivation of student beliefs in learning. This is an important topic in terms of labor-saving for teachers because we all speak to our students anyways — be it through in-person […]