Dear colleagues, When I started leaning my teaching into AI literacy last year (that decision is explained in this talk I gave in May 2025), the analogy I used most often with my students was definitely the forklift one. The forklift analogy, coined by Ted Chiang, goes like this: Using ChatGPT to complete assignments is […]
Lots of Careful and Care-Free Quizzing
Dear colleague, I’ve written before how low-stakes quizzes are a go-to lesson move in whatever courses I teach. (For that writing, see Chapter 3 of These 6 Things, specifically pp. 85-88, and Strategy #5 of The Will to Learn, “Feast of Knowledge,” and this article.) Often times when I’m introducing this idea in a PD […]
AI Makes Student Knowledge MORE Important, Not Less
Dear colleague, Over the summer I came across this article from Barbara Oakley et al. Her team’s findings are straightforward: even in our age of AI and instant information, ya still gotta know things. AI is like a souped up calculator — its usefulness is multiplied by the intelligence of its user, and that intelligence […]
Lead With Competence and Belonging Will Follow
Dear colleague, There’s a common misconception amongst us teachers about how to develop Belonging in the classroom, and it’s this: at the start of the school year, you need to budget lots of time for things like icebreakers, get-to-know-you activities, and team-building exercises. Don’t rush into the curriculum, the thinking goes, until you develop that […]
First Days of School Writing Prompts
Dear colleagues, I came across this article from Jen Gonzalez recently where she makes the sound argument that asking students what they did over summer break can put students with sub-optimal summer vacations into a bad spot right out of the gate. Instead of only asking about break, Jen advocates for asking questions like the […]