Often times, the thing that keeps me from doing the deep, non-instructional work of teaching — the planning, thinking, giving feedback, researching, problem-solving — isn’t students dropping by (which we discussed last time). Instead, it’s me. In particular, it’s my bad habits — my time-wasters on autopilot. When my bad habits kick in — news reading, […]
Inner Work
The Secret Skills of Master Teachers: Reducing Distractions from Students
To produce the clarity of thought necessary for deep and impactful teaching, the teacher has to do something that her environment constantly resists: she must avail herself of distraction-free blocks of time each day in which to do her most important work. I’ll use my setting as an example of what I mean by an […]
The Secret Skills of Master Teachers: Are They a Thing?
If you had walked up to me as a struggling first year teacher and said the kinds of things I needed to hear — something like, “Dude. Slow down. Focus. Breathe. You’re working too hard.” — then I think I would have looked at you with eager eyes and said, “You know what? I’d love […]
The Work, the Gap, the Mission
This blog is about the work, the gap, and the mission. The work is teaching. Whether you read as a coach or an admin or a superintendent or a teacher, what we want is for teaching to be as great as it can be. We believe there’s an inherent nobility to teaching, as well as […]
Exploring Our Unexplored Weaknesses
The Mensch [teacher] has a tremendous willingness to learn from everything and everyone. He or she seeks feedback and is not blindsided by unexplored weaknesses. — Bruna Martinuzzi, The Leader as a Mensch: Become the Kind of Person Others Want to Follow, p. 54 To be the kind of teacher from whom great teaching tends to […]