The Common Core State Standards for literacy were intentionally designed with a “less is more” ethos. Despite that, there’s still too many of them for average teachers like me to implement effectively. That’s why I cut them, choosing to achieve excellence with a few skills and strategies rather than achieve mediocrity with them all. My list is what you […]
Long-Term Lens
A Class Purpose and the Promotion of Student Flourishing
I love summer break’s gift of decompression. It is during the weeks from mid-June to mid-August that my brain defrags the preceding school year’s experiences, condensing them into a more manageable series of memories, lessons, and principles. What are we about? One principle that I began examining in the Fall of 2011 is that of […]
Can the Common Core State Standards Promote Student Flourishing?
For me, there is one primary mission in my classroom every day: to increase my students chances for long-term flourishing. I believe that every one of my students has unique gifts within them that, when placed in the proper circumstances, will allow them to make positive contributions to the world that only they can make. The question […]