Sometimes, things pile up. a messy desk with layers of paper strewn across it. a pile of books waiting to be re-shelved. an inbox left unprocessed for a couple days (or weeks). that one counter where the random bits of life’s non-urgent action items collect: a shirt needing a button, a child’s toy requiring superglue. […]
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On Internal Pendulums, Tsunamis of Urgency, and Two Life-Giving Disciplines for Educators
We like to talk about pendulum swings in education, but of all of them I’ve seen in my career none rival the motion of my internal pendulum during the final months of this 2019-2020 school year. Just as I think I’m getting a hang of the external and internal work of this emergency remote teaching […]
Which Is the Better Lesson? An Illustration of What an Equity-Producing, Knowledge-Rich Curriculum Looks Like
Below are two lesson anchor charts from a pair of elementary classrooms. In one classroom, the students are having a lesson on finding the main idea. In the other, they are listening to the teacher read the myth of Daedalus and Icarus. Here are my questions. Knowing that we lack all kinds of context, answer […]
Motivation is Heavily Affected by K-12 Curricula, Too
When I speak or write or teach about motivation, I focus on what classroom teachers like me can control. This is a basic assumption of my work: I’m better off working at what I can affect than I am fixating on matters I don’t control. And after all, the research is clear: student motivation is […]
Is Classroom Management Icky? And Does It Even Matter for This Fall?
A week or so ago, I was having a conversation with Lynsay Fabio, the main author on our Classroom Management Course. If you’re unfamiliar with it, the CMC is (we think) the straightest, quickest path to understanding and practicing the fundamentals of managing student behavior. And one of the reasons we’re confident in its quality […]