Our third daughter, Marlena Grace, is a miniature tank with the face of an angel. Of our three girls, she’s been by far the quickest to upgrade her mobility skills, learning to crawl by six months and walk by nine months. (We aren’t the Parents Who Want Our Kids to Be First, either — Marly just […]
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Starting Strong with the “Transformative” & Simple Think-Pair-Share Strategy
In order for my students to progress to successful pop-up debates, and to drastically increase the quantity of speaking they’ll do during their time in my room, I need to start with the simplest possible training ground for verbal communication: two people having a conversation. Toward that end, the first week of school finds me teaching Frank Lyman’s […]
3,500 Teachers Can’t Be Wrong: We Need Permission to Focus
I think that there are hundreds of thousands of teachers, coaches, and administrators who are dying to be told, “If you and your students are working on this handful of things, repeatedly and with increasing skill, throughout the school year as you move through your curriculum, you’re okay.” Those last words, especially, are important: “You’re […]
Get Ready for the School Year with this 5 Minute “Defining Everest” Activity
Before your first staff meeting comes and starts the school year stress, take five minutes to shoot from the gut and get your head and heart straightened out with this simple exercise. You won’t get any copies made or a class blog set up or a curriculum mapped or whatever other urgent tasks assail you while you’re […]
Autopsy of a Dud Project; Analysis of a Teacher’s Heart
During the past couple of weeks, I envisioned, planned, initiated, and carried out a project with students. I thought it was a good idea; it was founded on great intentions. Yet, with the project nearing completion, I am clearly seeing something: the project is a dud. This leaves me with two options: Ignore the failure. Run […]