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Last Tuesday, I argued that you and I as teachers should take 10 shots at telling our students why their work in our classes has mattered this school year. Between now and year’s end, give 10 short (30-60 second) mini-sermons (see Strategy #4 in The Will to Learn) that answer this question: What was it […]

GREAT. No living person has thought more about the word “great” than Jim Collins has in his long and focused career. If you’re a teacher in search of surprising insights into both your career and your life, you could do a lot worse than picking up Collins’ Good to Great (hardcover; Kindle; audio). It’s not […]

In Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, Hamilton asks Burr, “What are you waiting for? What do you stall for? We won the war — What was it all for?” This time of the school year, this is a great question to answer for our students. What, in your view as […]

…is today. The first-best, obviously, is the day they begin school, then every day thereafter. Trouble is, I don’t control the first-best. So I’ll take the second, with gratitude. After all, how often in life do you find yourself 100% in control of bringing about a second-best thing? I know, I know. At the time […]

If you work at or with a secondary school where teachers are feeling defeated, dejected, or sad about student demotivation, let’s connect. In the 24-25 school year, I’d like to focus on helping teachers and schools who have this problem. Let’s take the strategies and ideas from The Will to Learn and put them to […]