The trick this year is the same as it’s always been. The job, like many jobs, will at times be challenging. Our lives, like many lives, will at times feel overwhelming. Our to-do lists, like the to-do lists of many folks, will always whisper lies to us that we can actually finish them. And so, […]
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Maybe Say It Again
Every educator benefits from a memorable, meaningful mission statement — a single-sentence encapsulation of where they’re trying to go with their students. Class time is too precious to be spent wandering aimlessly through the Himalayas; we’ve got to know what Everest looks like, know what we’re about moving toward it with our students, know that […]
But Have You Taught them How?
The older students get, the easier it is for us to fall prey to assumptions about how to teach them. They’re in ninth grade — so surely I need not teach them to take notes, right? They’re in seventh grade — so surely I need not teach them how to greet a peer during Think-Pair-Share, […]
Who Else But Us?
I will sometimes hear teachers complain that learning is not valued in the homes of their students. Here are the two problems with letting yourself think these things. First — how do I put this gently? — it’s profoundly misguided for me to assume that I can make claims about what is and isn’t valued […]
The Beautiful Question
Two days ago, I met this year’s students for the first time. Thinking through their names this morning and the little bits I’m starting to know about them, I feel a fondness forming. Each one of these young people has: Their own smile. Their own quirks. Their own hopes and dreams, spoken and unspoken. Their […]