I saw this the other day on Amazon, regarding These 6 Things. A colleague of ours named Nora Ishibashi wrote it, and my point in showing it to you is to demonstrate (yet again) that tiny interventions can create very large and positive differences in the lives of the folks we care about. My focus […]
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Guide: Three Simple, Robust Methods for Establishing Teacher Credibility in the First Weeks of School
Teacher Credibility is one of five key beliefs beneath student motivation, and it is a uniquely powerful force in a classroom. From a position of Credibility, a teacher has leverage for cultivating student beliefs in Value, Belonging, Effort, and Efficacy. But from a position of anti-Credibility, a teacher will have a hard time influencing these […]
Steady Goes It: It’s Tortoise Time
So here’s the deal: school’s coming, and the pressure starts to build. We hear things like, “It’s make it or break it this fall. It’s now or never.” And look: there’s some truth to that. Fall 2021 is a special moment in the hearts of our people — us, our colleagues, our students, their families. […]
Five Critical Qualities about the Five Key Beliefs, in Order of Actionability
We’re into it now, colleague. If you’ve no idea what I’m talking about, take a look at these earlier articles in the series: Or: check out this brief explainer video: On with it. Before we get into practical-tactical bits about each of the five key beliefs beneath student motivation, we need to rightly conceive of […]
Not a Switchboard, but a Garden
When I hear how we talk about the inner workings of a person, sometimes I think we’re around computers too much. The things we program can end up programming us. Here’s what I mean. It’s best to think of a student’s heart not as a place filled with buttons and switches — okay, let’s turn […]