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This past school year, our colleague Tanya Ramm shared a simple shift in her syllabus language that gave her added life and agency as a teacher. Here’s all she altered: Practice: (50% of Marking Period grade) – This category includes student participation such as in-class practice with speaking, listening, reading & writing activities, as well […]

I was speaking with our colleague Tanya Ramm this morning, and she was describing her holiday weekend. (We had four days off for the US’s Labor Day.) Over the break, she came in to work for five hours on Friday while her husband and sons were off fishing. Then she came in to work a […]

There’s this thing that the stoics say: Memento Mori. “Remember that you will die.” It’s a little dark for my tastes. 😉 BUT I do think something like it very frequently, and it has guided a lot of my decision-making during this past decade of teaching high school, building a writing career, grasping the diverse […]

You ever get to a point in a project where you’re so doggone close to being done, but that final bit just feels super hard? That’s how this final installment in the “Student Motivation Like a Champ As We Head Back to School” series of guides has been for me. We’ve covered some super fun […]

Last Friday I was walking into school early in the morning, and I was feeling tired. I muttered to myself, “All right, buddy — gotta do it. One more day this week.” And then I caught how it sounded, and I said, “Wait — GET TO, not got to! GET TO, baby!” It was so […]