Recently one of our colleagues wrote in to me with a tactic that ties right in to our desire to optimize the long-term flourishing outcomes of our students without burning ourselves out in the process: My name is Marisa Silver, a 4th grade teacher in Eugene, Oregon. I am a longtime reader of your material […]
Uncategorized
Reflection Questions for a Simpler, Clearer Calendar
On Wednesday evening I recorded “Ten (Or So) Things That Are Happening Right Now,” and I was grateful for the live attendance of colleagues around the world. “Revitalizing, encouraging, humane, hopeful” — these are the adjectives folks used to describe the two hours of recorded content. It should work well for individuals, teams, or schools, […]
Ten (Or So) Things That Are Helping Right Now
Next Wednesday night, I’m going to record a set of practical insights that are slowly changing my experience of teaching this year. These are all topics that deserve their own blog posts, but I’ve just not had the time. I’m talking about: New insights on student motivation, such as: Why the most promising avenue for […]
A Micro-Primer on How Motivation Works in People, Why Demoralization is So Prevalent Right Now Amongst Teachers, and What We Can Do About It
The start of this school year has seen a plummet in teacher morale like none I’ve observed before. The workload is up, the pressure is on, and the end remains hidden in the future’s fog. Lots of days, it feels like what we used to do was a walk in the park, and what we’re […]
Things That Help: “I Can’t Fix Everything, Or Sometimes Anything”
One of our colleagues, Beth Sheehan, told me a story via email about one of her rough days earlier this year. Beth is a third grade teacher at Spruce Elementary. Here’s what she shared: I am teaching remotely in a Title I school and I am exhausted after 11 days. Our families have been slammed […]