Note from Dave: For years, I’ve kept a correspondence with Camille Napier Bernstein, an English teacher in MA who thinks and cares deeply about her work. Camille’s thinking has popped up on my blog before (see this “Principles Must Be Proven” post), but today I’ve got something for you that’s so good and comprehensive there’s […]
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A Simple Tweak for Tracking Moments of Genuine Connection in Band
Just before the COVID closures started, I had the privilege of traveling to Utah and working with teachers in Lindon and St. George. In Lindon, I was at the lovely Oak Canyon Junior High School, and during our day-long workshop on the five key beliefs (student motivation; creating optimal conditions for student learning) I met […]
Here’s How One Teacher Humanized the Heck Out of Her Online Learning Space with a Story-Driven Intro Video
Recently, I came across the work of Sara G, a teacher on the North Shore of Chicago who hit a home run humanizing herself in an intro video to her online learning space. (For more on this idea, see my extended article on how to humanize online learning spaces.) Let’s take a look at Sara’s […]
What to Do When Your Asynchronous Video Lessons Aren’t Great But You’ve Got to Post Them Before You Go Crazy
The answer is obvious but difficult: we’ve just got to go ahead and post them. In fact, I’ll explain in this article why the rule of thumb we need to aim for is never re-recording our asynchronous instructional videos even though this certainly means we’ll be publishing work that is beneath our best sometimes. Why? […]
How (and Why) to Leave Audio Feedback on Student Work This Year, Whether During In-Person or Distance Learning
In 2007, researchers from West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina thought up an interesting study. In asynchronous distance learning scenarios, what would happen if one group of students received audio-based feedback on their work while another group received traditional, text-based feedback? Their findings were remarkable — especially now that so many of us find ourselves […]