Here’s a statement that doesn’t need stating: teaching is good, important, pressure-filled work. All the teachers I know got into the work because they wanted to promote the long-term flourishing of young people by way of helping them master the disciplines. Writing teachers like you and me are no different — when we were new, […]
Uncategorized
What Star Wars Can Teach Us About Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning: An Attempt at Useful Fun Amidst All This
Last Friday when the first of May arrived, I walked into our kitchen and with all seriousness informed my children that a major holiday was upon us. “Mother’s Day?” they said. “Ooh, good guess. But no, that’s the next major one. First we have something else.” “Aunt Amber’s birthday?” “Okay, yes, that one’s important. But […]
How to Rig Google Classroom to Act as an Office Hours Paging System (Video)
If you’re running a mostly asynchronous emergency remote teaching/learning system right now, you may be finding weekly “office hours” a struggle. After my first few office hours went by, I had to ask myself: how could I make that more effective? How could I help more students take advantage of these? If you’ve been asking […]
Moments of Genuine Connection via Google Classroom: How One Savvy Teacher Makes MGCs More Powerful Amidst Phase 1
Recently I heard from Dr. Charles Youngs, an English department chair inPennsylvania. His school provided the chance for us to work together last August. Charles wrote to me about how he’s grappling with the challenge of creating moments of genuine connection (MGCs) amidst the odd conditions of Phase 1‘s emergency remote teaching and learning. Charles […]
Just Because “Drill and Kill” Rhyme…
…doesn’t mean that all drills kill. I’m not an athletic coach of any kind, but I’ve read enough of them to know that human motivation isn’t murdered by drills. Look at world-class, well-motivated athletes or musicians, and you’ll find that even at their level a good deal of drilling fills their lives. So then why […]