Some time ago a colleague and I were talking about how the ways that we talk to students about learning can help or hinder the cultivation of student beliefs in learning. This is an important topic in terms of labor-saving for teachers because we all speak to our students anyways — be it through in-person […]
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“We’re On Pause”
When my son and I are wrestling, he’s got a self-awarded superpower: any time he says, “Pause,” I’ve got to stop moving while he gets to reposition himself, readjust his cape, or (most frequently) obtain a lightsaber from his room. “Pause!” he’ll say with his almost-four-year-old voice. And off he goes to prepare for whatever […]
What Keeps the Fire? Here Are Two Skillsets that Motivated Career Educators Have in Common
Teaching is one of the best jobs in the world because of its large impact potential in two areas: Externally, teaching affords us the unmatched privilege of contributing to the education of human beings. Few endeavors are as wrought with possibility as the teaching of people. And each day, we’re paid to participate in this […]
Things That Help: Taking a Walk When I’m Stuck, or the Five-Out-Five-In
Most afternoons, I find myself stuck at least once: in a lesson plan, a stack of (digitally submitted) essays, a writer’s puzzle, a problem of practice I can’t solve. Now there are rare times when I find it best to push through when I’m stuck. But more frequently, I find that it’s better to take […]
“Cameras On… Please?” Ideas for Turning Empty Squares into Faces
This isn’t going to be me wading into the Great Camera Debate of 2020 but is instead me processing strategies for getting more students to turn their cameras on during whole-class, synchronous instruction. But Dave, why? Way back in the day, I wrote a post describing how humanization is only possible in spaces where we […]