Dear Colleague, Some months ago, you signed up for my book club list. Since spring and summer seem like so long ago, you might remember that the book club had two phases: In spring, we read books on the equity-catapulting power of knowledge-rich curricula and learning experiences: Natalie Wexler’s Knowledge Gap David Didau’s Making Kids […]
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Things That Help: Five Tips for Better PD This (Crazy) School Year
This is written for two people: You’re in charge of leading or organizing PD this year, and it’s overwhelming or frustrating. You feel angsty or sad or resigned. You’re a teacher who’s attending PD this year, and it’s overwhelming or frustrating. You feel angsty or sad or resigned. Take heart! If we attend to a […]
The Will to Learn: Cultivating Student Motivation without Losing Our Own (Session Description)
Session Description: How do we help all of our students do the work of learning, with care — as best they currently can? I’ve spent the past ten years of my teaching career reading, experimenting, and interviewing experts about what lies at the heart of student motivation. What I’ve found is straightforward: for our students […]
Workload and Pressure: Things That Help Teachers During Times Like These (Session Description)
Session Description: Educators around the nation are experiencing a harrowing double whammy right now: Schooling amidst the pandemic has produced a number of workload increases, no matter which model you’re teaching in; and Conscientious educators feel an enormous pressure to provide a world-class education for students who are experiencing an unprecedented disruption to their K-12 […]
Things That Help: One Fourth Grade Teacher’s Simple Method for Positive Parent Contacts During Distance Learning
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 […]