Maybe you’re a “one word” person, or a classic resolution-setter, or a jaded New Years apathist. Regardless, here’s all I have to say: without clarity of purpose, resolutions, goals and words are destined to disappoint. Importantly, this principle extends way beyond efforts at personal improvement; clarity of purpose is critical with things like school improvement initiatives and literacy frameworks. In Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit […]
purpose
21 Ideas for Developing the Motivational Character Strengths
In “The Character Strengths and Motivation,” I laid out the 4.5 character strengths that I consider motivational in nature, and, at the end of the post, I laid out an example of the kind of “self-experimentation” we can use to learn how to teach our students to develop the “motivational strengths” in themselves (because marshaling one’s […]
Helping Students Understand Motivation: The Character Strengths Angle
This past Tuesday, I ended “Truths about Student Motivation” with a question: what are the tools and strategies that can equip our students to muster up the motivation required to get them from where they are to where they aspire to be? This is constantly in my mind during these first weeks of school; I’ve […]
Common Core SL.CCR.4 Explained
Hello awesome Teaching the Core readers! In our plodding quest to conquer the anchor standards, we’ve arrived at SL.CCR.4. SL.CCR.4 — that’s the 4th College and Career Readiness anchor standard within the Speaking and Listening strand of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for ELA/Literacy — says: Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow […]
Common Core W.CCR.4 Explained
W.CCR.4 — that’s the 4th College and Career Readiness anchor standard within the Writing strand of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for ELA/Literacy — reads as follows: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. To me, W.CCR.4 is all about the brain of writing […]