I’ve been writing about and teaching from the Non-Freaked Out (NFO) Framework for years now, and as a result it’s gone through several iterations, some that have stuck and some that haven’t (see Figure 1). James Clear writes that “it’s not the work, it’s the re-work.” I have certainly found that to be true with this idea, which […]
simplify
Our One Enduring Standard (and its Two Components)
The best teachers aren’t dependent on the latest list of standards or bag of buzzwords or slew of resources when it comes to answering the central questions of their career. What am I producing, year in and year out? What do I make? What, in a single sentence, is the Everest I drive toward with my professional effort? If […]
The 500-Word Guide to Satisficing for Teachers
Every teacher comes to a juncture, usually in the first or second year of their career, where they become painfully aware of the gaping chasm between All The Things they planned to do as a teacher and their very present, very real, very frustratingly imperfect daily practice. This is a critical moment because, from here, the teacher […]
An Email Management Strategy Built on Discipline and Dignity
Last time, I wrote about the absurd netherworld that has, for most of my adult life, been my email inbox and how I heroically handled all emails and arrived at the magical kingdom of inbox zero. And then about two seconds passed, and suddenly my inbox had emails in it and the perfect little “inbox zero” […]
What I Learned from Reducing my Email Inbox from About a Million* Messages to Zero
*More like 500 per inbox, but it felt like a million. For pretty much all of last school year, my inbox was a nightmare. Every time I’d open it, I’d get this messed up chemical cocktail released into my brain: one part excitement, one part anxiety. I became addicted to checking it on my phone, tapping […]