Children in school are not tourists on a year-long field trip seeing and learning what they can as time flies past. Successful learning is taking the steps and time needed to secure student learning of essential annual outcomes. Continue reading
Tighten The Lug Nuts of Learning
Remembering Is Difficult; Forgetting Is Easy
When we know what is right, we should try to do it. This statement is easier to say than to practice. Harder yet is defending bad practice. We should make the best practices of teaching and learning our daily commitment to the children we teach. Continue reading
Snow Days of Yore No More
A snow-cancelled school day is a gift from the clouds. It is time to update our conceptions of how children treat a snow day. A contemporary understanding of snow days better informs how all adults make decisions about snow days. Continue reading
If We Want Students to Study, We Must Teach Them How
Students are not born knowing how to study, so we must teach them how just as we teach them to read. We need to teach, practice, assess, clarify, and reinforce study habits if we want students to learn to study. Continue reading
No Time For Dull Teaching Tools
The attention to given to critical examination of the effectiveness and efficiency of teaching tools and strategies is catastrophically small within a school calendar of business. Sharpen your tools or suffer dull results. Continue reading
Biliteracy Is An Achievable Advantage
With 400 languages spoken in the USA, being multilingual is a choice that provides advantages in a student’s future education and career. The first choice is for school leaders to provide opportunities for all children to learn second and third languages. Continue reading
Unheralded Educators
Not all educators are in the classroom. Bus drivers have untold and unmeasured impact upon children on the bus; unheralded positive relations that add value to a child’s growing up. Continue reading
Your Personal Pantheon of Teachers
Does a teacher make a difference in a child’s life? With 100% certainty, yes. Each of has a personal pantheon of teachers who hooked us and we became theirs for our lifetime. Continue reading
A “Bummer” Is When Children Are Spectators In Class
When you know what to teach and how to teach, don’t assume all children are ready to learn, Pay attention to setting the hook for learning to avoid bummer lessons. Continue reading
How Do We Measure a Rounded Education When the School Report Does Not?
We know the School Report Card is a flawed measure of a student education yet we wear it as a hairshirt hating the feel and not being able to anything about it. Continue reading