Research and experience tell us that the single most essential quality children of all ages look for in their teachers is genuine care combined with trust of them as children and learners. Teacher empathy drives the “why” students engage in our curricular and pedagogical improvement strategies. We will not improve the data-based results until we attend to the human-based inputs. Continue reading
Content Knowledge, Pedagogy, and Empathy Are Equal Teaching Skill Sets
If We Do Not Teach Children to Listen, Why Are We Talking to Them?
Every teacher is responsible teaching active learning. We fail when we believe that by middle school all children know how to be active listeners. Good listening skills must be taught and practiced in every grade and every subject for every child. Given all the noise in the world, it is too easy for any child, or adult, to slide into the noise Continue reading
The Curious Kick the Can of Facts into Possibilities
Education that does not evoke curiosity is telling the same stories over again in a daycare center to children who daydream with their eyes and ears closed. Continue reading
Is The Outcome of Public School a Generalized or a Specialized Education? The Answer is Yes.
Public education in the United States is our nation’s longest standing institution; however, its compass direction today is decided in thousands of classrooms by individual teachers. Our educational mission is adrift Continue reading
To Improve Student Outcomes, Theory Needs to Guide Teaching and Learning Practices
When we align foundational teaching and learning theories, principles, and practices as a through-line in student learning, we will see improved data because it results from connected instruction. Continue reading
Banning Cellphones In School Creates Unintended Consequences.
Banning student access to cellphones during instructional time is not simply a rule change. It is a transaction that demands teacher attention to the question of “what now?” If teachers think banning cellphones alone will improve classroom behavior and student attention, they are in for very rude future. Continue reading
Knowledge, Like Water, Will Slip Between Our Fingers Unless.
“If I taught something to children and they did not learn it, did I really teach them anything?” Possibly. Instead posit, “If I taught children and did not teach them how to remember what I taught them, did I really teach anything?” Indeed, not. If you expect children to remember what you taught them, teach them how to remember. Continue reading
The Art of Breathing and Teaching
When teaching children, knowing when to pause and take another breath to let learning unfold is a conscious act of breath control. Effective teachers know the art of breathing. Continue reading
If You Do Not Hear A Student, Is The Child Really Present? A Cartesian Problem.
Increasingly, we are seeing the whole group of a classroom as a collection of diverse children. Some have special education challenges. Some have cultural and linguistic needs. Some are gifted and talented. And some are shy and introverted. The characteristics we once considered normal are now a small group within the diversity. Continue reading
Teaching Is Renewal By Surprises
If, as Solomon said, there truly is nothing new under the sun, why do we rise with any new anticipations? In its basic forms, classroom teaching can be nothing more than the routine instruction of a routine curriculum. Why aren’t … Continue reading