Teach Up to Cause Children to Meet Higher Expectations

The conversation about the actions needed to move achievement upward and the commitment to those actions is what bridges the distance between having high expectations and achieving high expectations. Continue reading

Rigor and Productive Struggle – “Kind of Hard” Causes Leaning

Children don’t learn from teaching that is too easy or too hard. Lesson design must find the “just right” spot where rigor and difficulty with appropriate teacher motivation engage children in new learning. Lesson design is not easy! Continue reading

Teachers of Bygone and New Eras

The profession of teaching has entered a new era. Most new teachers will be as professional as the business of teaching requires them to be. They will work their contracts. Life for them sets aside the eight hours each day and nine months needed for their teaching job so that they can live their non-job lives. Continue reading

Burying a Myth About Rigor – It Is Too Easy If Every Student Gets a Good Grade

“If every student gets good grades, the instruction has lost its rigor.” End of discussion and I fought the urge to throw my pen at him. Continue reading

Good Classroom Management is Not Easy; It is a Learned and Practiced Skill and Art

Field experience tells us that fitting a student management philosophy to a teacher is like fitting shoes. One will feel better, wear better, and be more satisfying than all others. Therefore, teacher prep programs must teach teachers a variety of philosophies and strategies so that a teacher can find a personal plan that refines student behavior and enhances student learning. Continue reading