Teachers always reflect what they teach. The band director plays an instrument, the shop teacher runs a lathe, the English teacher speaks in complete sentences, and the history teacher overwhelms us with facts from the past. Pandemic teaching caused us to “be” our more abstract values – problem solvers, evidence-based, collaborative, and collegial. We were exemplars of our best selves. Continue reading
Being What We Teach
Recentering Our Matters
Old Boomer educators don’t die; they just fade away. We need to retire Boomerisms with our Boomers. Continue reading
Add Student Executive Functioning Skills to Your Student Performance Box Score
An analysis of post-pandemic student learning points too easily at academic deficiencies. From the pandemic, we learned that our concept of studenthood was limited and children today have needs much greater than the 3 Rs. Continue reading
Smart Is As Smart Does
A while ago Holiday Inn Express enjoyed using “I’m not a rocket scientist, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night” as an indicator of the smart and well-informed traveler in their clientele. They seemed to say, “smart … Continue reading
Institutional Elasticity Stymies Growth
Forward progress following a crisis is not propelled by a return to the past but by understanding what must be different in the furture and making change happen. Continue reading
Learning, Perhaps
Although a school year stops on a date specific, learning happens in the unanticipated future. Perhaps. Continue reading
Pandemic-informed Teacher Evaluation
The pandemic caused change. As we emerge from the pandemic, ask yourself as you seek the old normal, is that the best we can do. Some things learned in the pandemic need to become new practices. Continue reading
Hybrid School Year – A Rethought, Pandemic-informed School Calendar
The school calendar is a prime example of – we do things now because that is how it was done when I was in school. The pandemic is teaching us that there is a better way. Continue reading
Educational governance in the long view
School communities choose how schools will be governed by their considered election of school boards. Continue reading
Covid Provoked Reforms – Professional Pay for Professional Teachers
Sometimes a crisis creates an opportunity. The pandemic is stripping public education of its most valuable asset – veteran, professional teachers. The wear and tear of pandemic teaching is driving more teachers into early retirement and career resignations than in … Continue reading