Reading, writing and arithmetic does not mean reading, printing and arithmetic. It is time to teach children write in and read cursive again. Continue reading
Cursive – If You Can’t Write It, You Can’t Read It. Let’s Write a Wrong.
Esprit de Corps Elevates Teacher Capacity to Cause All Children to Learn
Esprit de corps is real. Its fraternity and passion cause cadre groups to achieve high outcomes. It is a concept we celebrate because of its power to move educational needles. Continue reading
Now that you have elected new board members, make them be trustworthy
Being a school board member is a public trust. Being trustworthy takes work. Holding them accountable to their duties makes them trustworthy. Continue reading
Classroom Interactions Are Soccer Touches – Quality Touches Create Scoring Opportunities
Our task is to cause children to learn. Pedagogical knowledge provides the tools for our creating high quality interactions between teacher, student and curriculum. Knowing how to create these interactions improves the likelihood that children will learn. Continue reading
Suspending Reality Can Cause Learning.
Teachers need a variety of tools in their instructional toolboxes. Suspending reality, as in PBL, is a good tool for engaging children in unusual thinking while ensuring they learn academic curricula. Continue reading
When you ask a question what do you really want to know?
Every teacher engages children with questions. Most questions are in the form of a two-way conversation to ascertain if the children understand important facts. But if that is not all a teacher wants to know, better investigative questioning is required. Continue reading
Kindness Is As Kindness Does
Kindness is not a school subject or curriculum. While we do not teach kindness, we can and should model it for children and celebrate it when we see it. We can grow kindness even though we do not teach it. Continue reading
Should I Know or Just Google It?
I know it and I know what it means are two different levels of knowledge and understanding. In the age of Internet, schools are increasingly essential for the development of contemporary understanding of information. Continue reading
Gone: Three-sport Athletes and Bench Jockeys
Specialization and elitism have made being a three-sport athlete or a bench jockey very difficult in high school athletics. When so many athletes and families seek a competitive advantage, they crowd all others from the team bench. Continue reading
Being Taught By an Unprepared Teacher Is a Mathematical Certainty
Professional teacher preparation can no longer by assumed by a license to teach. Political pressure to put an adult in every classroom does not mean a prepared teacher in every classroom. Continue reading