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
Snow Days of Yore No More
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
The Tension of High Expectations
Increasing personal tension to learn is part of motivation theory; there needs to be a degree of tension between expectations and achievement. Effective teachers know how to use tension, anxiety, and personal pressure to spur students to learn. Continue reading
Highly Effective Teachers are Masters at Adjusting Instruction
Master teachers know that some children will not reach secure learning after initial instruction only. They readily check formative data and adjust subsequent instruction to cause all children to be successful learners. Teach, assess, adjust teaching and assess again is a necessary pedagogical sequence. Continue reading