Today being Martin Luther King day, I spent the morning re-reading passages from Taylor Branch’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography of King, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, particularly the hundred or so pages of his treatment of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. To some degree the boycott has, in Branch’s words, “dissolved in memory to a…
One of the most effective activities we do with teachers–both at Uncommon Schools and in our trainings–is planning for error (Plan for Error is Teach Like a Champion 2.0 technique #7). The idea is that if you spend a few minutes before your lessons anticipating 1) what your students are likely to get wrong or misunderstand…
Got a note from Tim Daly this morning. He used to help run TNTP. Now he’s at Ednavigator, a nonprofit with the mission of helping “parents and caregivers choose the best school, understand and track their children’s progress, support learning at home, and advocate for their children’s educational needs.” He was asking me about math. I’d…
Happy New Year from TLaC Towers! Just before the holidays we watched a clip of Najee Carter at North Star Alexander Street Elementary School. It left us feeling downright warm, fuzzy and full of holiday joy- not something one necessarily expects from a Systems and Routines clip! As a capstone to this season of giving, TLaC…
Coming back from Winter Break can be tricky. Everyone’s been away from their routines for two weeks. Maybe they’re not as sharp as they could be. And maybe by mid-year it’s not just winter break that has led to decreasing follow-though. My colleague Jen Kim offered up this very useful discussion of clip we recently watched…