Two weeks ago week my colleagues Erica Woolway, Hilary Lewis, and I led our first Uncommon-wide workshop for Deans of Students. We got together with 60 or so amazing folks from across the organization who play a lead role in shaping behavior and culture in our schools. They inspired us and taught us, so I thought…
Morning. Happy weekend. Thought I might take the liberty of passing along some thought-provoking ‘teacher’ reading to go along with your weekend coffee. 1) First this op-ed piece from Natalie Wexler in the NY Times. It does a nice job of questioning the knowledge-versus-skills myth. Knowledge and skills (like “problem solving’ ‘critical thinking”) are, to me,…
Last week I wrote a bit about TNTP’s Mirage report and the takeaways for those who care a great deal about whether (and why) teacher development really works. You can read more here and here, but the gist was that teacher development is most effective when it’s embedded in a school culture where teachers and leaders…
Last week I posted about a video of Juliana Worrell coaching Ashley Roberts. There were a lot of remarkable things about the clip: yes, the great coaching Juliana provided, but even more compellingly (and importantly, I tried to say), a great culture of openness and teamwork between Juliana and Ashley. My primary takeaway from TNTP’s Mirage…
Two nights ago, a former student at our school in Rochester was shot dead in the street after a basketball game at the Boys and Girls club. You already know the story. A car drove up. Three people were shot dead. The shooter drove away. He was 19, Raekwon, and a good kid. He had struggled…