My team and I watched footage yesterday of Aidan Thomas’ math class at Leadership Prep Bed Stuy Middle Academy in Brooklyn. This series of No Opt Outs that Joaquin Hernandez cued up for us was kind of a showstopper. It left us with a better understanding of the ways that No Opt Out could work and a…
As readers of this blog will surely know, I am a strong advocate of both reading aloud to your kids and specifically reading complex and challenging texts to them. I recently described that what and why in much greater details than I’ve been able to before in the September 9 issue of England’s TES Magazine (@tes). …
Had the opportunity to talk teaching with an amazing group of math, science and technology teachers from my own region in the New York State Master Teacher Program on Saturday. This post is specifically a follow-up to share two more examples of Cold Call, one of the techniques we discussed during the session, but the clips…
Cold Call is a technique that instantly brings accountability to the classroom. That’s pretty obvious. But at its best it brings a distinctly positive form of accountability. We’ve been focusing on this idea in our trainings–emphasizing that moments of accountability are often ideal for warmth and positivity. Put another way, the Cold Call has already…
When our team watches footage of teachers in action, we often find ourselves observing classrooms that are in full bloom. Expectations have been internalized, procedures have become routines, and the room is already abuzz with the sounds of learning. This kind of footage is great for illustrating what classrooms can look like when a culture of…