The challenge of post-pandemic schooling in a nutshell: Students face the biggest learning crisis in generation as a result of a year and a half of suboptimal schooling- despite the often heroic efforts of teachers. Many students are struggling emotionally at the same time. Isolation, anxiety, loneliness and depression have spiked at historic rates and…
If you’ve read this blog, or attended any of our webinars or workshops, you know that we believe in knowledge-based curriculum. Research shows that knowledge is a critical factor in learning to read, in building long-term memory, and in thinking critically. We’ve seen classrooms where knowledge encourages independent reading and where knowledge inspires wonder. Recent global…
A: It’s a Mountain Tom Kane has an outstanding piece in the Atlantic this week about the extent of the academic losses students have suffered as a result of pandemic. I recommend it, in particular, because Kane does such an outstanding job of putting the extent of the losses in their practical context. “In fall…
Yesterday: a profoundly misguided article in the Guardian claiming that schools should stop weighing kids down with knowledge and set them free in a world of problem solving. Misguided because you can’t think critically about things you don’t have knowledge about–which almost proves the point. You write misguided articles about learning when you don’t know…
I had the pleasure of visiting a few schools in Memphis last week with Darryl Williams, Teneicesia White and Joaquin Hernandez, including Believe Memphis Academy, which uses our Reading Reconsidered English Curriculum. Among the many highlights were some of the great lesson preparation moves teachers used to get ready to teach (and adapt!) the units. For…