I’ve spent much of this week watching the first batch of video from school year 2021-22 classrooms. Watching classrooms with everyone masked is a bit disconcerting at first but it’s remarkable how quickly things feel closer to normal. Familiar interactions and relationships don’t take long to seem… well… familiar. And already there’s so much to learn….
A few days ago I came across the above outstanding illustration created by Luke Tayler, a geography teacher in Bahrain. It captures in graphic form the power of timing the name during Cold Call. The basic idea is that when students know you might Cold Call and you use a structure of question-pause-name for your question,…
TLAC Chief Academic Office Erica Woolway has been reflecting on the role of writing… in classrooms and in learning. She shared this reflection: Writing is incredibly important to us- as educators and parents but also as learners ourselves. We are constantly struck by how much we use writing as part of the thinking process. And our…
Just a few more weeks now til TLAC 3.0 drops. But of course the new school year is already underway so I’ve been trying to share excerpts in advance. Here’s the beginning of the write-up on Turn and Talk, with amazing video of BreOnna TIndall and Sarah Wright’s classrooms. Turn and Talk—a short, contained pair discussion—is…
Schools and classrooms are opening across the country in the coming weeks and amidst the uncertainty about masks and the like, there’s the enduring question that takes on double-weight after pandemic disruptions: How do we create vibrant positive and productive classroom cultures that harvest attention and help students succeed? With that in mind I’m happy to…