At Troy Prep, one of our Uncommon Schools, graduating 8th graders traditionally write thank you notes. They write them to anyone they want–teachers, parents etc.–for anything they want. Principal, Lauren Catlett, recently shared a few with me. The notes are lovely and gracious. They include comments like: “Mr. Belanger, Ms. Hernandez and Ms Strand, thank you…
Here’s a rundown of that video of Amarillo Texas Caprock High’s Beth Brannon that I promised in my recent post about unexpectedness. Beth uses, by my count, 11 techniques from Teach Like a Champion 2.0 in the clip (!), though you might never know it unless you watched carefully. Her productive class seems like a happy…
A teacher, “Jenny,” recently wrote to me with a very real-world question: I am currently reading TLAC with great interest, and I would like to implement these techniques in my classes. The only schools I know of that use these techniques, though, are charter schools where the techniques are embedded into the entire school culture. Unfortunately, I…
I’m in California this week so have been slow to post and respond to comments…. but the great news (for me) is that I am out here to do a two-day workshop for teachers and leaders at the highly–and justifyably–vaunted Aspire Public Schools. I’m especially excited because I always learn a ton from the smart and reflective…
Last night, in Houston, we went out for dinner and my hosts introduced me to fried pickles and Frito pie at dinner, but today Grady Middle School they had something even bigger in store for me. At Grady, the game was on for real! Classrooms were rigorous and content-rich and TLaC-aligned. Here are some highlights: Check…