If you listen to some critics, TLaC is a book with sixteen chapters on making kids stand in line and not much else. I always find that ironic. First because there is great honor in doing the thankless work of building a respectful positive and productive classroom environment, and that fact would be clear beyond any…
I write a lot of emails entitled “Two Quick Things.” Scrolling back through my sent mail it seems that one quick thing is almost entirely unlikely to get me to write to anyone and three quick things is apparently cause for procrastination. But TWO quick things: that is the email-generating sweet spot for me. And the…
Over on the TLac Facebook page we posted an amazing video of North Star Academy’s Ashley Hinton using non-verbals to correct minor off-task behaviors while still teaching. The clip met with instant response. Meanwhile in a fascinating view behind the curtain of Uncommon‘s culture of constant improvement, I thought I’d share the following exchange between Joaquin…
Great piece today from OECD (the organization that produces the PISA assessments and where one of education’s true super heroes, Andreas Schleicher, works) on order in the classroom. It summarizes the results of their study and analysis of school across all nations participating in the 2009 PISA. The findings are clear, direct and unambiguous. I summarized…
For those of us who are under sail with the new school year, the first day(s) and week(s) of school are often a time when we’re setting expectations and limits, mostly in a way that’s natural and normal. Students want to know what you expect and what you mean by “attentive, positive and working hard” and/or…