Great teachers are always seeking to make their classrooms as rigorous as possible. Over the next three days, I’ll be sharing thoughts about three ‘common opportunities’ –things I see in place when I observe great classrooms that can often make a big difference—quickly—in good ones. Common Opportunity #1: Improve the rigor of your classrooms by defining…
Rue Ratray is Dean of Curriculum and Instruction at UP Academy Oliver in Lawrence, Massachusetts, a district turnaround that’s one part of superintendent Jeff Riley’s bold efforts to revitalize the schools in this small former mill city that’s (previously) been known for under-performing schools. Rue’s an amazing and inspirational teacher. You can see video of him…
Screening video this week, I was reminded of some posts from earlier this year on keeping discussions “disciplined”… that is, “inside the box” and on-topic. They’re, here here and here in case you missed them, but the idea is that true discussion happens when a group identifies key topics and develops them rigorously and at some…
All of a sudden I’m on a Right is Right jag. Last week there was this clip of Grace Ghazzawi driving up the rigor with an “answer my question.” This week it’s Maggie Johnson killing it with a beautiful “hold out for all the way right” moment with one of her students- during close reading no…
It’s been a busy morning at TLaC Towers (pictured) where high, above the pulsing city of Glenmont, NY, (population 5,200), we’ve been cutting amazing video for our upcoming workshop on Engaging Academics, to be held April 10 and 11 in Albany. Needless to say at the workshop we’ll do some serious geeking out on all of…