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…
I recently got a request for more examples of Joy Factor at the middle school level. As I was watching some great new footage from our pals over at Achievement First, I noticed this Joy Factor moment from AF Bushwick Middle School’s Eric Snider. Some thoughts as you watch: We always try to…
Those of you who have been to our reading workshops are up-to-date on “Embedded Non-fiction”—the idea of teaching non-fiction by combining it with a novel. Rather than reading de-contextualized articles to practice reading non-fiction—the Civil War today; the naked mole rat tomorrow—you’d choose topics that develop and add depth to topics raised by the novel you’re…
One of the great things about Teach Like a Champion—to me—is how quickly what’s in the book gets improved on and added to by great teachers and educators. There’s so much I’ve learned since writing the original that I can’t wait to add to a second edition someday. If there were one aspect of classroom instruction I’d want…