I am 50 days into a 60-day writing challenge. Initially this was conceived by Daniel Bauer of Better Leaders Better Schools as a 30-day challenge. Then, on day 30, one of the members of our writing collective, Joe Clausi of The Traveling Principal, upped the ante to another 30 days. At the time it sounded […]
As indicated in this graph, the severity of learning loss due to the pandemic is real, with 97% of students impacted. There is no question that we are going to have to address these learning and achievement gaps as we transition back to the classroom. The way path forward is to get at what drives […]
“The way schools care about children is reflected in the way schools care about the children’s families. If educators view children simply as students, they are likely to see the family as separate from the school. That is, the family is expected to do its job and leave the education of children to the schools. […]
I have watched over the past year while my 1st grader learned to “go to school” through a screen. My children attend a public Waldorf school and there is little to no technology or screens in classrooms. The switch to distance learning for my daughters, 6 and 11, was big. At first, if I am […]
The more I read and talk with teachers and schools the more evident it is that educators have been pushed to their absolute limit during the pandemic. This time of year is always a mix of fatigue from the school and relief that the days are getting longer and the summer hiatus is around the […]
There is a lot of conversation around student learning losses due to the pandemic. But there seems to be less talk about the toll it has had on teachers. I was working with a school faculty last week and during our training session the principal shared that the district had decided that they would go […]
“Little is known about the effectiveness of learning at home for the entire student population and what this means for the development of skills. However, there are indications from multiple countries that many children had little effective instruction. For a significant proportion of pupils, learning during school closures was apparently almost non-existent. For example, early […]
“Highly effective teachers use procedures and systems to maximize the value of each minute of learning...To be clear, these highly effective teachers sweat the details not because they are obsessed with control but because they see that this attention to detail translates into student learning.” Steven Farr, Teaching As Leadership Sweat The Details From my […]
Of all the challenges posed by the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, this may be the greatest: if we are truly to be a nation of college-goers, we must not only raise the bar on what students learn but we must also leverage an understanding of noncognitive factors to teach adolescents how to […]
We Learn Better In Community When a classroom grows into a learning community everyone in the room can sense it. Humans are communal beings and we are drawn to community. When students are active members in a learning community it amplifies engagement, accountability, and learning. Transforming classrooms into learning communities is something effective educators must […]
