In many ways, teachers are masters of split vision on a micro scale. Have you ever seen a first grade teacher successfully run independent literacy stations? What about an ELL teacher hold a Socratic Seminar? How about a middle school
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Imposter Syndrome or a Humility Check?
Are teacher leaders wizards or masons? The mason throws the mortar and trowels it smooth, lays the brick and taps it level. Each brick contributes incrementally to the wall, which defines the room, and room-by-room the house is built. The mason stands
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Taken By Surprise
One joy of parenthood is a surprise from your children. More than once I have come home to a miraculously clean kitchen, or a “restaurant” in my honor. I love it when my kids make big plans behind closed doors.
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Grit Vs. The Virtue of Giving Up
Bill Ferriter, In a recent Tempered Radical post, The Poisonous Mythology of Grittiness, relates a recent conversation about grit that he had with John Spenser. The crux of their discussion was that grit is too often defined as working through set-backs and “buckling down and
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Evolve, Not Revolve
If you read my last post, you could see that I was ready for winter break. I gave myself to days of family time, reading non-school-related books and lots of hiking. This time was just what I needed because it
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The (Winter) Breaking Point
After teaching for sixteen years, I know teaching is both an art and a science. I practiced the art of teaching this past week leading up to winter break as I kept my students learning and focused with long-anticipated events
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Maintaining the Magic
I originally had blog posts planned, and mostly written, on topics of Prop.123 and ESSA, in the effort to remain current and connected to policy. I was ready to publish one of the above topics and realized that this
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Nobody Puts Teacher Leadership in a Corner!
If you’ve seen the movie, Dirty Dancing, you most likely remember the line, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” And if you remember this line, then you most likely remember how determined Patrick Swayze’s character was to place his beloved Baby
Read MoreTrading Bad Behavior for Good Behavior
Years ago, when they were still small, my boys were helping my wife make pot roast. The first thing she did was cut off four inches of good meat and throw it away. “Why’d you cut off that good meat
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