Commitment Logs
We know students don't really read the assigned reading, right? There are loads of reasons for that. Textbooks are cost prohibitive, the reading is cumbersome, too long, irrelevant from the…
Dream vs. Reality: The First Day of School
I have dreamed of this moment for seven years. A fantasy from 11th grade still replays itself in my mind with crystalline clarity: My first day of school as a…
Reacting VS Responding
Yell and sit…sit and yell, get a little louder, be a little firmer…they’ll eventually listen-right? Wrong. I walked into a room recently where an educator was sitting on a bench…
Teacher Education Faculty and First Year Support
I think often about students I have worked with who are in their early years of their teaching career. I remember my early days in the classroom, feeling prepared and…
I’m Here To Learn
A little about me in the month before my first year begins To be perfectly honest, I’m nervous about my first year of teaching. I’ve spent the summer reviewing learning…
Recess Is A Right
I posted a picture on our social media of a tweet from the 2006 MN Teacher of the Year Dr. Lee-Ann Stephens that read: Advice to a new elementary school…
Engagement: The Holy Grail of Teaching
Recently, a colleague asked me for recommendations of books about developing growth mindset. He wanted to be able to recommend something to parents whose children are "apathetic toward school." Learners. Apathetic. …
We Need To Talk About Families
Every family is doing the best they can with the reality they are in. Full stop. I'll say it again. Every family is doing the best they can with the…
We Need To Talk About Punishment
Recently, after working with teachers on shifting our approach from punishing to teaching, a teacher in attendance emailed me saying, "At first, I wasn't sure I was going to "buy…
Embracing Failure
I am a big fan of mistake making. Well, not the making of the mistakes part so much but of the learning from mistakes, expecting mistakes, embracing mistakes. What if…