As I looked at the calendar and considered what I wanted to write about in this blog, I started to reflect on my last few months of work-related travel and my conversations with school leaders throughout the country. I also thought about the countless conversations about education that I’ve had with people in airports and on airplanes. My favorite conversations focused on teachers: what it is really like to be a teacher and how teachers spend their summers—taking classes, teaching summer school, working a second job, etc.; not the months of time off or vacation that most people envision. [...]

Over the course of my many classroom visits and teacher observations throughout my career, I am truly in awe of the master teacher. These teachers live and breathe all aspects of the teaching and learning process, from expert planning to delivery of engaging, differentiated lessons. They exude confidence and masterfully and effortlessly apply strategy knowledge and instructional pedagogy in teaching with differentiation for most needy students. Master teachers know how to use data to inform instructional decisions and apply core principles of intensive, systematic, direct instruction to accelerate learning. Such expertise does not come easily or naturally to many, [...]

Educators can readily identify the student who seems to lack motivation. While he or she is generally not a behavior problem in the classroom, the unmotivated student can cause a teacher many sleepless nights. There are a variety of labels used to describe a student who just doesn’t seem to find any purpose in school—the reluctant learner, the shut-down learner, the academically discouraged student. The unmotivated learner comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, from sullen and miserable to socially pleasant. But there is one shared—and very telling—characteristic: a frustration with school. This student is simply not interested [...]

Believe it or not, Twitter joined the digital world approximately ten years ago. A decade is ancient when it comes to technology, and for many teachers, Twitter has not been a friend. How many times have you had to tell your students to get off Twitter over the years? And really, how much can a person learn using only 140 characters or less? The truth is, Twitter can support your Personalized Learning Network (PLN) and your professional development. It really can. First, let’s look at the definition of PLN. Sometimes referred to as a Personal Learning Network or a [...]

“I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck.”       —Annie Dillard The South by Southwest (SXSW) Education conference just wrapped up, and I thought I’d take a moment to share some notes and thoughts for anyone who might be interested. Before registering, I hadn’t even been aware that SXSW had an education conference. What did I know? Education conferences are usually hit-or-miss affairs: some sessions are interesting; some are dull and ordinary. Some addresses bring new information and insight; some rehash things you’ve heard a million [...]

Women’s History Month began last week. In 1980, President Carter signed documents proclaiming March 2−8 to be Women’s History Week; by 1987, Congress passed a proclamation establishing March as Women’s History Month. This year’s theme is “Working to Form a More Perfect Union: Honoring Women in Public Service and Government.” With three women seated on the Supreme Court and a woman running for President of the United States, there could be no better theme for Women’s History Month 2016. In her Etsy Cartoon, Rebecca Cohen asks, “Did you know that a woman founded the oldest university in the world, [...]

Downey, et al. (2009) described the persistent and chronic nature of achievement gaps in our educational system as “the most complex and compelling educational dilemma facing schools in the 21st century.” Since the passage of NCLB in 2001—a law at its very essence designed to erase decades of inequality and futility born out in the quantitative and anecdotal data—very little, if any, progress has been made to eradicate the gaps between white, typically-abled students and their peers from historically underserved and underperforming groups: students of color, students learning English as a second language, students with disabilities, and students living [...]

Outside the classroom, the word “intervention” has pretty clear associations. Think of the literal meaning of the word—a coming between—and how it manifests itself in our culture. We all know of instances where people have had to place themselves in someone else’s pathway and make them travel in a different direction, usually because their current pathway is leading to danger or illness (we’re here because we love you, and we need to talk). Sometimes it’s simply behavioral; sometimes it’s medical, requiring the identification of a problem and the prescription of a treatment (you have an addiction; we’re sending you [...]

“Evidence shows that effective teachers are the most important in-school contributors to student learning.” —from “Best Practices for Evaluating Teacher Ed. Programs” How do we prepare effective teachers? What are the components of an effective teacher preparation program? To begin researching the answer, I wrote the blog “Teacher Education, Part 1: What Makes an Effective Teacher.” For this, I asked the experts—students ages 5−18—the following questions, “Who is your favorite teacher?” and “Why are they your favorite teacher?” What I learned is that students prefer teachers who are smart, kind, respectful, fair, and engaging. So how can teacher education [...]

As we celebrate the start of a new year, we simultaneously approach the midway point of the school year. This is a great opportunity to reflect on what has been accomplished academically for our students and take stock of what might require a “reset” based on current trends. An area of particular importance to me is the value of “intensive instruction or intensive intervention.” I refer to these concepts so often that it has become part of my vernacular on a daily basis in working with school personnel, particularly school directors. I preach it and I hear it reflected [...]