"Si al comienzo no muestras quién eres, nunca podrás después, cuando quisieres." "If at first you do not show who you are, you will never be able to afterwards when you want to." From El Conde Lucanor, Cuento XXXV, by Don Juan Manuel (Medieval Castilian writer, 1282-1348). The first [...]
Did a seminar in Seattle this week (the 5th of 5 this month) for the Institute for Educational Development, a division of the Bureau of Education and Research (BER). 62 enthusiastic attendees. Fabulous group! Saw some old friends and made some new ones. Woven throughout every aspect of the [...]
I have been very fortunate to have been visited by two master teachers in the past two weeks: Connie Navarro and Karen Rowan. Now here are the observations by a set of fresh eyes. Noah is a second year teacher from a Christian school in Denver, full of ideas and [...]
I enjoy teaching with very few props or electronics. Relationship-based teaching (passwords, discussing reading and persona especial interviews) propped up by well-honed TPRS questioning skills are the go-to tactics in my classroom. But I have discovered that there are two tools without which I can no longer function optimally, [...]
If you haven't implemented classroom jobs, think about it. They change the dynamic in the classroom by recruiting students to do the minimum wage tasks which gives the teacher time to think. Jobs let students share some of the load so that you can do what you are best [...]
When a teacher begins to ask students for help with classroom jobs the teacher's mindset and behavior changes. They let go of the myriad minor tasks that are needed in a classroom and get students to pitch in. They recruit their students and the students begin to lighten the [...]