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Reformation: Creating or Redefining Your Purpose Statements
Listen In our last article, we shared some of the mission statements, vision statements, and value lists for some of the top schools in the world. As we looked through these statements, we were really inspired to work on our own statements. Many, if not all, schools and districts have...
Part 2: Reformation: Indoor Learning Environments
Listen In our last article, we discussed how the Ron Clark Academy, Wooranna Park Primary, and Fuji Yochien embrace and have designed environments that are used to fulfill their mission statements and pedagogy. Here are a few more leaders in this area. International School of Hellerup in Copenhagen The International...
The Reformation Age of Education
Listen We’ve known for some time that education was in need of a major overhaul. Many teachers and administrators have been ready for it for a long time. Some districts, a few states, and the occasional national leader have stepped up and championed the cause for change. But largely, our...
Answering "Why" in Professional Development
Listen Years ago, I was in a professional development meeting that tackled the topic of adding “essential questions” to each of our planned lessons. There was instruction on the language we should use, the structure of the questions themselves, and how to tie each question to state standards. Yet I...
The Class Is Half Full
Listen There is a lot for us to complain about when it comes to where we find ourselves as teachers these days. This is arguably the most difficult time to be a teacher in several decades. We are all relearning how to teach. Anxiety and stress are at all-time highs...
How to Be an Approachable Leader
Listen We’ve all had an administrator say that their door is always open, only to find out it was just something they said. Their door is literally closed nearly every time you walk through the office. Perhaps their door is always open, but they are never in there, so what...
District Toolkit Needs Learning In 2020-2021
Listen States and local districts across the United States are preparing to pivot away from crisis learning and toward something a little more stable and workable for the 2020-2021 school year. As educators and former educators ourselves, we can see the daunting tasks district and building administrators are facing that...
Rules and Tools for Classroom Management
Listen Online learning is a brave new world. You may feel that you’re starting to get the hang of the online learning experience, but you hope to add a little more depth in the coming weeks. That’s hard to do when your online classroom is like the Wild, Wild West...
Equipment and Setup Recommendations for Online Teaching
Listen There’s a lot of advice out there for teachers who’ve recently had to start teaching online. You can find a lot of information about platforms, how to upload work, and ways to get started. We wanted to offer some advice that we weren’t finding in other places that established...
8 Tips for Teaching Classes Online
Listen UPDATE 2: 3/14/2020, 5:30 P.M. The free version of Zoom is back up and in order. UPDATE: (3/13/2020, 12:31 P.M.) We recommended Zoom below as a free service, but in the past 12 hours, we’ve become aware that their free services are temporarily suspended because they are overwhelmed...
It's All Downhill From Here
Listen The beginning of your first year is pretty overwhelming, and you have to focus on just getting your bearings and routines to work for you. It’s possible to feel like you’re barely keeping your head above water during that time, but sometime in January, you may start to...