Let’s engage in a storytelling challenge. What were some of your most powerful learning moments as an educator so far? What did you see in these stories? What are the patterns? What were the feelings expressed as you shared your Read More …
Walking the Talk: How Leaders Grow a Personalized School Culture
Interview with Mike Anderson
We are thrilled to spend some time with Mike Anderson – our friend and author of a new book What We Say and How We Say it Matter: Teacher Talk that Improves Student Learning and Behavior (ASCD, 2019). One of the driving Read More …
Are We Setting Students Up For Failure When We Assign Them To Groups And Say, “Collaborate!”?
When you think about your experience as an adult, collaborating with coworkers, do you get an uncomfortable pit in your stomach? How often does it go just right? Over my many years and many occupations I have experienced productive, professionally Read More …
How Writing Conferences in the World Language Classroom Saved My Red Pens and My Sanity
Conferencing yielded the best papers I have read in years. When I sat down to “grade” the final papers a few weeks ago, I didn’t need several red pens, as I found there were few errors. I didn’t give hours Read More …
Conversational Competence (Part 1 in a Series of Conversations)
This newsletter was triggered by an article I came across in The Atlantic — My students don’t know how to have a conversation. Author and English teacher Paul Barnwell reflects: Conversational competence might be the single-most overlooked skill we fail Read More …
What Conversational Competence Is and How to Embed This in Your Classroom Culture
More and more frequently, our eyes are on a screen as we engage with a task at hand. Whether we are working independently to meet a challenge; catching up on personal, local, and global stories; or creating and sharing experiences Read More …
How Do People Make Decisions When Faced With Uncertainty?
In February of this year, we were honored to host best-selling author, in-demand decision strategist and World Series of Poker bracelet holder Annie Duke for our 11th grade Humanities Course – Viewpoints on Modern America. Annie was a marvelous guest, Read More …
Seeking Insight on Conversational Competence from 6th Grade Podcasters
By: Allison Zmuda with Beth Campbell with Her 6th Grade Students from Hopewell Elementary School, Iowa What if we could better understand how to grow conversational competence from students? Quick back story. About a year ago, I ran a workshop Read More …
Personalizing from Local to Global
Thanks so much for your immediate and warm response on our last newsletter — Power of Portfolios. If you were on Spring Break or it got lost in your inbox, click here to get access to it. This newsletter broadens Read More …
Kindness: Let’s Toss it Around Like Confetti
In a small Connecticut school in Litchfield County, students in a multi-age K,1,2 class co-taught by teachers Robin Faust and Jen Worden engaged in a unit on civics and civility with a focus on getting along and building character. In Read More …
