Mid-Year Teacher Check-In: How are we doing?
The middle of the school year is the perfect time to check in and see how you, your students, and your colleagues are doing so far. Reflection isn’t just about surfacing the things that need course correcting. It’s also about identifying and celebrating the good and figuring out how to grow upon those areas of strength. Throughout the months, it may be easy to slip into habits of mind and work practices that merely get us through the challenges of teaching, but chances are yo
Three Takeaways from EduCon
I spent this weekend at EduCon 2019 at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA. For anyone unfamiliar with EduCon, the creators of EDxEDNYC dreamed up the idea for EDxEDNYC on the train ride back to NYC from Philly after attending EduCon several years ago. To quote the website, EduCon is “an innovation conference where we can come together, both in person and virtually, to discuss the future of schools” — a future that is inquiry-driven, includes student voice, and use
Humility For Effective Collaboration in Schools
I often find myself returning to a chapter in Building School 2.0 entitled Humility Matters, as it reminds me that it is okay to struggle, because the work of teaching and learning is hard. It requires a lot of courage, among all of those involved, to take the risks necessary for real learning to happen. But authors Lehman and Chase are cautious about this courage as it has two edges. They say that courage “can also create a surety that is dangerous” as “the death of any gr
The Best Laid (Lesson) Plans Go Awry
Today, I continued work on my basement. This has been an ongoing project for the better part of 2 months now, and it has been wrought with fits and starts the entire time. Today’s work was less than ideal. There were a series of setbacks that resulted in a seemingly wasted day. The beauty of working on my house, and in my past experience in construction, is the immediate gratification that comes from altering the landscape in which you are working. No matter what I do in my h