The Ed Narrative blog is intended as a series of written reflections on education. New blog entries post on Mondays at 8:00am EST. To subscribe, click the RSS link below.
That was when I learned to deliberately script some responses or interactions I could anticipate. Obviously, I’d developed go-to responses when a parent or student came to me with garden-variety issues. Those were essentially scripted too, but through an evolutionary process. The experience with the phone call list brought me to try it in other situations. I have carried this over to my coaching work, especially that with novice teachers fresh from Ed School.
Read MoreDr. Atul Gawande has been very vocal about the need for professionals to use coaches in their drive toward improvement. When we consider the very real need for strong skills in the field for doctors, it seems like there is really no reason we should not support this. Does the same apply to educators? Is it life and death for us? This post explores some of those thoughts at a prime time in the year for a teacher to sign on with a coach.
Read MoreCRT is not a boxed program, or a couple strategies to streamline a unit, it is harder to teach it. And, as most people are aware, we are living in a time in which some of the socio-economic and racial biases in this country have been opened up and are raw to the touch. Teaching this approach would have been a difficult process even without the current moment exacerbating things, but here we are and we must take the situation as it is, and not (unfortunately) as we’d prefer it to be.
Read MoreThe new school year always brings excitement and anticipation, especially for new teachers. It also brings Dr. Dan Mulligan. He’s able to encapsulate the bulk of best practice into a rapid-fire review, and do so in a way that holds your attention. This time however, I heard him say something I’d never heard from him before. He said, “Don’t steal the thinking,”
Read MoreVirginia is a "Right to Work" Commonwealth, and has been since the Taft-Hartley act in 1947. Anyhow, the main thing that is at play in Virginia is the lack of compulsory organizational dues, which now because of the recent SCOTUS decision, is the case for all public employees. Perhaps it’s time to put our heads together across state lines…
Read MoreIt was just too easy to shunt the PLC appointment aside to clear a slot for a teacher meeting. Teachers are, and should be our primary concern as coaches so it's understandable that we would do this. However, the issue was that we were reading books on issues of importance to our practice without discussing the implications or practices of each book. I decided to step back from things, and think asynchronously.
Read MoreWe often guide students to answer questions, but perhaps the other half of the work is to question the answers. It is the work of a scientific mind as well as that of the philosopher. Do we often only ask students to do half of the work? This is a brief meditation on learning.
Read MoreThis entry is a result of having been asked "to reflect on the purpose of education." This one is ripe for your comments and input. Or, if you'd rather, feel free to contact us via our link.
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