What a whirlwind of a week… or three! As I write today, I’m sitting in the Atlanta airport, buzzin’ like a bee from an AMAZING four days at the 2023 Open Up Resources HIVE conference! There is so much learning to process; I’m thankful for several hours in the airport to do just that. This … [Read more…]
When I began writing this blog in January of 2021, I outlined my goals for the blog which are as follows: Document my learning journey as a teacher, coach, and student Improve my writing craft through reflection Act as a producer rather than a consumer Push my thinking Connect with others Two and a half … [Read more…]
Words matter. Routines and procedures matter. The more we can simplify each in our educational systems, the more likely we are to reach high levels of success. At the risk of sounding like I desire robotic teaching, where we all do the exact same thing, I’m going to make the following statement: I think we … [Read more…]
The African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,” rings true each and every day. In fact, I would add, it takes a village to accomplish many, many tasks of worth. There are times when a crazy thought crosses my mind: “Maybe I should teach preschool, kindergarten or first grade.” This is a … [Read more…]
Change is all the things: tough, inevitable, great, unnecessary at times, and hard to sustain. Change is both meaningful and worthwhile when it makes something better. Two quotes from George Couros ring loud and true here: Bill and I are in the throes of planning for a house remodel. This remodel was supposed to be … [Read more…]
There are so many times in education when we seek the “one thing” that will ensure all of our students can read/can learn at high levels. I reflected on this notion in a recent blogpost titled The Mythical Silver Bullet, at the end of which I concluded, “…which is all to say that the business … [Read more…]
In February of 2022, I wrote about staying grounded. Part of that post was dedicated to staying grounded in the classroom. A year later, to the day, I find myself writing about the very same topic. Last week, I was asked to serve as a substitute teacher on four different days: I was able to … [Read more…]
The 2022 Wind Down As we get ready to wrap up 2022, I can’t help but take a bit of time to reflect on the past year. ‘Tis the season for reflection and gratitude, right?! It’s always the season for both reflection and gratitude, and this time of year seems to make it even easier. … [Read more…]
In the spirit of this Thanksgiving week, this post is dedicated to those things for which I am presently most grateful for. Each picture included in the post is worth a thousand words… to me, anyway, as they represent my immense gratitude! I am stealing George Couros’s weekly email format: I will be writing about … [Read more…]
I wrote about leaning into routines last week. At the risk of sounding contradictory, I’ve been thinking about change a lot this week. George Couros has inspired much of my thinking around change and has been the impetus for my writing past posts about it. You see, change really is inevitable. Whether we decide to … [Read more…]