I stopped buying into the 'Don't give them a hard time for forgetting their pencil' thing when I saw how rarely they forgot their cell phone.

'Thou shalt not judge yourself in the last month of school.'

Reminder to all my teacher peeps of this critical commandment.

From one who truly appreciates what it is to teach.
#TeacherAppreciationWeek

One of the more persistent myths of education: If we just get every teacher to do X, then all students will learn Y. This is also one of the dumbest myths of education, but it is a freaking titanium cockroach.

Can you imagine if we applied The Science of Health in same narrow absolutist way we do with The Science of Learning?

There is only one way to eat healthy & exercise productively and if you aren't doing it that way, you're doing it wrong!

I wish more teachers would realize that WE are the asset! Teachers bring value to our schools. Teachers keep our world moving. Please, never let a school, an administrator, a parent, or anyone else make you feel otherwise.

The fact that I have a student that can't come to school if he happens to miss the bus because it's his only transportation. He's 8. So miss me with your attendance awards. Some families literally don't have cars.

I feel like this is obvious, but a main reason why teachers make their own curriculum is because assigned materials are too hard for students.

Another is because it's boring for kids to do the same kind of stuff every day.

This is apparently debatable?

Why do you think so many kids & adults are addicted to video games? Could it be that this is the only arena where they can struggle through problem solving? Kids don't sit down to study manuals or listen to lectures about video games, they jump in & begin & enjoy the challenge.

Happy #EarthDay ! bookelicious.com/blog/jazzys-na…

What’s the unmet need that causes students to litter?

A Principal friend said to me the most profound statement: “It’s really hard leading in public education if you want to do what’s best for children.” Let that sink in for a minute……

📣Whole Class Instruction! “…we could reduce the amount of small group reliance quite a bit (Shanahan, 2013, 2020). That would mean more time for teacher directed reading and other direct instruction lessons and fluency practice, which would be a real plus for most kids.”

I absolutely believe in public education.

That works.

And I absolutely believe that what we're doing is not working.

So, I absolutely believe in changing public education.

It's time.

Absolutely.
#Project180

A lot of deserved focus on the impact of rising chronic absenteeism for students this week.

Something that feels left out: how that changes what the classroom and school overall is like for those students who aren't chronically absent.

'We should look much further and more deeply, not only at the science of reading, but at the reading of science—or rather, at the act of reading in science. One way to resolve the alleged crises of the scientific enterprise may lie in an understanding of those practices.'

His actual quote was: Thirty-five students, 27 desks, 18 textbooks, and you've got to educate every single kid in that classroom for 180 days.

Recently, I allowed my 7th graders to use AI technology in our memoir unit. The experience was awesome. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be documenting how we did it over on the blog. Today I posted Part One. musingsfromthemiddleschool.org/2024/03/ai-in-…

#middleschoolteacher #writingteacher #ai

We've just updated our Most Popular Articles page. See the 75 most read during Dec/Jan/Feb!

#edchat #edutwitter #satchat #leadered #teachertwitter #educoach #elachat #ellchat #mathchat #sschat #scichat #teachered #mtbos #guidance #middleschool #tlap #nwp

middleweb.com/middlewebs-mos…

Since A Nation at Risk

Education mainstream media and politicians have been gaslighting educators and students relentlessly

None of the claims or reforms have worked, yet students and teachers are declared the failures

Pay elementary teachers $100,000/yr? Sure

But *stop* spreading the lie they don't know how to teach reading

*Stop* forcing them to sit thru commercial retraining

*Stop* adopting scripted curriculum

Pay ***AND*** treat them as professionals