The Paradox Of The Modern Teacher
23 propositions in an attempt to etch out the paradox of the modern teacher.
When we focus on teaching content rather than teaching the child, we lose the child. When seeking improvement, we seek to improve how we’re doing what we’ve always done, but more of it–faster and more efficiently. We break the learner and their sense of self to fit in stuff. We seek to improve our collective processes to cause more learning, which makes as much sense as teaching students how to read instead of why.
Terry Heick
4 Strategies To Recharge Your Teaching
I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated in the classroom, less tolerant, less friendly, and worst of all, sarcastic. I was utterly exhausted.
20 Questions To Clarify Your Teaching For 2022
How is education changing? From blended learning to social justice, here are 20 questions to clarify your teaching for 2022.
The Two Minds Of A Practicing Teacher
The need to be rational collides with the enormous complexity and scale of the circumstances teachers face.
6 Domains Of Cognition: The Heick Learning Taxonomy
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What Does It Mean To Teach Disruptively?
Teaching for disruption means that things aren’t always going to according to plan—your plan, anyway.
The Characteristics Of A Good School
A good school decenters itself–makes its curriculum, policies, and other ‘pieces’ less visible than students and hope and growth.
16 Characteristics Of A Critical Thinking Classroom
Humility is the core of critical thinking. It says, ‘I don’t know enough to have an informed opinion’ or ‘Let’s learn to reduce uncertainty.’
A Disruption Model: How Innovation In Education Causes Change
One goal for disruption in education could be the ongoing emergence of new ideas–new learning models, content, new strategies and thinking.
Audience And Purpose: Who Are You Teaching, And Why?
How can we revise a school or iterate education until we know what a school is supposed to do or what an ‘education’ is? That’s purpose.
On Teachers And Teaching And The Essential Criticism Of It All
I’d be a little disappointed if the most enduring impression of a student’s time in my classroom was a mental image of me.
A New Definition For Equity In Education
When discussing equity, there are so many convenient phrases but there may be a larger view that we’re missing.
We Can’t Teach As Fast As Things Change
We can’t teach as fast as things change. Perspectives. Ideologies. Knowledge demands. Our collective cultural norms and biases.
48 Critical Thinking Questions For Any Content Area
Critical thinking questions include, ‘Why is this important? What are the causes and effects of this? How do we know if this is true?”
10 Strategies To Promote Curiosity In Learning
Questions are indicators of engagement and curiosity in learning. Just as usefully, they are evidence for what a student understands.
Critical Thinking Is A Mindset
Critical thinking is certainly a ‘skill’ but when possessed as a mindset–a playful and humble willingness–it shifts from a labor to an art.
Some Thoughts On Knowledge And Knowledge Limits
Learning leads to knowledge and knowledge leads to theories just like theories lead to knowledge. It’s all circular in such an obvious way.
The Best Source Of Education Research Is Your Classroom
There is pressure in education to be research-based and data-based. But where should that research come from?
An Updated Guide To Questioning In The Classroom
The ability to ask the right question at the right time is a powerful indicator of authentic understanding.
What I Tell Students When They Say They Don’t Like To Read
Some readers may think they dislike the process of reading but everyone loves ideas–and reading is a wonderful strategy to find them.
Updating The Gears Of Education
These four gears produce an outcomes-based, data-driven, top-down system of education that depends on constant, inaccurate measurement.
The Need For Self-Criticism in Education
Self-criticism needs to be qualitative as well as quantitative. You need the full picture.
The Underlying Assumptions Of A Curriculum
One underlying assumption of a curriculum is that it’s comprised of knowledge and skills that are both knowable and worth knowing.
Why Emotion Is More Important Than Understanding
The need to belong, the desire to be understood, and the instinct to understand are universal human emotions that mean everything.
30 Incredible Ways Technology Will Change Education By 2028
Adaptive computer-based testing slowly begins to replace one-size-fits-all assessment of academic proficiency.
What Does Understanding Look Like?
Understanding promotes the spontaneous, personal, and creative application of understanding in dynamic physical and digital environments.
32 Characteristics Of High-Performing Classrooms
We’ve created the following 32 characteristics of high-performing classrooms to help you spot the opportunities for growth in your teaching.
The Real Problem With Multiple-Choice Questions
The problem with multiple-choice questions isn’t assessment design as much as it is function and tone–and these things matter.
Cognitive Transfer: 14 Ways Students Can Transfer Knowledge
Understanding the value of information is the core of transfer. These categories include 14 ways students can transfer knowledge.
12 Questions To Help Students See Themselves As Thinkers
Self-knowledge is formed through metacognition and basic epistemology. Here are 12 questions to help students see themselves as thinkers.
Why All Ed Reform Fails
Truth be told, students are geniuses with technology. Born hackers. And of course they are better than teachers. They’re digital natives.