“The job of teaching is not just to provide something worth noticing, but to protect students from everything that isn’t.”

Interesting article by @carlhendrick.substack.com

substack.com/@carlhendric...

1) Talk with the student to understand the problem and help them plan a next step
2) Communicate early with parents. Sometimes a phone call or an email is enough. Other times, it's best to skip the back-and-forth and invite them in for a meeting.

This is why follow-up and strong school-home communication matter so much. When a student isn't doing the work, teachers need to act quickly and decisively.

It’s not our fault when a student chooses not to work. But it is our responsibility to respond when that happens. If a student fails to meet an expectation and we do nothing to address it, we are sending a pretty clear message: that a child’s responsibility to engage as a student is optional.

NEW: Use white boards for flexible retrieval practice! They are engaging and effective for learning, with flexibility for question prompts and student responses. Read tips by cognitive scientist Dr. Janell Blunt for this no-prep strategy. www.retrievalpractice.org/strategies/w... #EduSky

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The gift of confidence. #confidence

10 Things: The essentials of your pedagogical toolkit. teacherhead.com/2023/08/31/1...

This means we need to be vigilant about our own internal dialogue. Do we expect certain students to misbehave? Are we holding onto frustration from the day before?

The expectations we carry, whether we realize it or not, shape our interactions with students.

Our brains are naturally wired to notice what’s wrong. We automatically see the student who is off task or acting out. It takes a conscious, deliberate effort to notice and reinforce what’s going well.

If we don’t intentionally look for positive behavior, we risk missing it altogether.

We can’t feign ignorance this time. We knew what we were signing up for after the first four years.

Anyone who has ever been a teacher immediately recognizes the language and tone used by schoolyard bullies. It sends shivers down my spine when I hear this kind of language used in a school hallway, much less the Oval Office. We should all be ashamed of ourselves for allowing this to happen.

Normalizing error is essential to effective teaching. My most successful years of teaching were ones in which my students were not just comfortable taking risks, but enjoyed the practice of analyzing their errors - almost like solving a puzzle. Achieve this, and student growth = 📈
#edusky #tlac

Making Retrieval Practice Actually Work - @carlhendrick.substack.com #teacher #retrievalpractice carlhendrick.substack.com/p/making-ret...

CFUs are formative assessments that occur during instruction to see if students are following the lesson.
Retrieval Practice employs strategies used after the lesson by asking students to recall information from memory.

CFUs ensure students are tracking. Retrieval Practice builds long-term memory.

One challenge I’m seeing when working with teachers new to retrieval practice: understanding the difference between retrieval practice and checking for understanding.

Teacher burnout is real. That’s why we’ve prioritized building in a 3- or 4-day weekend into each month of our school calendar. I’m off to Marrakech. I know our teachers will be ready to tackle next week with renewed energy (and put some retrieval practice techniques to good use)!
#edusky

In our faculty meeting today, we discussed retrieval practice and the counter-intuitive concept that one must forget in order to learn. We shared Tom Sherrignton’s @teacherhead.bsky.social blog post and asked teachers to choose a few strategies to focus on in the coming weeks.
bit.ly/3CCUdwR

Is it helpful to think about Cognitive Load Theory as a heuristic?

This was just one question from our discussion with @dylanwiliam.bsky.social, @olicav.bsky.social, @drchendrick.bsky.social, and @cbokhove.bsky.social, which is available in full at the link in the reply. youtu.be/vOgrnJZiXho

I’m looking forward to attending these FREE webinars later this month - particularly learning more about the importance of retrieval practice in strengthening learning.

Break up your lessons and promote better learning!