Walk with me for a minute. Imagine you go door-to-door in your school building and ask twenty teachers a simple question: “What are the core components of quality, high level, daily Tier 1 learning?” Would you hear the same answer twenty times? Or would you collect twenty different versions of “it depends”? If you aren’t […]
Making Tier 1 a Game Worth Playing Read More »
I love a good magic trick. Not the rabbit-in-a-hat kind, the kind where a room of thirty suddenly feels like fifteen and no one left. No smoke. No mirrors. Just clarity. When the task is crystal clear and kids can picture what success looks like, something wild happens: about three quarters of them take the
Creating Success with Success Criteria Read More »
A guarantee is different from a hope. Hope is silent and private; a guarantee is visible and shared in public. Parents don’t send learners to us so they can hope for learning to happen. They send them because learning is the job, and the daily, core Tier 1 experience every single learner receives from us
Guaranteeing Tier 1: The Promise We Keep in Public Read More »
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: in schools, we’re always doing one of two things. We’re making excuses for why learning isn’t happening at the level we want. Or we’re making progress to ensure it does. It can’t be both. Excuses soothe. Progress stings a little, then gets better. The difference isn’t the kids, the calendar, or
Making Excuses or Making Progress? Read More »
Content no longer depends on us. A learner with a phone can summon definitions, demonstrations, and endless commentary before the bell. If our value is measured by how efficiently we deliver information, we are competing with the internet, and we will always lose. What endures, however, is the kind of learning that is durable, usable,
Learning Doesn’t Come From “From Us.” It Happens “Because of Us.” Read More »
Imagine if you will: You’re in the middle of a staff meeting, droning on about curriculum updates, and suddenly you catch yourself zoning out, scrolling through your phone under the table, or whispering to the colleague next to you about weekend plans. Sound familiar? Now flip that script to your classroom, where a room full
Stop Teaching and Design Learning to Reduce Misbehaviors Read More »
A learner gets back a quiz with 86% stamped at the top. Eyes scan for red marks, shoulders shrug, paper folds into a binder pocket or balled up and tossed into the trach can. End of story. But where’s the learning story? What did they understand? Where did the wheels wobble? What’s the very next
What Does an 86% Really Tell a Learner? Read More »
The start of the school year has a way of stirring something in us. The floors shine like possibility. The dry erase boards are blank but heavy with hope. Fresh rosters. New names. Maybe even a couple of new teammates. But there’s one more thing showing up with us in the room this year. It’s
This Year: Decide, Design & Deploy… Daily Read More »
There’s a difference between assigning work and designing learning. You feel it the second you walk into a classroom humming with energy, where the noise isn’t chaos. It’s cognition. Where learners aren’t just finishing tasks. They’re doing the work of learning. We’ve all stood in front of a class and handed out something to be
Tasks That Teach: Why Designing for Learning Matters More Than Assigning for Grades Read More »
Let’s be honest. We’ve been lifting the weight of learner learning like it’s ours to carry. Dragging it from the front of the room to the back, holding it up over our heads while simultaneously writing objectives on the board, answering emails, updating our gradebook, and reminding Dylan for the 47th time to “get started.”
The Power of Progressive Success Criteria Read More »
