Teachers’ Cup of Coffee

Students are different, and that is an understatement. But we also know more about how brains work than ever before. Let's apply what we know from brain science—and what we observe social media doing—to enhance student learning in our classrooms.

Shout out to Brian Goodwin for his work on this topic.

This time of year, we can wonder if kids learned anything LAST year...

But the fact is, if we do not teach in a way that leads to deep learning, it's possible they don't remember much.  In this episode, I share 3 tricks we can use in our planning and teaching to ensure that students practice deep learning in our classroom.  Ten minutes could change the learning your students experience this year!

In this episode, we discuss the racism continuum and how to teach it to students.  Let's give racism a language and a framework for kids to understand.  

This is episode 2 in our series focused on equipping schools and educators with concrete, anti-racist practices!

Schools have come a long way in how they address bullying.  More work can be done, but progress has definitely been made.  What about racism?  Have schools improved their prevention and elimination of racism?  I would argue, not really.  And thus, this is our opening episode in a series dedicated to equipping schools and educators with concrete ways to implement anti-racist practices.  Come along for the journey!

Drawing is a powerful way to improve teaching, learning, and assessment.  It seems so simple on the surface, but it actually leads to a lot of brain work and deepening of learning.  In under 10 minutes, we go over the why/how/what of bringing drawing into our classrooms.

Check out this video and consider showing it to your students before you incorporate this new strategy:

https://www.edutopia.org/video/powerful-effects-drawing-learning

In a few weeks, many of us will be responding to students who have experienced trauma.  Let's open our school year using some simple proactive measures to support challenging students right from the jump!

Teacher retention and teacher well-being are pretty much at a crisis level.  What can we do?!!  How can teachers stay sane enough to continue in the profession?  I bring in some experts for ideas.  

https://www.corcreativepartners.com/

Academic safety allows students to ask questions, take risks, and grapple with challenging material.  How can we make sure that students in our classrooms feel academically safe?  

Apathy, disrespect, and disruption: The Big 3.

How can we deal with these behaviors in a way that keeps us sane, is trauma-informed, and helps kids regulate?

This year has to be better.  But it's on us to find the joy in our jobs.  Here's four easy steps to bringing it back. (Who knew that the Dalai Lama could teach us so much about schools?!)