Instruction

A List of What They Don’t Teach You in School, According to Neil Gaiman

The famed author of Coraline offers his terse and insightful observations on what gets taught in school. And what doesn’t.…

My 41 Word Rationale for Teaching Stories

When teacher Andrea Marshbank recently asked the #engchat hivemind on Twitter what she could say to students who wanted to know…

Teaching is Trash. No, Really. It Is and That’s Wonderful. Watch this Guy!

Every teacher should start what they are doing right now and watch this Ted talk by Arvind Gupta. Gupta demonstrates how…

Teachers, Your Students Are Your Greatest Resources. Watch this Powerful Talk…by a Kid.

Too often, we position teachers in ways that divide them from their students. Teachers are the adults; students are the…

Let Joey Tribbiani Teach You a Little Something about Language and Learning

My family was away recently, which meant: Friends binge-watching! I’m neither proud nor ashamed, just uncharacteristically content. As I’ve shared…

How to Turn Homework into a Game So Students Want to Do It

While working with a middle school literacy coach recently, we talked about how to make homework more meaningful to their…

A Soldier’s Journey from the Battlefield to the Kindergarten Classroom

Too often, we only hear teachers’ stories when there is tragedy or strife or politics on the line. We need…

One Piece of Advice for Any Teacher, Anywhere

I work with lots of teachers and I am in lots of schools. It occurred to me not so long…

What Do We Know about Literacy in the Content-Areas? Eavesdrop on These Experts to Find Out.

Literacy belongs to all teachers, regardless of the grade and subject you teach. Still, it can be challenging to understand…

An Opera Singer Shares His Secret to Learning Languages

So much of learning and teaching occurs through language. The more we understand the contours of languages–not just traditional languages…

Forget What You Know About “Correct” English. It Never Really Existed. Here’s Why.

Imagine for a moment that what you think you know about things like grammar and correctness of language is actually…

Language Evolved To Ensure Human Beings Cooperated, And We Might Be Screwed

Watch biologist Mark Pagel explain why humans’ capacity for “cumulative cultural adaptation” or social learning is what makes us so…

What Makes Teacher Professional Development Effective

Check out this fantastic resource for school leaders and teacher educators. The Learning Policy Institute, Stanford professor Linda Darling-Hammond’s second…

What Underfunding Schools Looks Like

Kudos to the NYTimes for crowdsourcing examples of what underfunding schools looks like. When you hear fast comparisons between US…

The Adventures of…ENERGY

This project combines the timelessness of a Rube Goldberg machine with the novelty of fidget spinners. Watch it a few…

Why to Stop What You Are Doing And Watch this Education Film (in French, but still…it has subtitles)

If you have never seen this gorgeous documentary about an elementary school teacher in a little school in rural France,…