Lately as I have been coaching teachers, I have noticed something disturbing. Many teachers do not trust themselves. In fact, I believe that we have teacher-proofed teaching so much that now teachers are afraid to teach. Many turn off their brains and simply do what they are told. Just recently, I observed an elementary teacher [...]
Although we originally stayed out of the Common Core conversation for fear that we would look like we were profiteering from this major initiative, many of the schools that we were currently working with asked us for help in making the shift to the Common Core. So we dived into understanding the standards and the [...]
Recently a principal who attended one of our Leading the Common Core trainings lead her entire staff in an activity to help them begin unpacking the Common Core standards for themselves. Here’s part of an email she sent us one week later: “We were able to present the Unpacking the Common Core Standards activity that [...]
Recently, a teacher with whom I was working confessed to me, “Robyn, I cannot work any harder than I am already working. And yet, my kids aren’t making the progress they need to make to pass the AP test. I am so frustrated.” I hear this a lot. Teachers are working as hard as they [...]
One of the foundations of effective rigorous acquisition as well as strong support for struggling students is that teachers activate prior knowledge. Activating prior knowledge not only helps students make connections between what they know already and what they are about to learn, it helps students become mentally engaged in upcoming learning. We’ve been hearing [...]
I first met Stephanie and Gloria when they attended one of our Supporting Struggling Students workshops a few years ago. They loved the idea of creating a proactive intervention plan and took copious notes during the workshop. I didn’t see them again until the following year when they attended one of our Motivating Reluctant Learners [...]
Recently I conducted a workshop in a large school district on rigorous instruction. I was training about 300 teachers so we broke the workshop up into two days. Because I argue that teachers need to reflect more on their own practice, I make it a point to take some time to reflect after each workshop [...]
One of my favorite books is a children’s book called The Big Box by Toni Morrison. It’s a story of three children who, because they make the adults uncomfortable, are placed in a big box full of toys and candy and all the things that kids love but with a door that “only opens one [...]
A while ago McDonalds introduced a burger called the McLean Deluxe. Made from a lean hamburger, it was broiled, not fried and came with a fresh tomato slice and fresh lettuce leaf. It was the virtuous alternative to the high-in-saturated fat Big Mac. On the rare occasions when I ate at McDonalds, I would always [...]
Every August, it starts. The new plans for the year, the resolutions, the excited feeling in the pit of my stomach. August offers the ultimate do-over, the perpetual clean slate. I know the new year officially began January 1, but for me, the new year begins in August. If you are like me at all, [...]
