This morning I decided to tune into the House select committee testimony on the January 6th capitol insurrection, despite avoiding much of the news about the insurrection over the last 6 months. I surprised myself with how deeply moved I was by the testimony I heard from the four police officers on their experiences. All…
Tag: teaching
Teaching Media Literacy
Every year in the course of my teaching I discover that students have been duped by a conspiracy theory or misinformation, typically through social media. From 9/11 conspiracy theories to QAnon and #SaveTheChildren people are susceptible to misinformation and disinformation that alters their relationship to reality. The explosive rise of the internet and various social…
Teaching Writing
How did you learn to read and write? Can you tell a story about your literacy? This is a question I ask my students at the start of each year. Every year, I am struck by the diversity of student responses, as well as the varying levels of enthusiasm for both skills. My own memories…
Professional Development
Most of the teachers I met in Chicago were frustrated with a great deal of the professional development provided to them by the district and in their schools. I suspect this sentiment is shared in a lot of settings and probably outside of teaching as well with required professional learning, or human resources modules for…
Adolescent Development and Technology
Back when I was doing my Masters in Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I took a couple of classes in adolescent psychology. At the time, I didn’t find them all that useful, as many of the interesting and useful insights were duplicated in a wonderful class in the learning sciences which was…
Artificial Intelligence in Social Studies
Alongside climate change, artificial intelligence seems likely to have one of the most substantial impacts on human life over the next 20-30 years. However, outside of computer science classes, artificial intelligence is rarely addressed at the secondary school level. There are obvious benefits to teaching programming and algorithm thinking to high school students, but it…
The Learning of School Year 20/21
At the start of school year 20/21, I told that it would be unlike any in history, and suggested they consider writing a journal of their experiences. Coming off of the COVID-altered 19/20 school year, I had low expectations for remote learning, but the year went better than expected. Although I’m not sure how many…
Scaffolding for Student Success
Teachers talk a lot about scaffolding for student success, but teachers understand scaffolding in different ways. In my view, good scaffolds allow students to access material, ideas, and skills they might not otherwise have the skills or knowledge to access. However, scaffolds can also be an unnecessary crutch that over-structure and overdetermine students’ thinking. Over…
Asking For Help
An interesting trend I am noticing in my students’ final reflections on the year, is that some are mentioning they didn’t ask for help as much as they should have, and they are recommending that future students ask for help when they need it. This is despite my constant refrains that, “the only dumb question…
Powerful Learning Remotely
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my students who were failing remote learning. In the end, as I approach my grading deadline, only six students will fail. That seems like a success relative to the 22 who were in danger of failing two weeks ago, particularly since I saw four of the six…