Born Again | Husband | Father | Assistant Principal @wcpioneers | Former History Teacher | Education Coach | Ed Tech Guy |
McMinnville , TN
Joined November 2007
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Tennessee Firefly reported this week that 103 of 144 comparable Tennessee school districts lost students over the past ten years, while a few fast growing Middle Tennessee districts carried the state total. That hits close to home. A few fewer kids per grade doesn't take away a bus route, a building, or the need for a good teacher. Rural schools have to run what they have mighty well, and I reckon most of them do.
When I walk into a classroom, I'm not hunting for a perfect lesson. I'm looking for two things. Did students pull something out of memory today? And did the teacher check who has it before turning them loose to work alone? Those two habits do more for learning than any fancy slide deck. Look for them this week, and say thank you when you see them.
O is Out Loud Modeling. Think through the task in front of them, step by step, so they can hear how an expert works. T is Try Together. Practice with support and check quick. If fewer than about four in five have it, reteach right then. (3/5)
E is Exercise Independence. Now they do the thinking on their own, with some productive struggle and an older item mixed in. D is Debrief and Check. A short exit check tells you what tomorrow needs before tomorrow gets here. (4/5)
Most schools I know don't have a lesson planning problem. They have a coherence problem. Every new initiative hands teachers another template, and kids feel the difference from one room to the next. Here's the six step structure I built from fourteen years teaching social studies. I call it ROOTED. (1/5)
Warren County went phone free in our schools, and I'm proud of it. But I reckon a phone policy only clears the table. It doesn't set it. Here are five things I've seen teachers do to win back attention once the phones are put away. (1/7)
5. Let them talk to each other before they talk to you. A quick partner share gets every voice in the room working, not just the same three hands that always go up. (6/7)
Friday Share for the Pioneer family. Five things this week: teachers who keep showing up, a student who asked a better question, coffee that still works on a tired morning, a quiet walk after a long day, and grace enough for Monday. Hug your people. GO Pioneers.
Don't Be Boring is still the classroom test I trust. A calm room can be alive. A boring room is a teacher who stopped risking a better question. Both rooms can be effective, but If the only energy left is the bell, fix it this week. Not next unit. This week.
A phone ban is only paper until adults stand behind it. Teachers cannot carry enforcement alone. Leaders set the line. Parents help hold it. Students need a better offer than the scroll. Attention is the first gift a classroom can give.
Every Friday I try to answer three questions before I leave the building. What worked. What did not. What is next. Five lines will do. The point is not a pretty journal. The point is that the week does not close without a look.
What worked should be specific. Not "the kids were good." Name the question a student finally asked. Name the stretch of class where the work got into their hands. If you can name it, you can do it again on purpose.