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One of my most important tasks as a teacher is to prevent unnecessary frustration.
That implies that some frustration is necessary, which is true. But the feeling of losing ground (“I could do this perfectly yesterday, I swear!”) can be avoided.
It’s totally normal to have a warmup or review phase in any activity. I teach my students to do this in a systematic way that we call The Undertow. It provides a strong foundation for successful practice and progress. Here’s how it works:
Read MoreMany parents are faced with the impossible task of being parent, teacher, and employee, all at the same time. Mercifully, the “teacher” role is soon to end, but the overwhelm has taken its toll already.
Whenever there are two or more things to do at once, we might bounce, like a human pinball, back and forth from one to the other. Which one is the loudest? Which one is the most insistent? Which one is the whiniest? With so many pings and people vying for our attention at any given moment, we quickly become overloaded. How can we possibly function?
Read MoreMy sister, a mother of three, dazzled the crowd in the school talent show, accompanying her daughters’ singing on cup percussion.
No one had known she possessed this skill, and their minds were blown. “You’re so talented!” they exclaimed.
She shrugged. “I spent a few hours learning it.”
My sister’s real accomplishment was to believe she could accomplish what she set out to do, and then to follow through by putting in the necessary time. Anyone could; not everyone does.
Read MoreBecause we don’t give grades, it might appear that we are no longer measuring or scoring students.
On the contrary, we’re measuring and scoring all the time – and more importantly, teaching our students to measure and score themselves. “Rulerless” does not mean that we don’t measure anything. It means, rather, that we measure according to our own criteria, based on the results we are seeking. As we do so, we can gather highly useful, actionable data about the performance our students and ourselves as teachers. This data not meant to rate or rank anyone. It’s meant to help us become who we want to be.
Read MoreImagine that everything your child knows and can do can be represented by nested rings.
The violet center represents that which your child has mastered.
The red outer ring represents skills and knowledge that your child has very little exposure to.
Too often, the learning process requires students to spend the majority of their time on shaky ground:
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