The Educator's Notebook

featured articles

Six Characteristics Of Effective Improvement Routines In Schools
Kappan - 3/22/21

“Because of their complexity, just getting such routines off the ground can seem like a victory in itself, but we cannot emphasize strongly enough how important it is that improvement routines be employed thoughtfully, and that everyone involved has a shared understanding of their purpose. It is important that routines run smoothly, but this is not the primary goal. Ultimately, the point must be to build educators’ capacity to deliver consistent, high-quality instruction to all students across all classrooms.”
The Narrative Of Learning Loss Is Unhelpful. It May Not Matter.
Atlantic - 3/20/21

“If students know that teachers value and believe in them, no matter what they have gone through over the past year, educators can create a classroom environment where high expectations are the norm. When students feel empowered, they care more and work harder. Next time you hear the phrase learning loss, think about whether we really want to define our students by their deficits instead of their potential.”

assessment

Try Co-Constructing Success Criteria With Students
Cult of Pedagogy - 4/4/21
Three Thoughts On Improving Assessment
Edutopia - 11/23/20

character

On Polymaths
Commentary - 4/1/21

cognitive science

“The Weird Science Of Loneliness And Our Brains”
Wired - 3/30/21

creativity

“Adding Is Favoured Over Subtracting In Problem Solving”
Nature - 4/7/21
Some Art Is Centrifugal (Spins You To Other Art), Some Is Centripetal
Austin Kleon - 3/29/21
On The Importance Of Subtraction
Austin Kleon - 12/1/15

curriculum

On The Essential Mix Of Poetry, Business, And The Arts
Conversations With Tyler - 4/7/21
Should Wellness, DEI, Empathy, and Citizenship Be At The Center, Not The Periphery?
Next Gen Learning - 4/1/21

“For the vast majority of schools, the four themes I have focused on here have not previously risen to the level of must-achieve outcomes. They live in our mission statements, but they have been lost amongst all of the other competing, important, and growing expectations that are placed upon our schools. Are skills like empathy and staying well as critical to long-term learning as are literacy and numeracy?”

diversity/inclusion

What are Neopronouns?
New York Times - 4/8/21
Cancel: “From A Black-Culture Punchline To White Grievance Watchword”
Washington Post - 4/2/21

early childhood

On The Benefits Of Pre-K
Hechinger Report - 4/1/21

higher ed

Cooper Union Aims To Be Tuition Free Again By 2029
ArtNet - 4/1/21
Mills College In San Francisco To Close
EdSource - 3/17/21

“Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges, a group of 656 schools including Mills, said he anticipated “there might be a small increase in the number of colleges that close in the coming year” because of issues exacerbated by the pandemic. But he said he does not expect “an epidemic of colleges going over the cliff.” The number of small colleges closing or merging per year have varied between zero and 10 annually over the past couple of decades, even during the Great Recession, he noted.”

humanities

More From Forbes On The Value Of The Humanities
Forbes - 4/6/21
“The Case Against Shakespeare”
The Walrus - 3/31/21

“Although I think Shakespeare’s plays should be curtailed, students shouldn’t totally miss out. Managing a work is something they can be proud of, and it gives them a taste of one of the finest writers in the language. But I’d save it for their senior year, when they have more under their belts.”
A Meditation On The Loss Of Place (Via Shakespeare) Since Moving Online
Dallas News - 3/28/21

“Arendt’s imagined scenario reminds me of a scene in “The Tempest,” where Ariel deceives the shipwrecked crew with a mirage-like banquet on a table before making the banquet vanish. It’s “a quaint device,” as the Folio’s stage directions term it; a trick. But the trick exposes how vulnerable we feel without something in common between us: a book, a stage, a table, a classroom, a sanctuary all provide what philosopher Ivan Illich called “tools for conviviality.” They sustain a focal point for practiced attention, where making of the highest human kind can take place.”
On The Relevance Of Milton’s Poetry To Today’s Political Landscape
Yale - 3/17/21

language

“How Are Languages Formed?”
THE Conversation - 4/6/21

leadership

Strategic Design Steps For Schools Shaping Their Future
Global Online Academy - 4/8/21
“How Principals Affect Students And Schools”
Wallace Foundation - 2/1/21

“Effective principals orient their practice toward instructionally focused interactions with teachers, building a productive school climate, facilitating collaboration and professional learning communities, and strategic personnel and resource management processes.”

pedagogy

What Changes From The Pandemic Are Worth Keeping?
Chronicle of Higher Education - 4/1/21
5 Ways To Foster Well-Being And Resilience In The Classroom
ASCD - 3/9/21
The Daily Dedication: A Ritual For Building Trust And Community In Class
Edutopia - 1/8/21
“A Few Ideas For Dealing With Late Work”
Cult of Pedagogy - 8/4/19

reading/writing

How To Grow As A Storyteller, Without Books
Literary Hub - 4/1/21

“Aspiring writers should, by all means, read books, but those that grow up deprived of literature, in the absence of books due to wars, exile, and poverty, should not lose heart. They can find other ways to garner ideas and build their storytelling techniques. They could learn to read—with the same curiosity and intensity given to books— images and photographs, rivers, music, seas, and trees, read the history in facades of buildings and the flower arrangements in cemeteries… The street is a library, people are books.”

social media

What Is Clubhouse, The Audio-Only Social App?
Wired - 3/17/21

stem

The Muon: The Tiny Particle That Is Changing Nuclear Physics
New York Times - 4/7/21
“Turing Award Goes to Creators of Computer Programming Building Blocks”
New York Times - 3/31/21
Can Stories Help Student Access Math?
Edutopia - 3/26/21
“2 Win Abel Prize for Work That Bridged Math and Computer Science”
New York Times - 3/17/21
Mathematician Makes Connections Between Math And Life
New York Times - 3/6/21

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Machines As Apocalypse, Machines As Salvation, A Discussion
The New Atlantis - 3/1/21

“We once obsessed about how to restrain machines we could not predict or control — now we worry about how to use machines to restrain humans we cannot predict or control. But the old problem hasn’t gone away: How do we know whether the machines will do as we wish?”

tech

VR As Immersion During the Pandemic
The 74 Million - 4/6/21

“With students stuck at home during the pandemic, disengagement from school has turned from concern to danger. But with the challenge of distance learning comes an opportunity for virtual reality to create accessibility and understanding for kids of all demographics, even in the most disadvantaged districts.”
“Virtual Schools To Be Increasingly Common After COVID-19”
Government Technology - 3/24/21
How To Learn From Videos: What Are The Key Skills?
Edutopia - 3/23/21
Four Causes For Zoom Fatigue
Stanford - 1/7/21

workplace

How Can We Foster Well Being On Campus? Interview with Suniya Luthar
REAL Discussion - 4/5/21

“One of the surprises for people is that when you think about fostering resilience, many educators think that means a focus on more positive things in relationships at school. The data say, though, that we need to focus first on minimizing unkindness in the community, for students as well as adults at school.”

other

“Making Music Visible: Singing In Sign [Language]”
New York Times - 4/9/21
New World Record For Classical Music Played On Wine Glasses By A Toy Train
YouTube - 4/5/21
Six Tips For A Successful Summer School Program
Chalkbeat - 3/30/21
Michael Sandel And The Inadequacy Of Meritocracy
Sydney Review of Books - 3/22/21

“For Sandel, and for others in the communitarian tradition, even social liberalism concedes too much to its classical progenitor, reproducing liberalism’s principal error (which is also, historically, its greatest strength) – its emphasis on the individual. For Sandel, our sociality is prior to our individuality, and the way we view work should reflect that fact. Work is not merely a means to an end; it is an irreducible aspect of our humanity in that it allows us to meet what he describes as ‘the fundamental human need to be needed’.”

The Educator's Notebook

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Articles on April 11, 2021

featured articles

assessment

character

cognitive science

creativity

curriculum

diversity/inclusion

early childhood

higher ed

humanities

language

leadership

pedagogy

reading/writing

social media

stem

tech

workplace

other