You’ve probably heard the word teacherpreneur before, and you’ve probably heard a wide variety of definitions as well. My personal definition is “an educator who has a passion for finding opportunities to make a difference, share their knowledge and expertise, and innovate the world of education to increase student success.” If you’re anything like me, you might have business ideas … Read More
3 Reasons Educational Initiatives Fail
Whether it’s Mastery Learning, open schedules, maker-spaces, or problem-based learning, innovative instructional methods and educational initiatives tend to work amazingly well in some cases, but fall flat in others. Regardless of the initiative we’re talking about, there is most likely robust research to back up its effectiveness and legitimacy. So why do they fail? Working with teachers, schools, and districts all over, we have found … Read More
Why Student Success Isn’t A Competition
Teaching Should not be “Survival of The Fittest” As a teacher, it can be hard to escape the political aspects of the job. As a mentor of mine once cleverly stated: “Choosing a career in education is choosing a career in politics.” These politics are not making our profession any easier, and they tend to increase pressure on teachers to produce … Read More
Stop Teaching to The Middle
A Broken System. This is something that I’ve heard a lot of college professors utter when talking about lesson planning or unit design: “teach to the middle.” This idea makes sense in a more traditional lecture based instructional model, but fails to meet the needs of the modern student. This also only makes sense if we want to continue destroying … Read More
Stop Hoping For Better Students and Focus on Better Teaching In Your Classroom
Quit Complaining About “These Kids.” Seriously, stop it. We spend a lot of our days visiting districts, observing classrooms, and talking with teachers, and I’m starting to hear something more often than I should. I keep hearing teachers say things a long the lines of: “This would work, but ‘these kids’ can’t do it…next year will be better.” I’ve had … Read More