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Why we, a civil rights leader and a philanthropist, are on a mission to transform education
This article appeared in the Opinion section of Fox News on 3/15/2023. In 2020, there were over 2 million people in the United States between the ages of 16 and 24 who had dropped out of high school. In 1954, Bob Woodson... Read More
Resource Spotlight: Scaffolding Socrates
The summer before I started teaching, I had a romanticized vision of class discussion. My dream class looked like my AP English class when I was in 12th grade: we devoured literature and led lively small group discussions, while our... Read More
Three Ways To Start Making Skills The Focus
Over the last couple of months I posted about the skills every high school student needs and the value of making skills the focus in the classroom (skills don't have to be "extra"!). Now that you’re familiar with the skills we... Read More
Resource Spotlight: Active Learning, A La Carte
When I think of professional development, I am hit with a visceral memory from my second year teaching. I had just walked back into my too-cold classroom with a stack of handouts from a PD session. In ten minutes my freshmen were... Read More
The Choice is Yours
Giving students options is a powerful way to engage students through active learning. However, just hearing the word “options” can set some of us into a panic, especially if we are required to closely follow a scope and sequence... Read More
Engagement on the Rise
If you were an elementary school kid in the 90’s, you might remember the quiet, strategic thinking needed for an electrifying game of Heads Up, 7 Up! Head down on the desk with your eyes squeezed shut and one thumb in the air,... Read More
Skills Don’t Have To Be “Extra”
Years ago I worked in a middle school in Chicago that had a really incredible media arts program. Professional filmmakers, roboticists, musicians, and game designers primarily ran the program through after school clubs, elective... Read More
AI Can Save Education From Itself
This article appeared in the Opinion section of the Wall Street Journal on 1/23/2023. ChatGPT, the new artificial-intelligence technology created by Open AI, has many worrying about the future of education. The two largest... Read More