Category Archives: Teaching Advice

Today I noticed this tweet from TFA: This struck me, instantly, as a very unwise thing to say in a first day of school pep talk.  The link took me to this post by a very good new blogger. Since … Continue reading →

Having written two books of teaching advice, I was invited, a few months ago, to write a short article for Educational Leadership Magazine with the best advice I’d give to new teachers. I decided to focus on common rookie mistakes … Continue reading →

I am writing this post as a favor to the 2011 CMs.  It is not your fault that TFA can justify to themselves that a few hours of student teaching experience with class sizes of 15 or less makes you … Continue reading →

Many people have been commenting that they’d like more helpful teaching advice and fewer angry rants from me.  When I started writing this blog, that was the main point, and most of my earlier posts were just that.  So what … Continue reading →

After my first year of teaching, I developed some ideas to have a more successful second year.  They worked, and I began spreading the word, informally, for the next couple of years.  Then in 1995, I created a workshop about … Continue reading →

I believe that TFA does not think so, and I will use this post to explain what evidence I have for this claim and also speculate why that choose to underestimate you in this way. When I was growing up … Continue reading →

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in trying to get TFA to improve that this blog might get a bit negative.  I forget that as one of the best math teachers in the country, I could sometimes use this as … Continue reading →

Many CMs have already passed their first days, and I’ve been reading some posts and cringing a bit when I read about how new teachers spend a lot of time right away with their ‘setting big goals’ / ‘investment’ speech. … Continue reading →