Whenever I feel compelled to give unsolicited advice to teachers new to the profession, I give the following three suggestions: Stay curious. Always be willing to learn new things. Stay humble. Always be willing to unlearn things you thought were true, but aren’t. Begin each day with a reminder to yourself that you really, really […]
Updated 5/6/2025: Added information about recent NCTQ report. Teachers matter. Good teaching matters. In this week of Teacher Appreciation, I am reminded of an experience many years ago… After school one day, I wandered into the classroom of a new teacher to check how her day went. I saw this on her chalkboard… After […]
Recently, I have found myself vociferously advocating for more teachers to use number disks when teaching the four operations of whole numbers: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Clearly my excitement for number disks has not yet rubbed off onto all the teachers I work with, because today I received the following question: Why are disks […]
I asked my class this question and the responses were brutally honest. The children explained that while they interacted with the English working wall, with its success ladders and word banks, the maths wall was “a bit rubbish”. Does this sound intriguing? Click the link to read the article on how to turn your classroom […]
Does the title pique your interest? Or does it just make you want to move on to another blog? Give me just a moment to share a simple idea that may improve your students’ achievement dramatically! Let’s begin with a golfing analogy: The typical golfer will practice by going to the range, grab a club, […]