A Teacher Who Defied the Odds is Helping his Scholars do the Same
Meet Donavan Jackson, a middle school teacher at Thomasboro Academy in Charlotte, North Carolina. “I was once in their shoes and I’m breaking the cycle with my own family.” Donavan Jackson, a product of the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District, is now working hard as a teacher to help his scholars in the same district from […]
An Educator’s Survival Checklist: Students with Trauma
I am not a clinical or licensed mental health professional, but I have been in low-performing classrooms as a teacher, coach, school leader, and consultant long enough to recognize one critical thing. In the lives of many students in our high-needs schools, trauma exists and it impacts teaching and learning daily. I know I am […]
The Power of Restorative Conversations
Picture this… Student gets upset. Teacher kicks student out of the classroom. Student receives disciplinary action from the teacher. Student enters the classroom the next day and the cycle repeats itself all over again. This incident is typical in schools across America, and for students of color and males, in particular, the percentage of disciplinary incidents […]
Featured Educator: Meet 61-year old Bill Heaning, first-year teacher in Syracuse City Schools
“I love the hardest ones the most.” Those are the words of Bill Heaning, a teacher that happens to be 61-years young in the Syracuse City School District. Bill was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York in the 70’s. His mother passed away when he was 12-years old from Lou Gehrig’s disease, and his […]
Do No-Nonsense Nurturers say Please and Thank You? Absolutely!
All of the No-Nonsense Nurturers I know, and I know many, use please and thank you in their classrooms often. At CT3, we encourage and coach teachers to model the use of mainstream cultural norms—which include please and thank you amongst others. We also encourage teachers to use please and thank you when communicating to […]
Should we teach students to track the speaker?
Teachers often insist that it doesn’t matter if the student is tracking or looking at the speaker. “I can listen and not look at you,” are the words that made me stop and pause. The 25-year veteran teacher was absolutely right. She could listen without looking at me, as we were only 12 inches apart. […]
The Food Network…Effective Teacher PD?
As a busy mom with a full time job that requires travel, I hardly have time to watch much television, but when I do, it’s always the Food Network. In fact, one of our favorite “Family Friday Fun Night” activities is for our kids to snuggle in bed with us and watch the fast paced […]
Put Growth Mindset into Practice via Precise Directions
“What looks like resistance, is often lack of clarity.” – Chip and Dan Heath Carol Dweck’s (2012) concept of growth mindset is all the rage in education these days. In case you aren’t familiar with it, the concept of growth mindset starts with the educator holding the positive presupposition that everyone wants to and can […]
Relationship Management 101: “Your students don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
There are few statements that so simply and succinctly communicate the critical role that a teacher’s investment in their students plays in securing trust and cooperation. Students can and will put forth their best effort to meet and/or exceed whatever expectations we clearly establish as long as they believe that we truly value and care […]
Record Yourself to Improve Your Practice
by Joe Gaston. Originally posted on Edutopia.org. “I took a speech class one semester when I was in undergraduate school. For our first assignment we had to give a short speech that the teacher videotaped. Our extended assignment was to watch the recording and critique our performance. That proved to be a very eye-opening experience […]
