Thirty-five years ago when I first began working with PLS 3rd Learning,  founder Joseph Hasenstab frequently challenged educators to consider the impact of classroom studies compared to the impact of extra- curricular activities on students success in life. Joe suggested that classrooms should look more like after school sports and clubs as students learned more “life […]

I was asked to facilitate a session with school leadership teams examining the status of their progress with their school improvement plans. Taking a measure in January is great as there is still time for adjustments to impact outcomes. I began by having the teams review the student achievement goals and the degree that the […]

I had the opportunity to spend a day this week with a small group of educators at a school in Europe who are focusing on providing quality learning for gifted students, many of whom have not had previous positive school learning experiences. Over several hours we examined learning effort, ability, grit, perseverance and motivation. As […]

In many of my presentations and work sessions I discuss the importance of teaching as a “team sport’ and  the critical role of collegiality in teaching. Often if I ask participants to assess the current degree of team, I’ll get a comment like this: Our department is a strong team. We are always sharing. Or […]

The September 2013 issue of Educational Leadership, titled Resilience and Learning, has several thought provoking articles. Two of them connected with the work I am doing with a few districts examining grading, motivation, and engagement. A Conversation with Angela Lee Duckworth (pages 14-20) explores the significance of grit (earlier blog).  She states that “grit and […]

As this school year has gotten underway I have been working in several systems with principals and instructional coaches to prepare their plans for the professional learning of staff that is focused on increased student achievement. Sometimes this work produced a principal/ coach partnership laying out the roles that each would take, resources that might […]