by Terry Heick In a profession increasingly full of angst and positioning and corrective policy, there are few ideas as easy to get behind as equity. Equal. Equality. Equity. Equilibrium. Equate. These are all fine ideas—each tidy and whole, implying their own kind of justice while connotating the precision of mathematics. Level. Same. Twin. Each [...]read moreA New Definition For Equity In Education
by Terry Heick While I often talk about ‘scale’ as one of the primary challenges in education–and have also wondered about curriculum, too–a more subversive concept constantly at play throughout education is tone. As an ‘English’ teacher, I always explained tone to students as a kind of ‘attitude’ that can be expressed in a variety of [...]read more20 Words That Can Change How Students Think
by Terry Heick Grading problems are one of the most urgent bugaboos of good teaching. Grading can take an extraordinary amount of time. It can also demoralize students, get them in trouble at home, or keep them from getting into a certain college. It can demoralize teachers, too. If half the class is failing, any [...]read moreHow I Eliminated (Almost) All Grading Problems In My Classroom
Critical thinking is the ongoing application of unbiased analysis in pursuit of objective truth. Although its name implies criticism, critical thinking is actually closer to ‘truth judgment‘ based on withholding judgments while evaluating existing and emerging data to form more accurate conclusions. Critical thinking is an ongoing process emphasizing the fluid and continued interpretation of [...]read more8 Of The Most Important Critical Thinking Skills –
by Terry Heick Education is a series of learning experiences informed by policy, and actuated by teachers. Policy, by its very nature, is sweeping and ambitious. It is designed to work on various scales, is well-intentioned, and often difficult to fault on paper. The teachers aren’t really much different. They are ambitious, designed to work on [...]read moreTo Truly Improve Learning, Schools Should Stop Trying So Hard
by Terry Heick My wife is a schoolteacher, and recently I’ve been listening to her online meetings. And there have been a lot of them. It’s July 2024 and a week or three from the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year in the United States depending on your local school district’s schedule. Yesterday, I was [...]read more8 Strategies Your Teaching More Enjoyable This Year –
by Terry Heick It’s possible that there is no time in the history of education that our systems of educating have been so out of touch with the communities. Growing populations, shifting communities, and increasingly inwardly-focused schools all play a role. In light of the access of modern technology, social media, and new learning models [...]read moreHow To Connect Schools And Communities
by Terry Heick Phonemic awareness is knowing that certain letters make certain sounds. Phonemic awareness is knowing that sounds can blend together in predictable and unpredictable ways. Phonemic awareness is about loving the sounds that letters can make, then noticing common patterns across symbols, media, and languages. Phonemic awareness makes decoding possible. Decoding is being [...]read moreThe Relationship Between Reading And Critical Literacy
by Terry Heick Quality—you know what it is, yet you don’t know what it is. But that’s self-contradictory. But some things are better than others, that is, they have more quality. But when you try to say what the quality is, apart from the things that have it, it all goes poof! There’s nothing to [...]read moreTeaching Students To See Quality
by Terry Heick Having gone on for decades now, discussions around the idea of ed reform are a bit tired. They seem pointless. Exhausting. A waste of time and creative bandwidth. Bottom-up change is exhausting and top-down change is exhausting for entirely different reasons. Rather than state or federal policy, make schools and communities accountable [...]read moreThe Simplest Way To Change Education