That Mr. Beast Video - I Have Thoughts

YouTube celebrity Mr. Beast dropped a video this week that has EduTwitter all . . . well atwitter. He isn't the first one to do this. I remember being required to watch and respond to a video posted by a punk in a hoodie telling us that knowledge didn't matter in the age of Google about 15 years ago.  That one fizzled quickly, but this one is different for a number of reasons. I have thoughts - lots of them, so get some tea and settle in.

First, let's address who Mr. Beast is. When I called him a YouTube celebrity, I was understating it.  At 468 million, he has the most subscribers of any channel on the site, and he has the third most followed TikTok account. He is especially popular with high school boys because much of his content consists of the stunts and challenges they enjoy; many of his challenges are philanthropic, so their parents don't mind that they watch him. He's been posting for over 20 years, which is longevity in any field, but is insanely long for the internet world. All of that only matters in this discussion because his reach is wide, and his influence is high. When he speaks, his followers listen. 

So last week, he decided to use his immense platform to criticize educators. I'm not saying there is nothing to criticize - far from it. Ask any teacher what could be better in education, and they could give you a TED talk without preparation. 

But Mr. Beast is an outsider. He graduated from a small Christian school in NC and then dropped out of college in 2018 to study virality - what makes a video spread like wildfire - on his own.  He is public about his lack of desire to have children. So, when he speaks about education, he speaks as someone who has not been inside of a classroom in almost a decade. Someone pointed out that he has built ten schools, and, to his credit that is true. But it's not the same as knowing something about education. A person who builds a church doesn't know how to be its pastor.

His basic premise is that teaching hasn't changed in over a hundred years.  "Why," he asks, "are we still being taught the way our parents were taught when everything else has moved on?" He claims that when he was in school, a teacher just read out of a textbook. He then goes on to suggest that kid would be better taught by videos because a lot of complex information can be delivered in a short period of time. 

I want to be as kind as I can to Mr. Beast because I think he was probably well intentioned, but he was wrong about so many things in such a short video. Let me unpack a few things here:

1. Your kids are not being taught the same way your parents were. They just aren't. I taught for 25 years (including ALL of the ones when Mr. Beast was in school) in three different schools, both public and private, and education changed dramatically during that time - some changes were for good and some were not. As Tom Bennett said, "Any parent who has helped their kids with their math homework recently knows that kids are not being taught the same way they were." 

Tech access alone has changed things; when I began my career, I made an appointment to take my kids to the computer lab to use Google for research. By the end of my career, AI was making its push. And, I promise you Mr. Beast's parents weren't using either of those things when they were in school. There were also multiple swings in education philosophy during the 25 years I taught. The pendulum swung from STEM focused to arts integration in every class, from explicit rubrics to free form exploration, from phonics to whole language and back to phonics again.  

Mr. Beast MAY have a had a teacher who read aloud from a textbook. He was in a tiny school in NC, which currently has an enrollment of 287 in K-12; so ten years ago, they may not have had the resources to do any more than that. Since he is using a sample size of ONE, it would be hard to say that applies to the whole field. 

2. Tech has changed. Brains have not. One of my favorite responses to the Mr. Beast video addressed a basic fact he clearly doesn't know (maybe he would if he hadn't dropped out of college). The way brains learn doesn't change with the technology of the world. 

"There is no neurological reason we should be taught differently. Our brains work exactly the same way our grandparents' brains did." While neuroplasticity is real, it creates only minor differences in our brains - strengthening some connections while weakening others. It does not change the basic architecture of our brains. We all learn basically the same way - encoding through our senses, spaced retrieval coupled with feedback, rinse and repeat as needed. The encoding may come from a variety of sources, from live teacher to video to book to podcast, none of it sticks without the retrieval and feedback process (more on that in the next point). 

Change is often good, but not ALL change is good. A change that makes the picture on your TV better is good; but it is still basically TV - we aren't going to say we need television reform and dramatically change the way we film just to say we have changed with the times. 

The truth is that we would likely be better off if we were learning more like our parents learned. The push for discovery learning turned out to work against the brain rather than with it. Some were successful, but the most disadvantaged kids just became more disadvantaged because we overwhelmed their working memories. Projects and labs are great, but they are reinforcements for explicit teaching, not replacements.  

3. No, you cannot absorb and retain the information from a video in 20 minutes.  One of the points made by Mr. Beast is that there are a lot of high quality videos that we can use for learning. He's not wrong about that part. He references Mark Rober, but there are many good sources - Kahn Academy, Veritasium, Crash Course. I have used and loved them all.

But here's where Mr. Beast got it wrong.  He said, "You can learn complex topics in 20 minutes in a way that's engaging, fun, and you retain it." Complex information can be PRESENTED in 20 minutes, and you can CONSUME information in 20 minutes, but you cannot LEARN it in 20 minutes. As I said earlier, there is a cycle of retrieval and feedback that are needed to retain information.  I consume a great deal of content.  I listen to podcasts, read books, read blog posts, and, yes, I watch videos. If I retained all of the information in the things I consume, I could rule the world. But the truth is that most of it passes through my consciousness and then back out. I might remember one very interesting point, especially if I found it interesting enough to tell someone about it the next day (retrieval) and have them find it interesting enough to engage with me in conversation about it (feedback), but I will have a temporary and superficial understanding at best if all I do is watch the video. The idea that videos are engaging is ludicrous; there is nothing more passive than watching a video. It's even more passive than a live lecture, which we have all been encouraged to eliminate. Entertainment is not the same thing is engagement. Engagement requires interaction, which videos do not provide. Engagement is a means to an end, but it is not the end. Learning requires engagement, but engagement alone is not learning.

Videos are great as supplemental tools, and I used them frequently. They were super helpful in science teaching because they animated processes. They were good review tools because students could hear an explanation that was similar to but slightly different from mine. But they are not a replacement for quality instruction from a human. Education has been, at its core, a social experience since the Garden of Eden, where God came and walked with and talked with Adam. This is why I don't believe technology is going to replace teachers (even AI).

4. Mr. Beast is the beneficiary of the very thing he is criticizing.  This is where I want to be as charitable as I can with Mr. Beast because I don't think he knows. It's so easy, once you have learned enough for learning to be easy for you, to forget what it is like to be a novice. He may well be able to watch a video on a topic that interests him and that he knows reasonably well and retain something new. A 7th grade math student who is learning a concept for the first time does not have that base. 

Mr. Beast benefits from a strong knowledge base already being in place from his years of schooling (even if he had a teacher or two who only read from a book) that allows his working memory to not be overloaded when taking in information from a video. He has a schema of knowledge from decades of school as well as professional learning to connect new learning with. A freshman year biology student who is encountering Latin roots for anatomical terms for the first time is building that schema, but she doesn't have it yet. Butterflies tend to forget that they used to be caterpillars and think that, since they can now fly, those younger than them should be able to as well. (I'm not sure if that metaphor worked, but hopefully you know what I'm saying.)

At 27, Mr. Beast is old enough to have lived in a childhood where screen time was still considered something we should limit. He would have had some video time but not the constant stream we have now. Because he wasn't engaged by video non-stop in his childhood, he had moments of boredom that trained his imagination, and it was that training that allows him the success he has today. But he doesn't know how to look back and see what got him here. 

Teachers, you are not beholden to a 27 years old YouTube influencer. Do what you know is right. Do what you know works. If you don't know what works, we live in a golden age of books on the science of learning. Start with Why Don't Students Like School by Daniel Willingham or Learning Begins by Andrew Watson. If you want to dive really deep, take a look at How We Learn by Stanislas Dehaene. Form a relationship with a teacher in your building who has been at it long enough to see the fads come and go and return to the basics of quality instruction. Don't give in to the idea that "newer is always better" as our culture seems to have. You are there to teach, not to do the latest thing.

The Post Teachers Need in February

It's February, y'all. It's hard to explain why this means teachers are exhausted more than any other time of year, but they are. So, I'm going to keep this post short and happy.

Getting through the February doldrums requires you to have something positive and future focused to think about.  

So here it is.

Look at your students. They are not the same people you met in August.

• The boy who needed his schedule to be re-printed on the first day of school because he kept losing it is now helping a new kid find his way around.
• The girl who wouldn't wear her glasses or contacts and then used "not being able to see the board" as an excuse for poor attention is now focused and listening.
• The kid who failed your first two tests is working hard and pulling a solid C.
• Someone who came in at the beginning of the year saying, "I don't like math" has found the idea of limited infinity fascinating and now realizes math is more interesting than they thought.
• A new kid who was quiet and separating from the group at the start of the year is now laughing with her friends in the lunchroom.
• The kid who couldn't stand you at the beginning of the year dislikes you less now. (Let's face it, these aren't all going to be 180º turns.)
• All of your students are working more independently than they were at the beginning of the year, and they all have acquired content knowledge. Even the one who is failing tests has learned SOME things.

Think about your room. What progress can you notice and find joy in as you get through the last week of February?

Reframing - Learning is Satisfying

"Good afternoon, Beth. Enjoy your workout." 

When I first joined the Y, getting a greeting like this was very helpful. And it wasn't because they knew my name, which pops up on the computer when a member scans in. It was the word "enjoy." It had been a long time since I had done any workouts other than walking, and while I was excited to try new things, I also knew it was likely to be uncomfortable. Framing the workout as something to enjoy changed my outlook on what I was about to do. While that was only a small part of how the Y changed my life, it was an important part.

Often, in school, we give in to a negative view of work - student work anyway. Then, we take one of two approaches at either end of the attitude spectrum.

1. Make everything super fun, even if it sacrifices the actual learning or takes longer than the curriculum pace would allow for. We hope turning everything into a game or relay race will distract kids from the fact that learning is work.  Fun is what matters because it is motivating! And, if we need to trade in some content for the time it takes to tally game points, so be it.
2. Adopt a "suck it up and do it anyway" attitude. This technique is employed most with high school students. We tell them that the "real world" is filled with things they won't want to do but still have to do, and this is good training for that. I'm here to teach you, not entertain you. Who cares if you are motivated or not.

There is truth involved in both of these extremes.  Certainly adult life does involve a lot of things that have to be done whether you are motivated to do them or not, and certainly some things are inherently fun.  But the day to day of school exists between these two extremes.  Motivation often comes from places we don't expect and find it difficult to plan for.

What if we reframed work for our students the same way the Y reframed a workout for me? 

Example:  Lifting heavy things is not inherently fun, and no peppy song will change that. It's uncomfortable on purpose. Does Matt change the "lesson plan" to make it less difficult? Does Dana say, "Let's skip around outside instead of doing triceps because you will be more motivated if it is fun"?  No. (Although that second one would be a decent aerobic workout; it would not achieve the purpose of the BodyPump class.) They do two things that are motivating:

1. They are joyful. This is not the same as making activities fun. It's an attitude they communicate. I have had instructors for this class that take it (and themselves) so seriously you cannot focus on anything but the number of reps left. That makes for an awfully long class. I have also taken it with an instructor that just makes everything silly, singing along with every song to the extent that you can't know what you are supposed to do next. Matt and Dana are neither of these. They are joyful about the workout. They make some jokes, but the class isn't about the jokes. They create a community spirit by knowing who likes certain songs or certain movements. "We're doing planks just for your today, Dan." or  "I know Kamryn is going to like the Rhi-Rhi bicep track today" or "Beth's favorite - shootouts." Planks, shootouts, and biceps are just as challenging, but they are now framed as someone's favorite, so others might find joy in them too.
2. They focus on the satisfaction of the outcome. While I have never heard the phrase "no pain, no gain" in my time at the Y, the sentiment is still there. The payoff of the discomfort you are feeling in the moment or the soreness you will have tomorrow is in the satisfaction of the outcome. So, while you are doing a sumo squat with a weighted bar on your back, Matt tells you which muscles you are strengthening. While you are clenching your upper thigh in Barre, Dana says, "It's your free butt lift, courtesy of the YMCA." 

So, school teachers, what can we learn from this? We can learn that there is a happy medium between frivolous and fatalistic. 

A teacher doesn't have to be a non-stop fun machine to approach learning with joy. You cannot out-entertain or out-engage their phones, so stop trying to. Show them your joy and watch it spread. There are not many ways, for example, to make learning the periodic table a rip-roaring good time, but my students knew how much I loooooooved the periodic table. I constantly expressed my own amazement of it and told them that I hoped they would one day learn enough about it to appreciate it as much as I did.  "Every year, I find something new to appreciate about it," I would tell them, even after teaching it for over 20 years. When we balanced chemical equations, I would say, "If you are the type of person who enjoys solving puzzles, you will probably enjoy these" because there is definitely a satisfaction that comes from the equation finally coming out right.  I took EVERY opportunity to communicate how much I loved learning new things, including my delight when they asked a question I couldn't answer because then we could find out together. I didn't limit it to science because I wanted them to see that learning is joyful outside of what you do for your job, so I talked about art and music and books and how much I liked the unit circle. If someone had Julius Caesar sitting on their desk, I made a big deal about it being my favorite Shakespeare play. Learning can be joyful for its own sake, and we don't have to gamify our classes to communicate that. (I'm not trying to dog on people who gamify, by the way. I would just ask you to think about the opportunity cost involved if you are spending a lot of time on it.)

Learning is hard work. There's no getting around that fact. If you think changing your muscles requires focus and energy, it pales in comparison to changing your neurons. But a teacher doesn't have to adopt a "Life's hard; then you die" mentality to help students learn. They can, like a good weightlifting instructor, emphasize the outcome of the work. "When you learn to write a well-crafted paragraph, you will be able to communicate your ideas in a way that is actually persuasive to others" will help a student realize that the hard work of writing well has purpose.  "You know who uses this kind of math? Video game designers" will help kids recognize purpose beyond the grade book - even if they don't intend to become a game designer themselves. Learning has multiple outcomes, so think about value and relevance outside of making money from it.  I once had a student who was clearly going to be a musician and didn't understand why he needed to learn chemistry. Was I going to convince him that he needed science as a fallback? No, that would have been stupid, but I didn't convince him that the brain training he was doing to write chemical formulas would help him ad lib when he forgot the lyrics on stage later in his life.  

By being joyful and focusing on outcomes, we can help students reframe the learning experience. It is challenging and requires work, but it is also satisfying and enjoyable. We must communicate that these are not mutually exclusive. 

Book Review - The Lockdown Artist by Jay Wamsted

One of the best things I can say about a novel is that I lost sleep over it - not because of the content, but because when it was bed time, I wanted to read one more chapter. This is absolutely the kind of experience I had with The Lockdown Artist by Jay Wamsted.

I have followed Jay on Twitter (currently X) for quite some time and know him to be a fun and engaging school teacher. When I saw that he had written a novel, I wanted to support him, and I knew that the book would be fun.  What I didn't know was what a gripping story it would be - think 1984 in a high school for a general framework, but it is more than that. There are shades of Frankenstein and Hunger Games (and sadly some hints of Project 2025 - although that might have been my addition as I was reading it just after the deaths in Minneapolis).

What I most appreciate about Jay's writing is how much he respects his young adult audience - something actually quite rare in YA literature. So many YA authors feel like they have to over-explain to avoid confusion, but what that really does is avoid excitement. Young readers like to have things revealed after they have thought about them for a while, hence the success of the Harry Potter franchise, where some payoffs came two to three books later.

In The Lockdown Artist, you arrive along with a new student, Liam, in the middle of the school year.  Rather than spoon feed you an explanation of the school, Jay knows that the reader is capable of figuring things out as the story unfolds and doesn't bore them with a ton of exposition at the beginning. You find out parts of the mystery as the characters do, so there are surprises around every corner (almost literally). There were moments where I sat up straighter and said, "No.  Oh, what are they going to do now?" out loud while I was reading.

Characters can be tricky in YA lit as well because they are often written by adults who either write their teen characters as adults in young bodies or write them as clichéd tropes of pop culture references. Jay's teaching experience means he knows adolescents, and he writes these teenagers as complex, three dimensional characters (salty language and all) rather than stereotypes. I appreciate that, and I think young adult readers will too.

The book didn't end quite the way I envisioned or perhaps even hoped, but it does end in an interesting and thought provoking way. I highly recommend this book to high school, college, and adult readers who enjoy a little dystopian fiction in their lives.

Yes, We Are Like That - And We Should Repent

When Joe Biden was President, and there were shootings or tragic crimes, he often put some variation of the sentence "This is not who we are as Americans" in his response speech. While I know what he meant, each time I thought, "If it's not, then how does it keep happening here?" It would have been more accurate to say, "This is not who we SHOULD be as Americans."

For the past two weeks, as we have witnessed the clash between ICE agents and protestors in Minnesota, there have been similar sentiments online. After Renée Good's death, one tweet read, in part, "We love our neighbors. We aspire to live by the Golden Rule. We are better than this." Another said, "Consider the outlook Jesus would have on you celebrating her death. We are not them. Stop acting like you are."

This isn't a semantic difference. To declare that our actions do not reflect who we are just doesn't make sense. What are we asking people to judge us by if not the things we say and do. If not our actions and our words, what are we?

Statements like this, even when well meaning and aspirational, are a problem. They give cover to the darkest parts of us while allowing us to delude ourselves into believing that our hearts are not dark. You've gotten this non-apology from someone, "I'm sorry I said that, but you know I didn't mean it. That's not who I am." We've seen this from celebrities like Paula Dean, Mel Gibson, and Michael Richards after their very public racist rants. Some jumped to defend them because of the circumstances under which they said it (duress, drunkenness, being pushed to their limits, etc.). 

But here's the thing. Something can't come out of you if it's not in you. No matter how hard you squeeze an orange, you won't get coffee out of it. 

If a tube is unlabeled, the only way to know if it is toothpaste or Preparation H is to put it under pressure. Pressure doesn't create; it reveals. 

We shouldn't apologize for saying something we didn't mean; we should apologize for meaning it. And, we should definitely not minimize things by claiming it to be outside of our character.

Teachers, this matters in our classrooms. If we want to help our students develop good character, we cannot let them get away with "that's not who I am" apologies. And, we can't model them. When we have lost our temper or crossed the line in our speech, true apologies are needed, not evasions of responsibility dressed up as contrition. True apologies include three things: 

1. An admission of the action (I did/said this thing.) 
2. An acceptance of the damage done (This thing I did harmed you.)
3. An attempt to make things right (I will repair what can be repaired, and I will not do this again in the future.)

This is going to take more time than "Say you're sorry," which is what we so often do with little to no regard as to whether or not it is sincere. But the discipling that happens is worth the investment. Most teachers have some kind of paraphernalia (coffee mug, wall hanging, t-shirt) that says we touch the future; well here's how we do it. Imagine a future in which people have been taught, not just to say they are sorry, not even just to express remorse, but to reconcile. What a better future that would be. 

Notes from NCAIS Neurodiversity Conference - January 30 2026

NCAIS is the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools.  This conference is focused on meeting the needs of neurodiverse students. The notes below are raw, unedited, and will likely be mixed with my own reactions (I may not agree with what a speaker has said and will process my reaction to it). I will update between sessions.

Keynote: The Neurodiverse Hero's Journey - Become the Strong and Kind Adult in the Room by Peyten Williams, Bowbend Consulting

Every hero's journey begins in the ordinary world as nobody special, before there is a call to adventure. If you have come to a conference because you want to see change in your classroom, that is your call to adventure. 

Neurodiverse people have a wide variety of both strengths and challenges. 

You don't have to be an expert to support these kids. You just have to show up.

Threshold guardians are those who resist or gate keep your efforts to change. What is standing in your way? It could be systems, limitations on resources, or your perception of fairness when it comes to support.

• What in your faith, values, or character made you choose teaching?
• How do you grow your social emotional intelligence?
• Do you need to broaden your perspective? Are you trying to support them or trying to "fix them"? (Lori told me in a book interview, "We didn't view that as a challenge, just a different set of facts we had to deal with.")
• What tools do you need in your toolbox? Do you know how to use them?
• Are you giving yourself grace? Nothing feels easy without practice. Keep practicing until it becomes natural.
• Who are your helpers and mentors as you learn? What research can you rely on? Who is in your community that you can learn with?

Mindsets:  

• What does this learner need to access learning with dignity? Belonging is not a reward fo compliance; it is a prerequisite for learning.
• Ability is context dependent. A difference is not a deficit in all situations. (Dr. David Rose, in a Learning and the Brain keynote, talked about his tone deafness being a benefit when the church organ was out of tune.)

Is there some technique or attitude that isn't working, but you just can't let go of it?

It is hard work. You will have to ask yourself, "Is this worth it?" That's when you have to circle back to your purpose.

Your transformation is not to become perfect; it is to become the strong and kind adult in the room.

You then return to the ordinary world different and able to transform the ordinary world.  What will you bring back?

Session 1 - Building a Neurosupportive Classroom by Kenna Skarda, Ravenscroft School

All students have nervous systems. 

Physical spaces are designed, in part, for neurology. I like to see the door in whatever room I am in. That's a neurological adaptation related to safety. Some students are that way too, and they are typically fidgety and turning around in their desks a lot. They don't like to be trapped in the middle of the room or to be facing their desk directly. Mental unbalance can lead to physical unbalance, and vice versa. People don't always have the ability to verbalize it, so it sometimes shows up in their behavior.

You can see similar effects in grocery store lines. How to people wait? Do they dance around with their feet, rearrange things in the cart, pull out their phone?

Whether you are the strict teacher or the easy going teacher, you will be the exact right thing for some student. Kids who are dysregulated often seek out the highly regimented teacher because they know intuitively that teacher will regulate them. Those kids who are overly contained will seek out the hippie-dippy teacher because they will fill in the gaps of what they need.

What sensory experience are you creating?  Is it good to have bright lights or dim lights? That depends on the time of day or what kind of mood you are trying to create. If you can get variable lighting, it will help you to create the environment you want. Do you have a few blankets or a space where kids can leave sweaters in order to help a kid learn without the distraction of being cold? Might a weighted scarf or a Ravi blanket help with your fidgety kid? 

Naming your adaptive tools will make kids want to use them and take care of them. They don't care if an object goes missing, but if the object is named Carl, they will turn the world upside down to find Carl if he gets lost.  They might not ask for a weighted blanket; but they will ask for Louise.

Your brain is easy to trick. If you tell yourself you are dumb, your brain will believe you and behave that way. Feel free to lie to yourself and tell yourself that you can do anything. 

For the first time in history, we are seeing a reverse of the Flynn effect. This is largely because of constant computer work and lack of physical work. 

Doing the pretzel, curling in and twisting, drawing a figure eight with a laser pointer, or other crossbody moves (or practicing balance by moving back and forth while standing on one foot) will help with regulation during challenging feelings. Offer a few things. Students will naturally gravitate toward what they need.

You have to make your plans while they are calm. If you wait until the limbic system is involved, you aren't getting them back.

You can turn on your parasympathetic nervous system with breath work. Slow breathing or breathing through your left nostril only calms you down. You can also have them count backwards by 7s (or something that requires thought). You can have them tap or hold themselves tightly or rub their earlobe.

You can pump them up by activating the sympathetic nervous system.  Fast breathing thought the nose, jumping jacks, fast tapping, or going upside down.

Cognitive self reflection - have them identify what went well and what they could do differently next time

Session 2 - Ten (ish) Quick Tips to Incorporate Neurodiverse Support Into Your Teaching by Alli King and Michelle Hernandez, Carolina Day School

We are teachers who try our best to figure things out through trying and failing and trying again. Have grace with yourself as you make mistakes because they will happen.

Tip zero:  Be conscious of font choices. Are you making things harder to read by going too cute?

1. When giving directions, get attention from all fits. Be explicit and clear. Provide checklists.
2. Explain the why for an expectation. Give specific and immediate feedback.
3. Have your schedule displayed. Announce any changes to the routine.
4. Have a calming plan
5. Have visual cues - timers, graphic organizers, color codes, anchor charts, models
6. Built in movement - as part of the plan
7. Using peers - turn and talk, etc. (I disagree that this helps the neurodivergent student, but I didn't want to disrespect their presentation by leaving it out. The people behind me have not stopped talking since we sat down, and it is driving me cray - I can't imagine that increasing that would help me if I had ADHD.)
8. Check ins - Formal or informal, make sure you follow through. Allow check ins before and after submitting their work.
9. Flexible seating
10. Metacognition - help kids reflect.

Session 3 - I presented during this one - no notes 

 

But you could go to my website www.thelearninghawk.com for the slides

Another Kind of Differentiation: Supporting Teachers Who are Diverse Learners

Do you have a teacher who won't sit in a faculty meeting?  They stand in the back corner or pace at the back of the room. It may seem like he doesn't care, but he is better able to focus and contribute if he is moving. 

If we are going to ask teachers to respect the neurodiversity of students and accommodate for them , we should recognize that adults have them too and accommodate for them.

Gave a case study of a teacher with poor executive function skills and asked questions about how they can help without shaming the teacher or losing out on her strengths. And a second case study about a teacher with anxiety. 

The Taylor Swift Effect - Have a vision, appreciate differences, and be steady in the face of uncertainty. Have people who you can melt down with and then pull yourself back together so you can be strong for others.

Expect competence, not sameness

Establish psychological safety

Be careful of bias - teachers are allowed to disclose their differences

Find support that helps ALL employees succeed

Accentuate strengths and positive attributes rather than focusing on deficits

Prepare meetings that accommodate for movement

Chunk large tasks into smaller deadlines

Provide information with a choice of format

Focus on quality of content - offer editing support with format

Create predictability and clarify expectations

Making Things Clearer - Not as Straightforward as it Seems

In the publishing of the book Show Your Work: Teaching Smarter With the Science of Learning, I'm learning a lot about the writing and publishing processes. I'm learning even more about the re-writing process. Two weeks ago, I got back all of my copyedited pages and had to accept or reject them and answer questions.

Copy editors do not play, y'all. The form they sent me said it had had a "medium" amount of editing. Then, each chapter I opened had anywhere between 75 and 175 changes or queries, leaving me to wonder what a heavy amount of editing would look like. Most of the edits were small - removing a space, adding a comma, or changing a capital letter to a lowercase one.  Some were citations I had forgotten to include or changes made to fit their publishing style (the MLA I learned in high school is less useful than I was led to believe).

The edits that made me laugh the most were the ones that asked if I would like to "use the expanded version for clarity." This was the automatic note any time there was an acronym.  For the most part, that makes sense. Jargon isn't accessible to most people, so if you are referencing a study done at the NIH or by the APA, it is obviously better to spell out National Institute of Health and American Psychological Association. It helps people determine the credibility of the source.

But, there are exceptions. When I was asked if I wanted to use the expanded version of SAT, I had to respond that I didn't think it would be clearer if I said Scholastic Aptitude Test as most people walk around with a vision of the SAT easily accessible in their minds and would actually have to take a beat to translate the expanded version back into the acronym for it to make sense to them. So we left that one alone. The same went for an interview I did with a biology teacher in which he talked about a question he asks students about ATP, the energy carrying molecules produced during cellular respiration.  If you remember this from biology at all, you definitely only remember it as ATP. So, when asked if I wanted to use the expanded version for clarity, I had to reply, "No, I think referring to it as adenosine triphosphate will make it less clear, so let's leave that one."

My point is not about publishing or acronyms. It's about making things clear. Our jobs as teachers is to take something that isn't easy to grasp and put it within reach. When a student first looks at the periodic table, it is just a jumble of letters and numbers arranged into a strange shape, but when they leave my 8th grade classroom, they should be able to interpret things like number of protons and number of neutrons from the numbers in the square as well as things like number of energy levels and number of valence electrons from the location on the table. My teaching about the periodic table should make the information clearer.

But much like the publishing discussion, there is often a way that seems right but ultimately is not. Explicit teaching vs. discovery learning gives us as an example of that. The theory behind discovery learning seems logical - students will remember things better if they figure it out themselves. And wouldn't it be lovely if that was how our brains actually worked? But they don't. Asking a student to compare the causes of the French and American revolutions when they haven't learned anything about them yet (but have access to Google) doesn't result in deeper learning about either revolution or the larger concept of revolutionary causes. Our working memories are too limited for that. (I'm not saying you shouldn't have projects or labs; I am a science teacher and had many of both - but it should come after students have learned a concept, not as a replacement for it.)

One of the things that makes teaching hard is that we often can't have one way of doing things. Some material will be clearer if reveal it one step at a time while other material may be clearer if we first show an entire worked example, giving students the broad view before the details. We cannot just choose one method and hope all content will fit that method. 

Even trickier, it is not always immediately evident when you have chosen correctly.  Sometimes, it is immediately obvious if you have chosen incorrectly. I once thought it would be good for my students to see the broad picture of bond types before we began learning about them.  I drew a spectrum on the board with "small electronegativity difference" on one left and "large electronegativity difference" on the right. I then proceeded to place covalent bonds, ionic bonds on the right, and polar covalent bonds in the middle along with their broad definitions and some examples. My students left that day completely overwhelmed and totally lost. The next day, I reassured them that I was going to teach each type individually and not to worry. But my hope that seeing the big picture would help them understand how the pieces fit together was not realized. The next year, I taught each type on its own and used my little spectrum drawing as a review/retrieval tool. "Where would covalent bonds go?" I asked, and they correctly answered that they would be where the electronegativity difference was small.  This way was obviously clearer, but I might not have known that if I hadn't tried it the other way.

So, sometimes, we are dealing with a process of trial and error. Sometimes, you can benefit from another teacher's experience.  And sometimes, you just have to use your best professional judgment and hope to be right. 

Give yourself a break. The best way to make things clear is often not clear itself.