I sat down next to first grader Grace as she worked on a few subtraction problems. She was holding her pencil carefully — duck grip — with eyes tightly focused on her paper. I peered ov…

There is something both exciting and unsettling about opening a new set of instructional materials. The materials are new to everyone: students, teachers, instructional coaches, principals, and dis…

When teachers collaborate in meaningful, generative ways — digging into and questioning their own teaching practices to better support students — the benefits go both ways. Students learn more effe…

In classrooms, we talk about what high-quality interactions between teachers and students look like, knowing the quality of those interactions impact what students learn. We can ask the same thing …

When I look back on the past two decades I’ve spent at Leander ISD, I think about how much elementary instruction has changed. I’ve been a third-grade teacher, a reading specialist, instructional coac...

A lovely little way to learn about the world

I have been thinking about patterns for a long time, occasionally making progress in understanding how children learn to identify and think about patterns. Overall, it is slow going. There isn’t nearl...

“What a teacher knows and what he or she does and believes have a major influence on how students learn. Most importantly, we know that these are dynamic behaviors and dispositions that (can) evolv…

Discover practical strategies for teaching problem-solving in math that prioritize student thinking, mathematical reasoning, and classroom discourse.

I’m talking about the original, 1984 Karate Kid, not the remakes. Go back and watch it, if you’re not familiar.  In the Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi teaches Karate to a young Danny LaRusso but it’s …

When I asked students to think-pair-share, they dutifully respected the independent think time before launching into a buzzy conversation with a partner. When I asked them to indicate their thinkin…

One of my many unpopular opinions

Once upon a time when my daughter was very young, she was given a lot of presents – it was a birthday or Christmas but I can’t remember which. What I do remember is that she played with just …

Students often start working on a task, but disengage if it gets difficult. You can use these three tips to encourage them to persist.

April 2, 2026 Designing an Online Math Course That Starts With Belonging I’ve been working on a new course template for the first mathematics content course for prospective elementary teachers, foc…

As the U.S. continues to fight the war in Iran, the Marine Corps has boosted protection measures on bases, requiring everyone to present REAL IDs, passports or birth certificates to access any sites.