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This post is part one of a two-part series. In it, I reflect on what the science of reading taught us about false choices in education. In the second post, I apply that lesson to New York’s current graduation reforms and the risks of getting the system-level balance wrong. Hello, I am part of the best book club ever.  To be fair, we call ourselves a “book club,” but that label is somewhat generous. Sometimes we read books. Other times we watch a series, listen to a podcast, o

Hello, You know the type. The coworker who feels like the only one who is not holding up their end of the bargain. The leader who lacks a backbone. The teammate who seems to think there is an I in TEAM. Naming the person feels productive. It gives us someone to focus on. Someone to fix. But what if the behavior we are frustrated by is not a personal failing at all? What if it is exactly what the system is designed to produce? When Someone Acts Badly, a Good System Does Not Lo

Hello, If you know me, you know I'm an avid audiobook listener. Though that's not the only way I read books, it is the most common. Why? As I've said before, it's the ultimate multi-tasking. I read while driving, exercising, folding laundry, cooking, etc. Because of audiobooks, I read about ninety-eight books this year, a number that still surprises me when I see it written down. Out of those nearly one hundred titles, nineteen rose to the top as books I would genuinely recom

Hello, When I was a kid, my older sister Brooke and I sometimes got into physical fights. If I picked a fight with her, she almost never hit me back. Instead, she would say, "I'm going to go tell." That sentence terrified me more than anything else. I would immediately beg her, "Hit me! Hit me!" because that felt safer. If she hit me, we were even. Balanced. Settled. At peace. What mattered to me was the sense of matching her response to my action. One offense, one consequenc

Hello, I’ve worked my entire career in education, so I can’t say for sure whether what I’m about to describe applies to every profession. But I know this much: in education, people love tradition — and yet the system itself  is always changing. Devices replace paper tests. Classroom routines evolve — from how we take attendance to how we facilitate discussions. What students are interested in changes, and so do the ways we communicate with families. You get the point. Years a

Hello, In the post, " Opportunity to Succeed ," I wrote about how teachers create learners, how John Hattie’s work reminds us that educators are the reason literacy rates rose from 14% to 86% over the past century. Teachers are the professionals who design opportunities for students every day. But what about the opportunity to learn for teachers themselves? If we believe teachers are the reason students learn, then we must also believe that teachers deserve the same opportuni

Hello, You probably do not remember the last time you were asked to label sedimentary rock, diagram a sentence, or calculate the hypotenuse of a triangle. You learned those things, passed the test, and moved on. Forgetting those details did not prevent you from becoming a capable adult. There is one area of adulthood, however, where forgetting—or never having learned enough—carries real consequences: civic participation. We live in a country where the most important decisions

Hello, I recently listened to an episode of Olivia Wall’s podcast, Schoolultions, featuring John Hattie , the author of Visible Learning  and other works on high-leverage practices. During their conversation, Hattie said something that struck me deeply: the professionalism of educators and how often it’s diminished by others, including by educators themselves. He shared an exercise he often uses when presenting. Hattie shows audiences literacy rates from 100 years ago compare

Hello, My son Oliver has been playing soccer since he was four years old. This season, as a high school sophomore, he’s had the kind of...

Hello, I recently came across a quote from Dr. Caroline Leaf that really pushed my thinking. Upon reading it the first time, I thought,...

Hello, I feel really lucky that my husband and I get to spend our lives together. At the same time, we don’t always see things the same...

Hello, If you ask me to tell you what book changed my life, one that stands out is The Republic  by Plato. While you may not have read...

Hello, Anyone who knows me knows I’m a sucker for an audiobook. Why? Where do I start? I can listen while driving, folding laundry,...

Hello, This is my last new letter of the 24/25 school year, and what a year it’s been! I wanted to take a moment to spotlight some of the...

Hello, Ironically, the first time I heard about ChatGPT was in December 2022, during a full-day planning meeting with high school ELA...

Hello, If you’re not familiar with the phrase “new math,” it’s the way many parents refer to how students today are taught math. The...

Hello, Several years ago, my kids’ school district made the news—but not for reasons anyone would want. During state testing season,...

Hello, In biology, stem cells are known for one powerful quality: they can become anything. Given the right conditions, they can develop...

Hello, In my last post, " Grades: Education's Tug-Of-War " I wrote about the tension that emerges when we link grades to...

Hello, Here’s a truth we can all agree on: most students want to do well in school. But as I explored in the last post, " Cooking the...