Educator, author, musician
When the budget is cut another ten percentAnd a new set of standards and tests are passedAnd after another lock down drillThey teach anyway When told to find just five more seatsFor thirty five in a room for twenty fiveFor kids coming to school hungryThey teach anyway When everyone is sent homeThen back againThen homeContinue reading “They Teach Anyway”
At Bemidji State we have teacher-candidates write a comprehensive “Central Focus & Context/Rationale” with every lesson plan. This is a statement requiring students to explicitly describe the big idea or central focus of the lesson, detail the lesson’s fit in the curriculum, and then lastly, use research and learning theory to support teaching methods chosen.Continue reading “Why Learning Theory Matters”
The unprecedented times of the new normal. Two terms or phrases I could happily do without. I mean, enough already. However, we cannot deny that we face a new normal and many of our institutions will never be the same. I’m confident that my field of education will never be the same. In many waysContinue reading “Connecting Dots of a New Normal”
My goal as an educator is to provide a space for students to safely take on new challenges and risks in learning. There are always students who remain so paralyzed, maybe by a combination of flagging confidence in learning capacity and/or a fear of failure, that they cannot even muster the gumption to ask aContinue reading “Education PTSD”
This is the third in a series of three. The Collection of a person’s knowledge and experience is an interlocked network of specific packets of information and memories each being what I am calling a “schema”. These are stored in an interlocked set of neural networks, which are stored in the human brain, which isContinue reading “Why is it so Hard to Change Someone’s Mind? (part 3 of 3)”
This post is second in a series of three. In the previous post I provided a paradigm for life using a “living systems” model. I want to expand that paradigm beyond explaining how a living system (a human in this case) is interlocked with its physical world, to how one understands and makes sense ofContinue reading “Why is it so Hard to Change Someone’s Mind? (part 2 of 3)”
This post is the first in a series of three. I have been studying a “systems view of life” as a component of a larger three-part goal: First, become better able to leading students to explore their “ecological identity” (their self-described place/role in the natural world). Second, from a systems theory perspective, how a learnerContinue reading “Why is it so Hard to Change Someone’s Mind? (part 1 of 3)”
During the last month, teachers have had to rebuild their ship while sailing. That was a daunting task. I’m sure some have done it with grace and style while others have really struggled. Could be that those who were dynamic teachers in the classroom have found ways to engage students via remote learning. I thinkContinue reading “It’s Not What the Teachers Do, It’s What the Students Do”
This morning I’m sharing a short video titled “The Learning Cycle: Consider, Construct, Confirm.” This is a 14 minute “nutshell” description and example of a teaching/lesson/curriculum design method that I have developed and outline in detail in my book, Consider, Construct, Confirm: A New Framework for Teaching and Learning. I offer this now for twoContinue reading “A New Framework for Learning”
I was nearly brought to tears this morning when what I have been feeling, worrying about, and thinking for the last, well, for a long time, was encapsulated by three New York Times essays. That constant background noise of my thoughts, worries and emotions might be akin to an individual’s constant tinnitus or even theContinue reading “Yes! That’s it Exactly!”
Tim Goodwin Ed.D