Author: Terrell Heick

by Terry Heick Reflection is a fundamental tenet of learning; it is also, therefore, a fundamental part of teaching. Why it happens is a matter of humility. But how and when it happens–and with whom–is less clear. This is partly because there are multiple sides to reflection–length, width, and depth. A Z-axis. It is whole. As a kind of definition, to reflect means to look back at how something ‘went,’ and see it for all of its available parts and patterns: Causes and effects; comparisons and contrast; strengths and weakness; its characteristics; how close it came to what you were…

by Terry Heick What are the different types of questions? Turns out, it’s pretty limitless. I’ve always been interested in them–the way they can cause (or stop) thinking; the nature of inquiry and reason; the way they can facilitate and deepen a conversation; the way they can reveal understanding (or lack thereof); the stunning power of the right question at the right time. There’s a kind of humility to questions. Someone who doesn’t know asks someone who might. Or even someone who does know (rhetorically) asks someone who doesn’t to produce an effect (rhetorically). There’s a relative intimacy between someone…

by TeachThought Staff We make lasting connections through play, but the role of play in learning is an idea that continues to meet resistance. Part of the reason could be tone. We like our learning serious, intentional, and academic. This is reflected through a parallel insistence on an outcomes-based learning system where learning objectives are determined and assessments are written before hand, and subsequent instruction is revised based only on data taken from said assessments. (See “10 Ways Data Can Sabotage Your Teaching.”) And the entire process itself is based on a pile of industrialized and de-personalized “learning standards” that,…

Tone As A Cause And Effect Of Learning by Terrell Heick In 20 Words That Can Affect How Students Think,, we said “Tone affects how students see themselves and their role in the learning process. In fact, a student’s own ongoing internal dialogue and thoughts about themselves and their self-identity as learners isn’t just a ‘factor’ in learning but one of the single most important factors.” This is central to the principle and practice of Social-Emotional Learning (and strategies for social-emotional learning). It might be useful to take a quick look at some of the key ideas and underlying assumptions…

by Terry Heick I first encountered the 40/40/40 rule years ago while skimming one of those giant (and indispensable) 400 page Understanding by Design tomes. The question was simple enough. Of all of the academic standards, you are tasked with ‘covering’ (more on this in a minute), what’s important that students understand for the next 40 days, what’s important that they understand for the next 40 months, and what’s important that they understand for the next 40 years? As you can see, this is a powerful way to think about academic content. Of course, this leads to the discussion of…

by Terry Heick I was speaking (tweeting) with Mark Barnes tonight, and he mentioned the idea of challenging existing forms and practices. And then someone tweeted the above image–a quote attributed to Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, according to the image source globalnerdy.com–and I was happy and favorited and saved and blogged. “We’ve always done it this way” implies legacy and tradition, which can be good. But it’s also one of the most dangerous phrases we can use—and this danger extends to education, as well. I talk a lot about disruptive teaching and paradigm shifting in teaching and learning not because I’m inherently…

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 word has its own nuance, but one characteristic they share in common is access—a level, shared area with open pathways that are equidistant to mutually agreed-upon currencies. When discussing equity, there are so many convenient handles–race, gender, language, poverty, access to technology, but there may…

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 implicit and explicit ways–from words (said and unsaid) and body language to voice tone, timing, irony, and any other modality used to communicate ideas. How Students See Themselves Matters Tone affects how students see themselves and their role in the learning process. In fact, a…

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 teacher worth their salt will take a long, hard look at themselves and their craft. So over the years as a teacher, I cobbled together a kind of system that was, most crucially, student-centered. It was student-centered in the sense that it was designed for…

Bertrand Russell’s 10 Essential Rules Of Critical Thinking by Terry Heick For a field of study that explores the nature of knowledge, Philosophy has had a surprisingly small impact on education. Most formal academic ‘platforms’ like public schools and universities tend to parse knowledge into content areas–what is being learned–rather than how and why it is being learned. This, to a degree, reduces the function of pure philosophy. Psychology, Neurology, and even Anthropology all have had a louder voice in ‘education,’ which may explain why critical thinking seems to be so often missing from most school and curriculum design. There…