Author: Terrell Heick
by Terry Heick Learning is a culture. It starts there—with the students first as human beings needing to understand their environment. And it ends there—with students using what we give them back at home, in those physical and digital environments. Even the practices that promote or undermine the learning process itself come are first and foremost human and cultural artifacts. Literacy, curiosity, self-efficacy, ambition, and other important agents of learning are born in the native environments of home. Further, learning is ongoing, perishable, and alive–just like culture. But what about your classroom? Can you promote a certain culture there strategically,…
Teaching Is Human Work. Systems Aren’t Built for That. Teaching Is Human Work. Systems Aren’t Built for That. Education is structured as a system—standardized, measured, and scaled. But learning doesn’t work that way. And teaching? Teaching is human work—improvised, emotional, and deeply personal. That difference is more than philosophical. It’s a practical, everyday problem for educators. I. Education is a system. Learning and teaching are not. This presents a challenge: when systems drive decisions, but people do the work, friction is inevitable. II. Systems are made of parts. People are not. Education, as a system, is made up of parts—and…
In addition to my work at TeachThought, I also write creative nonfiction, essays, and—more recently—poetry. I’ve presented my work at the University of Louisville Literacy Conference in 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2024. If you’re into creative writing, I’ve started a Substack called Everything We Carry. It’s a place for poems and short prose about memory, trauma, nature, and time. If that sounds like something you’d connect with, feel free to follow along here. Terrell Heick 2025-07-17 21:42:59 Source link
by Terry Heick Looking for the best source of education research? The one with authentic data, practical studies, and a wealth of participants and possibilities? How about your own classroom? There is, increasingly, pressure to be research-based and data-based. Or ‘grounded in research’ and guided by ‘data-based decision-making. On paper, neither of these admonishments are incorrect, but as I said in ‘It’s Not About The Thinking,’ the soundness of an idea depends on the quality of its effect. ‘I love the idea of mobile learning, so I attach positive feelings to it that can lead me to cognitive distortions downstream,…
by Terry Heick With so much else to do and a subsequent loss of academic structure, most research shows children read less in the summer. How much less depends (you’ll read that word a lot in this post) on age, income level, geographical region, and other factors. And how much of a bad thing you think it is for a student’s achievement scores to fall because of summer break depends on your perspective, too. But let’s assume you’re in favor of pushing academic achievement and the improved test scores that seem to reflect it. What do you need to know?…
by Terry Heick Understanding where curiosity comes from is the holy grail of education. Education, of course, is different than learning but both depend on curiosity. Education implies a formal, systematic, and strategic intent to cause learning. In this case, content to be learned is identified, learning experiences are planned, learning results are assessed, and data from said assessments play some role in the planning of new learning experiences. Learning strategies are applied, and snapshots of understanding are taken as frequently as possible. This approach is clinical and more than a smidgeon scientific. It arrests emotion and spontaneity in pursuit…
by Terry Heick This article was originally written in 2011 and most recently updated in 2025 Gamification is simply the application of game-like mechanics to non-game ‘things.’ The big idea here is to encourage a desired behavior. In this way, ‘gamification’ amounts to installing mechanics or systems that recognize and reward behavior. Through increased visibility of nuance, documentation of progress, and rewarding of seemingly minor (but critical) behaviors, a specific outcome can be achieved. Since it encourages internal motivation through an outwardly-created set of circumstances, gamification sits at the awkward intersection of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. While for many the term’s…
by Terry Heick In his essay Two Minds, Wendell Berry, unsurprisingly enough, offers up two tones of thought produced by two kinds of ‘mind’—Rational, and Sympathetic. One is driven by logic, deduction, data, and measurement, the other by affection and other wasteful abstractions—instinct, reverence, joy, and faith. These minds struggle for to manifest in our collective behavior. That is, they both seek to control our actions–what we say and do. Berry explains their distinctions: “The Rational Mind of is motivated by the fear of being misled, of being wrong. Its purpose is to exclude everything that cannot empirically or experimentally be…
On Student Engagement: How To Be As Interesting As A Video Game Terry Heick Agreeing on how to best establish what a learner understands isn’t simple — if for no other reason then understanding itself isn’t simple. The difference between gamification and game-based learning is important: the former uses encouragement mechanics to promote engagement, while the latter uses video games as core sources of learning material or cognitive action) is one response. By embedding diverse achievements into activities and assessments, learning progress can be refracted infinitely. These systems would be able to more flexibly respond to unique learner pathways and…
by Terry Heick Note: This has been updates from a 2018 version Just a quick post that’s self-explanatory enough: It’s almost #ElectionDay! Some questions for student critical thinking: What is the relationship between voting and democracy? How does critical thinking affect the quality of a democracy? What information is essential for voters to make an informed decision about candidates? pic.twitter.com/0EODQbrLAO — TeachThought (@TeachThought) November 5, 2018 See also 6 Critical Thinking Questions For Any Situation 12 General Critical Thinking Questions About Voting & Government 1. What is the relationship between voting and democracy? 2. How does critical thinking affect the…