Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

When I started at college 40 years ago, I was amazed by syllabi. I still am, but for different reasons.

You can keep your beliefs, but I’ll take empirical observation… especially observation confirmed by others and that accurately predicts other observations.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is so obvious when talking with parents about teaching.

Folks know my background, so they ask me “is this a weed?”

I respond, “do you want it to grow there?”

They respond, “it depends, is it a weed?”

Can we please stop referring to students as kiddos?

Just because you are “in charge” does not mean your ideas are worth following.

One thing I learned during 35 years in education: it’s almost impossible to differentiate those who did well in prerequisites from those who did not by looking at current performance.

“I know lots of people who…” isn’t evidence.

The feeling that you know something can be the biggest impediment to actually learning it.

Ignorance is not nearly the problem that the illusion of knowledge is.

“Budgets are moral documents” is the most accurate thing I’ve heard recently.

If your classroom protocols are not faded, then they are not working.

Learning is an interesting phenomenon. How it proceeds depends 100% on the learner *and* 100% on the teacher/ coach/ mentor.

I played trumpet for about 3 months in elementary school. I learned a lot about how not to teach from the music teacher. (This is a comment about an individual, not a generalization.)

It appears certain types of teaching (e.g. basic knowledge we can tell and test) can be best done by AI. I still see many teachers who believe this is their role.

One more time: just because you have an opinion does not mean I am obligated to take it seriously.

When leaders say “that’s what I said, but it’s not what I meant,” I stop listening to them.

“Improving results” is a signal you have a too simple view of learning to be an effective educator.

“People aren’t motivated by money.” Yeah, but they sure make decisions as if it matters.

I think it’s time we start asking candidates for leadership positions to “describe one time your decisions added to institutional drama and what you did to minimize it afterwards.”