Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

I’ve worked in schools for 35+ years. Leaders who assign blame are familiar to me. Very familiar.

“Can someone help me find the research supporting this widely used teaching practice? I can’t find it.”

That’s because it doesn’t exist.

I’ve been in education since 1988. I knew their parents. I knew their grandparents. It isn’t young people.

I’m convinced there are two kinds of knowledge:

Things we know when tested in the classroom.

Things we use to solve pragmatic, critical, creative problems.

They are not the same. One doesn’t matter.

#education #teaching

When I taught math, I’d show my students my 4th grade report card with the D in math. I’d also show them the Cs in writing, then the books I’d written.

We have one of those who interjects themselves into every conversation offering bad advice in my workplace. As soon as she arrives, I walk away without saying anything. I highly recommend it!

I see items in my timeline suggesting Sept. 22 is a day long-predicted by religious communities. It is always interesting to read the spin when such predictions fail.

Clear definitions are great, especially when doing science. They are, however, things we impose on nature and they can start meaningless arguments.

If you are a leader who does not pay attention during presentations, especially those being made by your members, you lose all credibility.

“With a bit of imagination, nothing can be truly anomalous.” -Stephen Jay Gould

The fact that science has proven itself wrong is not evidence that pseudoscience is correct.

“Numbers do not guarantee truth.” -Stephen Jay Gould

Students often don’t find resume writing workshops valuable because they recognize there is too little for them to add. But advisers don’t let that stop them.

“The worldwide event happens at midnight.”
Um… can you be more specific?

Dealing with Conflict – https://hackscience.education/ https://hackscience.net/2023/09/15/dealing-with-conflict/

Not to leaders: if you want to understand the article, you need to read more than the title.

We can hardly expect folks to follow conventional grammar rule as autocorrect “fixes” so many to be wrong. Sure we could edit it, but we are posting to social media during meetings, so who has time?

“I have an open door policy” is leader speak for “if you have a problem, I’ll be busy.”

“Students have the right to do anything.”
“Students must follow our rules without exception.”

Reality, and functional schools, lies between those extremes.

One thing I have learned over 35+ years in education is how to spot attempts to pull me into conflicts and how to avoid reacting when someone tries.