I try to spend a good chunk of time each month visiting schools and shadowing teachers, looking for the systems and tricks folks use to make their buildings more “Together.” This post will kick off a series of Together Tricks on the little things school communities...
Routines. . . Not Just for your Students!
Most of us are heavily focused on teaching various routines to our students at the start of the school year: how to enter the classroom, how to hand in homework, procedures for using bathroom passes, ways to get classwork if absent, etc. We invest so much time up...
Mailbag: 170 Students and Drowning in Grading!
Dear Maia, I am a high school principal in Colorado, and some of my teachers have 170 students EACH. They are drowning in homework to grade. How on earth can they make this easier and more efficient? Kate S. ——————————————————————————————————————— Hi Kate, GREAT...
Write 300 words to win a free copy of The Together Teacher!
One of the biggest differentiators between Together Teachers and less-Together Teachers is how they empower their students to take real responsibility in the classroom. Now, before you start picturing Kindergarteners feverishly grading essays with red pens, I want to...
For You and Your Students: Make Every Minute Count
Katie, a third grade teacher in Wisconsin, has already attended TWO Together Teacher workshops in her two-year teaching career! Katie chose to attend a Together Teacher workshop shortly into her first year of teaching because she felt unproductive, overwhelmed, and...
August Tips: Book Release, Bobcats and Birthdays! (plus Barbie!)
Dear Together Friends, Fans, and Family Happy August! Happy Back-to-School! Happy Almost 46th Birthday to Maia! (peanut butter covered malt balls and fancy popcorn welcomed!) Happy Pub (lication) Month for The Together Teammate! After an intense few weeks of Together...
Author Interview and Book Giveaway Contest: Peg Dawson of Smart but Scattered!
Author stalking continues. . . While dabbling in Together Student research and resources here, here and here, I recently read the book Smart but Scattered. I was immediately intrigued by the executive functioning approaches discussed by Peg Dawson and her co-author,...
April Tips: Rudders, Recovery & Road Trips!
Dear Together Friends, Fans, and Family, As someone who dabbles in open-water distance swimming (yes, I survived my 2-mile ocean swim in Clearwater, FL last month, thank you for asking, but it was NOT PRETTY and it took me over two hours given the strength of the...
March Tips: Consume (Less), Create (More) & Community
Dear Together Friends, Fans, and Family, I descend from a long line of artists. A far back relative was a poet of distinction in Germany, all of my Heyck aunts are painters and musicians (in fact, check out my godmother’s feature in the Times), my sister – The...
February Tips: Chaos, Calendar & Community
Dear Together Friends, Fans, and Family, Living in the DC area is a bit. . . chaotic (or gut-wrenching? heart-breaking?) right now. A plane tragically fell out of the sky just a few miles from my home, I have researcher friends whose cancer studies at the NIH are...