“We didn’t ban calculators. We taught math differently. We didn’t ban the internet. We taught research differently. So why are we trying to ban AI instead of doing the same?” We’ve been here before. I was a young teacher when the internet showed up in classrooms in the 90s. Educators panicked. Teachers worried it would make students lazy, that it would only be used for cheating, and that memorizing facts and dates would go out the window. They were right. Sort of. The internet did change things. But it didn’t destroy learning. It made us rethink what was worth teaching and how we wanted to spend instructional time. It pushed us away from memorizing trivia and toward analyzing, questioning, creating, and connecting. The same thing happened with calculators decades before. There was real fear that students would lose the ability to compute. But what actually happened was that students stopped getting stuck in multi-digit calculations and started spending more time doing real math. They m...
The Case Against Small Group Instruction “When students are stuck at the back table year after year, it’s no longer support. It’s a message that we don’t believe they’ll ever catch up. Maybe it’s time we teach them like they can.” Ok. I have your attention! Before you pull out the pitchforks and storm my castle, read on. My intent is not to at all to say, “small groups bad.” This post is designed to share some thoughts and help teachers reflect on their targeted small groups and consider ways to improve equitable access to grade-level content for ALL students in the classroom. Why do we do small groups? Small group instruction was never designed to become the main event in the classroom and planning for instruction should not start with planning for small groups. Small group instruction is most effective as a supplement , not a substitute for core classroom instruction. When used effectively, small groups are responsive,...