big ideas | Cult of Pedagogy

A Conversation About School Choice

12May2024

by Jennifer Gonzalez

Legislating the idea that parents should choose the best school for their child is much more complicated in practice than in theory.

No More Easy Button: A Suggested Approach to Post-Pandemic Teaching

16May2021

by Jennifer Gonzalez

With this fresh start, let’s take the wisdom we’ve gained over the last year and use it. Let’s not go back to the way things used to be.

The Elegance of the Gray Area

21Feb2021

by Jennifer Gonzalez

If we spend more time practicing subtlety and nuance and complication in our thinking, we’ll all be a lot better off.

Reopening School: What it Might Look Like

24May2020

by Jennifer Gonzalez

Some thoughts on what post-COVID instruction might look like. (Spoiler alert: None are as good as face-to-face, but a few aren’t too bad.)

Let’s Give Our Teaching Language a Makeover

3Feb2019

by Jennifer Gonzalez

To master this craft, we need to choose our words carefully. This mini-makeover shows how revising our language in common classroom scenarios can send a completely different message.

Are You a Curator or a Dumper?

4Feb2018

by Jennifer Gonzalez

You have so much good stuff to share, but to get anyone to actually look at it, you need to give it some polish.

4 Things I’ve Learned About Teaching from CrossFit

29Oct2015

by Jennifer Gonzalez

For the first time, I understand what it feels like to be a struggling student. But because of the way CrossFit is structured, I keep trying. And I have no plans to stop.

Teaching in Beta: What We Can Learn from Software Developers

30Aug2014

by Jennifer Gonzalez

We already try new things all the time, but we expect perfection the first time around. When we don’t get it, we reject the good idea, move on to the next new one, and repeat the cycle. We’re chasing our own tails.

Teaching Digital Natives, Chapters 6-10

15Jul2014

by Jennifer Gonzalez

Part 2 of our 2-part discussion of Marc Prensky’s Teaching Digital Natives, a guide to using any kind of technology effectively for student learning. Great for technophiles and technophobes alike!