Teaching is one of the most misunderstood interactions in the world. Some people see it as a mere transaction, a job: you do this, I’ll pay you that. The input is your salary. The output is learning. These are distinctly measurable phenomena. One is calculated in dollars and cents. The other in academic outcomes, usually standardized test scores. The higher the salary, the more valued the teacher. The higher the test scores, the better the job she has done. But that’s not all.

Remote judgment is a misuse of timeless principles of assessment and evaluation. It dismisses trust as a core value in the teaching-learning relationship–are students going to trust the teacher who’s taking cues from an invisible wizard? It suggests that teachers can’t trust their own judgment. It ignores context–and context is everything in learning that sticks to brains.

What if you knew of a single instructional strategy that research has shown improves decoding, fluency and reading comprehension? Would you use it? Of course, you say. And yet one of the most under used literacy strategies is such a well documented strategy: the strategy of rereading.

They were Democratic Presidential candidates! And boy-oh-boy did they get sent packing with a ton of homework! Teachers, students, parents and community members from all over the country sat them down with instructions on how to improve the public education system. Kudos to the candidates for agreeing to listen.

With No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and Common Core State Standards, some adults have been led to believe that four- and five-year-old children should read by the end of kindergarten. Preschoolers are pushed to be ready for formal reading instruction by the time they enter kindergarten.

Teaching is an exhausting job. If you’re a parent, you know how tiring it is with just one or two kids. Imagine having a room full of them

Education systems around the world can tackle the mental health crisis among children – if they set out to do so. And countries that prioritise children’s happiness and well-being offer a strong starting point.

Many of our world’s most pressing challenges arise between groups who perceive the chasm between their opposing views as too vast to bridge. Conversely, discovering shared preferences, personality traits and common values serves as a powerful social glue.

Serious education issues in public schools are recycled because the ulterior motive of some is to end public education. Research is repeatedly ignored. Why are school administrators clueless? How is it that legislators repeatedly recreate policy we know is harmful for students? Each heading contains a link to proof.

Teachers can do much to foster a love of reading in their children. Like all worthy learning goals, this instruction must be planned, intentional, explicit, and persistent. Most importantly, it must grow out of the joy the teacher herself gets out of leading the literate life.