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Back
  • Home
  • About
    • Brief Overview
    • Curriculum Vitae
    • Testimonials
  • Books
    • Rekindle Your Professional Fire
    • Tackling the Motivation Crisis
    • What We Say and How We Say It Matter
    • Teacher Talk that Matters
    • Learning to Choose, Choosing to Learn
    • The Well-Balanced Teacher
    • The Research-Ready Classroom
    • The First Six Weeks of School, 2nd Edition
    • What Every Teacher Needs to Know Series
  • Consulting
  • Online PD
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Contact

Three Ways to Rekindle Teachers’ Professional Fires

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Health and Balance, Professional Development, Work Life Balance
On Friday, March 14, 2025, a group of thoughtful school leaders gathered in Manchester, NH for a one-day workshop. The goal was to think about how to support teachers’ physical and emotional health to rekindle teachers’ professional fires. We began
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The Perfect Breakfast for Teachers

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Health and Balance
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a perfect breakfast for teachers? We all know how important a good breakfast is. We know that when we eat a healthy breakfast with protein and fiber, we have good energy through the
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Finding Time for a One-on-One Problem-Solving Conference

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Challenging Behaviors, Classroom Management
You’ve got a student who is really struggling. Almost every day during math, he’s disrupting students nearby. You want to sit down with him for a problem-solving conference to figure out what’s going on. Maybe the two of you can
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What About Kids Who Just Don’t Care?

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Challenging Behaviors, Motivation, Teacher Talk
“What about kids who just don’t care?” When I’m supporting teachers in schools, either around classroom management and discipline or academic engagement and motivation, this is a question that often comes up. We all know these kids, don’t we? They
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5 Reasons to Not Use Incentives This Year (and 5 Things to Do Instead)

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Classroom Management, Great Academic Work, Mike's Blog, Motivation, Teacher Talk, Teaching Strategies
Classroom management and academic engagement are two of the most important aspects of getting off to a great start in the new school year. Though gem/marble jars, tickets, clip charts, and other incentive systems (including traditional grades) are common throughout
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Feeling Burned Out? Maybe It’s Time for a Shake-Up!

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Health and Balance, Mike's Blog, Motivation, Work Life Balance
A Conversation Between Starr Sackstein and Mike Anderson Starr Sackstein and I each often hear a worry from teachers we work with. They’re dedicated to the profession but are feeling exhausted, worn out, and stagnant. They aren’t sure what to
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Struggling with Motivation? Try Engaging Students with Project-Based Learning!

  • By Amy Difeo
  • In Classroom Management, Great Academic Work, Mike's Blog, Motivation, Student Choice, Teaching Strategies
Are you a teacher struggling to keep your students engaged? You’re not alone. A team of teachers at Sandown North Elementary School faced similar challenges, witnessing a decline in student engagement and an uptick in students that were dysregulated. Instead
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How Teachers Can Forge Instructional Autonomy

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Audio, Great Academic Work, Health and Balance, Interviews, Mike's Blog, Teaching Strategies
When my district first adopted a math program I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was relieved. Look a this—all of my math lessons are planned for the entire year! Just imagine the time I’ll save. I won’t
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Classroom Management 101: A Refresher

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Classroom Management, Social and Emotional Learning, Teaching Strategies, The Ebb and Flow of the School Year
You may think of the first weeks of school as a time to focus on classroom management, and it is. But in fact, all year long, we should consider classroom management an active part of our daily teaching. How do
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Whole Class Lessons: The Most Efficient, Least Effective Form of Instruction

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Classroom Management, Great Academic Work, Teaching Strategies
Kathy Collins and I were co-teaching a summer workshop for teachers on how to teach reading effectively. We were sharing about different kinds of direct instruction—various ways we can teach students the skills, strategies, and mindsets they need to be
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How is a Great Learning Environment Like a Three-Legged Stool?

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Classroom Management, Great Academic Work, Motivation, Social and Emotional Learning, Teaching Strategies, The Ebb and Flow of the School Year
A great learning environment is like a three-legged stool. Ruth Charney first introduced this concept to me years ago. It’s an important idea to keep in mind all year long, but it’s crucial during the first weeks of school. The
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Can Retakes Actually Raise the Bar?

  • By Cristin Kochanowicz
  • In Assessment & Grading, Blog, Great Academic Work, Motivation, Teaching Strategies
I know many educators bemoan retakes. It is often seen as giving kids too many chances, not holding them accountable, and generally “lowering the bar.” I’ve heard the warning “There are no retakes in real life!” too many times to
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Choice as a Motivator in Physical Education

  • By Pam Gunneson
  • In Blog, Great Academic Work, Motivation, Student Choice, Teaching Strategies, Uncategorized
What Are We Doing Today in Physical Education? “What are we doing today?” is the most frequently asked question by my middle school students while entering the gym to get ready for class. After my response, students will usually either
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5 Strategies for Keeping Lessons Short

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Great Academic Work, Teacher Talk, Teaching Strategies
A friend and colleague of mine, Andy Dousis, once told me that every lesson has three moments: a golden one, a silver one, and a leaden one. Whatever you say in the first 60 seconds of the lesson is the
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Square Pegs and Round Holes: Why I Moved Away From Letter Grades

  • By Kristin Castellano
  • In Blog, Great Academic Work, Motivation
Square pegs and round holes. This phrase plays over and over in my head each time I try to assign a letter grade to my students at the end of a marking period. My students’ learning is so complex, and
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Maybe We Shouldn’t Tell Students to Always Try Their Best

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Great Academic Work, Motivation, Social and Emotional Learning, Teacher Talk
Walk through most schools, and you’ll see messages like the ones above, posted in classrooms and in hallways. We often encourage kids, as they’re about to work to “try your best” or “put in max effort.” One year in
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A Powerful Proactive Strategy: Positive Phone Calls to Families

  • By Jaclyn Rohr
  • In Blog, Mike's Blog, The Ebb and Flow of the School Year
Early in the school year, there’s a powerful proactive strategy we should all consider. Positive phone calls to families give you the chance to build connections and relationships with families that will yield benefits all year long. But is this
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3 Ways to Pace Yourself (and Your Students) This School Year

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Classroom Management, Motivation, Social and Emotional Learning, Teaching Strategies, The Ebb and Flow of the School Year
A few years ago my wife gave me three months of coaching for my birthday. I’d been running 5K road races and was trying some half-marathons. She thought I could use some professional help!  We connected online, and I sent
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Can You Really Own Something You Didn’t Choose?

  • By Tom Tuscano
  • In Great Academic Work, Mike's Blog, Motivation, Student Choice, Teaching Strategies
“How’d it go?” On the surface, it is such a basic question. I’ve been asked that question plenty of times in my life. After a sports game, doctor’s appointment, or school meeting, not to mention that nerve-wracking best man’s speech
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Are You Teaching SEL or Character Ed?

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Social and Emotional Learning
This is probably a bit of a misleading title since there are plenty of overlaps between teaching SEL and character ed. If we put these two terms into a Venn diagram, we’d find plenty of overlaps. In my mind, there’s
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In Celebration of Dad Jokes

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Mike's Blog, Motivation, Social and Emotional Learning, Teacher Talk, Ted Lasso
What did the mathematical acorn say when he grew up? “Ge-om-e-try!” (“Gee, I’m a tree!”) Ah—dad jokes. Silly plays on words. Puns. Cornball humor. Eye-rollers. Groaners. Ted Lasso is packed with goofy humor. Have you noticed how this keeps your
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3 Planning Moves to Reenergize Your Teaching

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Great Academic Work, Health and Balance, Mike's Blog, Student Choice, Teaching Strategies, Ted Lasso
In the final episode of Season I of Ted Lasso, players are somber and nervous heading into a do-or-die match against a superior team. Ted decides they all need to try something new, so he invites the players to name
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Taking on a Challenge Is Like Riding a Horse

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Health and Balance, Mike's Blog, Ted Lasso
As I’ve watched Ted Lasso, I can’t help but think about the lessons that we educators can learn along the way. Today we’ll consider a line from the very first episode: “Taking on a challenge is a lot like riding
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Be Curious, Not Judgmental

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Classroom Management, Mike's Blog, Motivation, Social and Emotional Learning, Ted Lasso
My wife and I loved watching Ted Lasso. In fact, when our daughter came home from college for the holidays, we got her into it and watched both seasons again! One of the most powerful and uplifting scenes comes in
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Be a Goldfish

  • By Mike Anderson
  • In Blog, Classroom Management, Mike's Blog, Social and Emotional Learning, Ted Lasso
Even if you haven’t binge-watched Ted Lasso like I have (twice!), you’ve probably heard of it. In this blog post, we’ll explore one of Ted Lasso’s classic lines: Be a Goldfish and consider how it might help us when we’ve
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