Learning Theory | Cult of Pedagogy

Join Our First Summer Book Study

2Jun2014

by Jennifer Gonzalez

One will change the way you look at technology. The other will change the way you look at planning. Either way, your paradigms are about to get shifted. Big time.

The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

22May2014

by Jennifer Gonzalez

Until I read this book, I knew autism caused people to behave in ways that made it hard for them to fit in socially, but I guess I assumed they were unaware of it. That was a big underestimation: The awareness is there, it’s strong, it hurts, and it extends to the people around them.

Know Your Terms: Holistic, Analytic, and Single-Point Rubrics

1May2014

by Jennifer Gonzalez

Whether you’re new to rubrics, or you’ve used them for years without knowing their formal names, it may be time for a primer on rubric terminology.

Why is my kid allowed to make spelling mistakes?

18Apr2014

by Jennifer Gonzalez

“Last week, my son brought home a stack of papers from his first-grade class. Some of them had obvious spelling errors, but no one had marked them wrong. What’s the deal? Why don’t teachers seem to care about spelling anymore?”

How We Pronounce Student Names, and Why it Matters

14Apr2014

by Jennifer Gonzalez

Mutilating someone’s name is a tiny act of bigotry. Whether you intend to or not, what you’re communicating is this: Your name is different. Foreign. Weird. It’s not worth my time to get it right.

Race in the Classroom: There’s a Manual for That

24Mar2014

by Jennifer Gonzalez

83 percent of U.S. teachers are white. Nearly half our students are not. However uncomfortable it may be to talk about, this makes a difference. The good news is, a set of best practices is starting to emerge.

Know Your Terms: Nonlinguistic Representation

12Mar2014

by Jennifer Gonzalez

If you’ve ever heard a guy stop in the middle of an explanation and say, “Hold on, let me draw you a picture,” that dude is fixing to serve you a heaping plate of nonlinguistic representation.

The Trouble with “Amazing”: Giving Praise that Matters

25Jan2014

by Jennifer Gonzalez

If you’re trying to motivate someone—a student, an employee, your child—calling them amazing won’t pump them up the way you hope it will. Not in any lasting way. What’s worse, it could have the opposite effect.

What We Can All Learn from a Montessori Classroom

26Nov2013

by Jennifer Gonzalez

What I didn’t expect was the attitude of the students: They were focused. They were calm. They retrieved their lessons and worked at them seriously, while still maintaining a sense of humor. And their work was plenty rigorous.