Higher Education
The senior-year admissions timeline: a month-by-month playbook
Senior year compresses the college admissions process into one academic year. A working month-by-month plan, from late summer through May 1 decision day.
Higher Education
Differentiation that doesn’t double your prep time
Most differentiation advice fails the prep-time test. The teachers who do it sustainably differentiate at narrow points and accept the middle of the lesson is the same for everyone.
Building a homeschool day for a kid with ADHD
Homeschooling a kid with ADHD requires a different daily structure than typical homeschool. The shorter blocks, movement breaks, and outsourced co-op time that actually work.
Topics
EdTech & Classroom Tools
Honest reviews of the apps, platforms, AI tools, and devices teachers are asked to adopt. We assess what genuinely helps students think, what just keeps them busy, and what's heavily marketed without earning its place.
“The case against more screens in elementary classrooms”
26 posts
Digital Literacy & Media
Reading, writing, and thinking in a media environment that wasn't built in students' interest. We cover information literacy, source evaluation, attention, and what it means to be a careful reader and a credible writer online.
“Teaching media literacy in an algorithm-shaped attention environment”
25 posts
Schools & Policy
What happens to teaching when policy meets practice. We write about school systems, assessment regimes, district decisions, and the quiet politics that shape what's possible inside the classroom.
“Chronic absenteeism, three years on: what the data actually shows”
21 posts
Teaching & Pedagogy
How real classrooms work, lesson by lesson. We write about instructional design, classroom practice, and the small craft decisions that shape what students actually learn, separating durable pedagogy from passing fashion.
“Differentiation that doesn’t double your prep time”
19 posts
Professional Development
Notes on how teachers actually grow. We cover conferences worth attending, PD that doesn't waste a Saturday, and the case for treating educators as career-long learners rather than topped-off skill sets.
“ISTE 2010: Easy…Not Free”
16 posts
Online Learning
MOOCs, course platforms, bootcamps, and the rest of the open-web learning economy. We cover where online courses deliver, where they don't, and how adults are actually picking up new skills outside traditional classrooms.
“Cohort-based courses (Maven and others): are they worth the price?”
10 posts
Recent writing
Digital Literacy & Media
Teaching media literacy in an algorithm-shaped attention environment
The media literacy curriculum most schools use was designed for a search-era internet. The feed era requires different lessons, and the work has gotten harder.
Homeschooling
Outschool, co-ops, and filling the subjects you can’t teach
Long-term homeschoolers do not teach everything themselves. How outsourcing classes, joining co-ops, and finding tutors fits into a sustainable homeschool.
EdTech & Classroom Tools
AI lesson-planning tools that don’t waste teachers’ time
Lesson-planning AI is one of the few clearly working AI use cases in classrooms. Which tools deliver, what they cannot replace, and how to evaluate them.
Online Learning
Which Coursera certificates employers actually recognize
Some Coursera certificates clear resume screens. Most do not. Which credentials function as hiring signals and which are decoration.
Higher Education
The hidden costs of out-of-state public universities
Flagship public universities now charge non-residents two and a half to three times in-state tuition. The math has shifted enough to be worth a fresh look.
Teaching & Pedagogy
The first ten days: what new teachers should actually focus on
Most of how the year goes is decided in the first ten days. New teachers should front-load routines, names, and tone, not lesson plans for September.
Homeschooling
Choosing a math curriculum: Saxon, Singapore, or Beast Academy
Saxon, Singapore, and Beast Academy are not interchangeable. Each does a specific job well and others poorly. A guide to picking the right one for your kid.
EdTech & Classroom Tools
Canvas, Schoology, and Google Classroom: an honest LMS comparison
Three K-12 LMSes dominate, and they optimize for different things. A practical comparison for districts and departments choosing or rethinking their stack.