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See the list below for a curated list of some great articles for educators' growth and development
Great Articles
Great Articles
Dr. Rockwood's distillation of the research on how learning happens and how to craft learning experiences that lead to deep understanding. This represents Payson High School's shared understanding of the learning process. It contains the principles that inform our pedagogy.
K. Anders Ericcson, Michael J. Prietlua, and Edward T. Cokely (2007). How to develop expertise in our students and in ourselves. ". . . Like other world-class performers, Mozart was not born an expert--he became one."
Chapter 4 from the book "Range" by David Epstein (2019). To form learning that endures, a certain degree of difficulty and struggle must be had. Easy learning creates a knowledge mirage, the illusion that deep learning has occurred. Easy learning does not stick. Difficult learning does. Said another way, comfortable learning does not endure. Uncomfortable learning does. This is a GREAT read.
Chapter 1 from the book "Instructional Rounds in Education" by City, Elmore, Fiarman, and Teitel (2009). A thought-provoking chapter that outlines a model for understanding the interaction between teacher skill, student tasks, and curricular content. The authors breakdown how real instructional change must be accomplished and do a brilliant analysis of some of the flaws in our educational structure and culture that are obstacles. It is a GREAT read.
Youki Terada (2023) in Edutopia. What to do about a 100-point grading system with a troubling history—and inherent flaws that carry over into the present day.
Terada Y. & Merrill, S. (2022) in Edutopia. "This year, we crossed our fingers and turned to best practices once again, reviewing hundreds of studies to identify the most impactful and insightful educational strategies we could find. . . . We found evidence that sheds new light on the misunderstood power of brain breaks, took a close look at research that finds a surprising—even counterintuitive—rationale for teachers to focus on relationships, and located both the humor and the merit in asking kids to slither like a snake as they learn about the “sss” sound of the letter S. . . . All that, and a lot more too, in our once-a-year roundup that follows. "
This free resource was created by Angela Duckworth, the author of Grit and scientist who studies character development. This online resource provides research-tested, actionable advice for parents and educators.
Duckworth is a scientific researcher who focuses on how to build character traits in youth so that they thrive, (author of “Grit”). This page on her website has links to many of her published articles. There are many, written for an academic audience, but they are very good. If you want to read what the actual science says about what works for building character, this is a great place to start:
Niharika Gupta and Sameer Sampat Thursday (2021). "Teacher expectations create a reinforcing cycle. Teacher beliefs about students’ growth potential shape those teachers’ actions, which then, in turn, impact students’ growth, feeding back into teachers’ beliefs about students. . . "
Article in the New York Times by Bruce Feiler (2013). "Myth-shattering research has reshaped our understanding of dinnertime, discipline and difficult conversations. Trendsetting programs from Silicon Valley and the military have introduced techniques for making teams function better. . . . The single most important thing you can do for your family may be the simplest of all: develop a strong family narrative." (link to a more printable Word copy)
The Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education (2015). "Psychological science has much to contribute to enhancing teaching and learning in the classroom. . ."
Dunlosky et al. (2013). Kind of dense, but good. "Many students are being left behind by an educational system that some people believe is in crisis. Improving educational outcomes will require efforts on many fronts, but a central premise of this monograph is that one part of a solution involves helping students to better regulate their learning through the use of effective learning techniques. Fortunately, cognitive and educational psychologists have been developing and evaluating easy-to-use learning techniques that could help students achieve their learning goals. In this monograph, we discuss 10 learning techniques in detail and offer recommendations about their relative utility. . . ."
Roediger (2013). "The scientific study of human learning and memory is now more than 125 years old. Psychologists have conducted thousands of experiments, correlational analyses, and field studies during this time, in addition to other research conducted by those from neighboring fields. A huge knowledge base has been carefully built up over the decades. . . ."
Valent (2021), of the Brookings Institute. "While we were preoccupied with preparing students for the 21st-century economy, we failed to prepare them for our 21st-century democracy. Our social and political terrain really did change on us. The emergence of social media, like talk radio and cable news before it, reshaped how we learn about the world and one another. We interact in ways we’ve never interacted before, often without face-to-face contact.
"Navigating this new terrain requires a discrete set of skills and dispositions that don’t come naturally. How do we act with civility in a digital environment where we know people only by the antagonizing views they espouse? How, in a time of unvetted and manipulated information online, do we distinguish fact from fiction? We haven’t done these kinds of things well. "
Landau (2022) Nautilus. "Some scholars argue that American culture’s saturation with negative stereotypes around math in combination with current approaches to teaching the subject are perpetuating anxiety, making some kids think they are bad at math, and preventing them from excelling. Research shows that humans are born with an inherent sense of numbers, known as numerosity.
King (2021), Op-Ed in the Deseret News. "The problem isn’t critical race theory. We should worry about miseducation instead. . . Miseducation, defined, is the communication of knowledge that harms students and society’s perception of Black people and Blackness. . . . Miseducation has continued to define our K-12 history education policy. While we may not see outwardly racist words describing Black people, we continue to see narratives that dehumanize the historical experiences of Black people. "
King (2020), Social Education 84(6) , pp. 335–341 ©2020 National Council for the Social Studies. "While the sentiment, 'Black history is American history,' is factual, we cannot tell America’s story without the story of Black America; in practice, the axiom can be problematic. While well intended, the saying is a non-controversial, palatable, and whitewashed discourse that maintains the status quo and interferes with truly improving Black history education. It is a feel-good phrase because it celebrates and identifies the country’s diversity and supposed inclusive mission as a democratic nation. Most problematic is that the phrase insinuates a sort of shared historical legacy between white and Black people, which is not entirely accurate. . . Redefining Black history is to explore Black identity through complex and nuanced narratives that attempt to get at the full humanity of Black people. I suggest that we incorporate these six principles into our curriculum and pedagogies . . ."
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