Are you ever bothered by school emails or communications stealing your personal time?  Here are two radical suggestions that have been game-changers for me. Let me know what you think. TIMESTAMPS  0:00:00 - The problems of phone-related stress for teachers  1:43 - Scheduled emails problem no. 1: they waste too much time  2:09 - Scheduled emails problem no. 2: they create unnecessary confusion  2:31 - Scheduled emails problem no. 3: email avalanches are stressful  3:02 - What do teachers think of scheduled emails?  4:09 - Radical phone habit no. 1: Keep your p ..read more

I’m writing this post from a delightful cafe in a quaint little touristy town near my home. The sunshine is pouring in through three walls of windows. Steam from my freshly brewed coffee wafts lazily upward. A creamy slice of carrot cake sits waiting to be consumed. Welcome to SPARKS: mini-segments intended to spark your thinking and ignite your practice. These short episodes are based on my written reflections, which you can find on the Teachers on Fire Magazine at Medium.com. Read the blog post featured in this episode at https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/you-can-love-teaching-love-your-st ..read more

Love or hate the policy decision — speaking, teaching, and breathing just became physically easier for exhausted educators across North America. Welcome to SPARKS: mini-segments intended to spark your thinking and ignite your practice. These short episodes are based on my written reflections, which you can find on the Teachers on Fire Magazine at Medium.com. Read the blog post featured in this episode at https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/two-years-later-a-breath-of-fresh-air-for-a-pounded-profession-f75ac74964b2. My name is Tim Cavey, and I’m proud to contribute to the education conversation ..read more

The reality: not every student has submitted the required products for a particular learning activity by the due date or deadline. What should the responsible teacher do? Here’s how some teachers respond: They update checklists of unsubmitted assignments on a weekly or daily basis. They regularly post names of students whose work is overdue on the classroom whiteboard or digital equivalents. Missing essays: Brian, Jackie, Solomon, Jenny, Stefan. They meet 1:1 with the students whose work is missing. They email students or send direct reminders via the LMS. They set up special study hall sessio ..read more

I knew that if we were to improve this student-teacher relationship and get learning back on track, this student would need to feel fully heard by the teacher. And the teacher would need to feel heard by the student. A meeting seemed like a logical next step. But I wanted to approach this very carefully. I wanted to think about ways to allow the student to feel heard without creating a slam session against the teacher. And I wanted to allow the teacher to feel heard by the student without them feeling collectively dumped on. So I worked with my principal to craft a professional first: a mediat ..read more

We recognize that our assessment beliefs and practices fundamentally shape every other aspect of learning that occurs in the school environment. As such, we engage in constant professional learning and seek to apply evidence-based thinking to our practices. Welcome to SPARKS: mini-segments intended to spark your thinking and ignite your practice. These short episodes are based on my written reflections, which you can find on the Teachers on Fire Magazine at Medium.com. Read the blog post featured in this episode at https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/what-is-the-purpose-of-assessment-a1c4be4d7 ..read more

Following the thread, I had a startling realization. It’s a thought that I’m sure has crossed many educators’ minds over the last two years. We don’t even let our middle schoolers behave like this. Welcome to SPARKS: mini-segments intended to spark your thinking and ignite your practice. These short episodes are based on my written reflections, which you can find on the Teachers on Fire Magazine at Medium.com. Read the blog post featured in this episode at https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/compassion-over-cancellation-seeing-the-humanity-across-the-aisle-2ea326ed7a8c. My name is Tim Cavey, a ..read more

How could you be so sure that your wonderful class or school community was X … only to hear that others view it as Y? Simple. You’re doing lots of great things within your own walls. But you’re doing a really bad job of telling your story. Welcome to SPARKS: mini-segments intended to spark your thinking and ignite your practice. These short episodes are based on my written reflections, which you can find on the Teachers on Fire Magazine at Medium.com. Read the blog post featured in this episode at https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/why-schools-must-tell-their-stories-d51f04d392f8. My name is ..read more

Dale Carnegie once said that “A person’s name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language.” And so it is. If we want to build meaningful culture, community, and relationships in our schools, we need to learn our students’ names. This is one way to do it. Welcome to SPARKS: mini-segments intended to spark your thinking and ignite your practice. These short episodes are based on my written reflections, which you can find on the Teachers on Fire Magazine at Medium.com. Read the blog post featured in this episode at https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/my-best-hack-for-mem ..read more

This episode comes to you from a Tim Hortons coffee shop. Host Tim Cavey is joined by fellow edu podcasters Tim Stephenson (Science 360) and Bryon Carpenter (Fresh Air at Five). This is a learning conversation. We talk about what’s firing us up, the content that keeps us going, and the practices that stoke our fires. Join us. My guests today are: Bryon Carpenter @BryonCar: Husband, father, teacher, fisherman, carpenter. Google Certified, EdTech leader. One Word for 2022 is Presence.  Podcaster: @freshairatfive Tim Stephenson @AstroStephenson: Host of the podcast Science360 podcast • Reci ..read more