EA Center for Teaching & Learning

Opening the closed circle: why being wrong helps us find out what's right Falsifiability, pseudoscience and why "it works for me" is a pedagogical dead end

It’s not good enough to say “it works for me”. How do you know? What are the criteria by which you’d change your mind? If there are none, you have insulated yourself from reality.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Unlearning Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

New WDYN: The Unlearning Edition.

Not what to learn next. What to examine first.

Three pieces on feedback, emotional expression, and what evaluation pressure does to teachers — not just students.

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Builders Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

New WDYN: The Builders Edition 🔨

February is a good time to recover some time. We're sharing ways to find what you've saved, borrow from good curation, and build the small tools your classroom actually needs.

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The 'What We Saw' Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

Open Classroom Week reminded us that teaching is a full-contact sport. The movement. The language. The constant recalibration.

Most of what makes it work is invisible—until you really watch. This week's WDYN takes a closer look.

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Invisible Thinking Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

Who’s doing the thinking?

This week’s WDYN looks at AI, judgment, and visibility—drawing on Paul Kirschner, using NotebookLM as a stress test, and linking it to Open Classroom Week as a forcing function for shared professional learning.

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Intersection Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

WDYN—The Intersection Edition

Labs → classrooms → student lives
AI → assignments → intentions
Practice → fluency → thinking

The work isn’t replacing what works. It’s knowing what to build on.

Soon....

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The New Year Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

January loves outcomes. Learning depends on rituals.
This week’s WDYN is about courage in practice—what we keep, what we drop, and what we commit to doing again tomorrow.

Less reinvention. More intention.

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Winter Break Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

As winter break approaches, this week’s WDYN leans into the pause.

-Settle what already works.
-Notice the light (apricity is a great word).
-Carry a few good companions into January.

No optimization. Just a quieter handoff.

When Assessment Becomes a Conversation What we’re learning from piloting Viva as an oral assessment tool

Assessment works differently when explanation is unavoidable.

Reflections on oral assessment, AI as a speed bump, and seeing student thinking more clearly with InitialView's new platform, Viva.

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Possibility Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

New WDYN out now: Expectation. Curiosity. Possibility. A quick-read toolkit for teachers navigating exam season, adolescence, and their own well-being.

Relearning How to Watch the Game How small insights, seen clearly, might change the profession more than another decade of theory.

Teaching’s Moneyball moment is here: small data, clear sightlines, teacher-led inquiry.

We’re building the architecture for it in @eactl.bsky.social.
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'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Overflow Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

New WDYN is out: memory that matters, teaching as part paradox and part adaptive expertise, and 8 myths about emotional intelligence.

Plus a Tom Stoppard mic drop on the power of words in an AI era. Something for everyone this week.

episcopalacademyctl.substack.com/p/what-do-yo...

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Feedback Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

This week’s WDYN is all about feedback—grading tweaks that help learning, feedback that builds trust, & why teachers want AI class summaries, not endless personalization.

Plus: a perfect Gary Oldman/Nolan clip on why strong relationships make feedback effortless.

💥Super cool new job ad alert 💥 The @uncschoolofed.bsky.social is seeking a 12-month, fixed-term faculty Director for our new BA in Elementary Education program! This person will play a critical role growing this exciting new program! Apply by 1/5/26 Details here: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/309...

Our Student Advisory Board is digging into Instructional Illusions this afternoon—already spotting where “good” teaching doesn’t equal good learning.

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Gratitude Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

Attention is the rarest form of generosity.

This week’s WDYN Wednesday is about noticing what’s good—and being changed by what we see.

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Rivalry Week Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

It’s Rivalry Week at EA — a reminder that the best performances, on the field or in the classroom, come from preparation and care. Good coaching and good teaching share the same playbook: clear goals, calm under pressure, and care for the people doing the work. 🏅 #RivalryWeek #WDYNWednesday

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Halloween Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

This week’s WDYN gets a little spooky. 👻

Behind every strong lesson is a bit of mystery, a well-placed trick, and a treat worth sharing. From Webb’s Depth of Knowledge to curiosity and AI design—peek behind the curtain with us.

www.instagram.com/reel/DQP5jE8...

Our very own Senor Shimrock is on HOCO duty tonight. A real man of the people.

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Refinement Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

What do a pit crew, a Pixar co-founder, a Pomona professor, and the Principles of Instruction have in common? They all remind us that teaching gets better at the edges.

🧠 WDYN Wednesday: Small Moves for Bigger Learning

I love when my colleagues do good work & make that work public.

That’s been happening more frequently via Substack of late. Here’s my @eactl.bsky.social colleague Andrew Shimrock doing so with a healthy dose of inspiration from Robert Talbert’s Grading for Growth work.

Delighted to welcome students and teachers from Archmere Academy this morning to explore our Center for Teaching & Learning—diving into the Science of Learning, the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning, and what it means to translate research into practice.

I'm taking a deep dive into the (potential) benefits of 2-stage testing. I'm sharing the following slides with students today. I need to write this up, but I'm excited about what we've learned so far.

(Small sample size, blah blah. We'll do it all year.)

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Grading & Feedback Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

Long weekend. Short week. Endless grading.

This week’s WDYN Wednesday shares 3 quick reads to make feedback count—and grades mean less.

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Work Beneath the Work Edition (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

Agency, trust, and the real work of learning. This week’s WDYN spans the new book Pedagogies of Voice, middle school trust, Daisy Christodoulou on why learning can’t always be fun, and the two jobs of teaching.

What can a simple classroom ritual—and a pitch counter—reveal about language learning? More than you’d think it turns out.

And just in time for playoff baseball season and our ‘Sportsmanship’ Stripe of the Month here at EA. #GoPhils ⚾️

'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—Our 100th Post! (Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."

🎉 Our 100th Beacon Post! This week’s WDYN digs into design for learning:
– Oli Cav’s timeless slide rules
– Jim Heal on retrieval routines
– Carl Hendrick on learning from mistakes