Teacher Talk
How to Keep Kids Off Their Phones While Homeschooling
By: Scott Wilson | Sep 2, 2026
The most reliable way to keep kids off their phones while homeschooling is to agree on a spot where the phone goes during schoolwork, out of reach and out of sight. Set a clear return point, keep the work surface phone-free, and switch off notifications before the session starts.
Teachers have been working on this problem for a long time. Now it's your kitchen table.
Eyes down ...
5 Questions for Better Teacher Record Keeping
By: Jon Konen | Jan 28, 2018
Accurate record-keeping means capturing academic, attendance, and behavioral data consistently enough to guide instruction and hold up in a conversation with a parent. The strongest systems pair a digital platform, such as PowerSchool or Infinite Campus, for shareable data with a simple daily habit, such as a clipboard or checklist, ...
5 Questions to Tackle When Reflecting on Teaching
By: Jon Konen | Jan 19, 2018
Reflecting on teaching means deliberately reviewing your lessons, your relationships with students, and your own growth so patterns don't repeat by accident. The strongest teachers build it into daily, weekly, and end-of-year routines, not just after something goes wrong. A short list of guiding questions, asked consistently, does more for ...
Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness (Danielson 3e)
By: Jon Konen | Jan 19, 2018
Demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness is Danielson component 3e: a teacher's skill at adjusting a lesson while it is happening. Observers look for three things — adjustments backed by evidence, willingness to follow student questions, and persistence when students struggle. The 2022 framework renamed it Responding Flexibly to Student Needs. A teaching ...
6 Questions to Tackle in Using Assessment in Instruction
By: Jon Konen | Dec 23, 2017
Using assessment in instruction means treating formative checks (quizzes, exit tickets, class discussion) and summative tests as two different tools with two different jobs, then actually changing tomorrow's lesson based on what the data shows. The distinction that trips up new teachers: formative data should reshape instruction right away, not ...
6 Questions to Tackle When Engaging Students in Learning
By: Jon Konen | Dec 18, 2017
Argumentatively the most important aspect of teaching today: keeping students in engaged. Others would argue that classroom management is the ticket, while myself and others would state, “If you have effective engagement strategies, you do not have classroom management or discipline problems.” It is true, effective instruction can cure a ...
Questioning and Discussion Techniques: 5 Questions for Danielson 3b
By: Jon Konen | Dec 17, 2017
Questioning and discussion techniques make up component 3b of the Danielson Framework. Distinguished places greater emphasis on students initiating questions, extending one another's thinking, and taking responsibility for participation, while at Proficient more of that work is carried by the teacher. Check which edition of the rubric your district uses. No ...
10 First-Year Teacher Struggles That Catch Veterans Too
By: Amy Konen | Nov 27, 2017
Ten first-year teacher struggles that can resurface even for experienced teachers. A 25-year veteran who returned to her own classroom found herself facing an empty room, no materials, an unbuilt schedule, and long stretches without adult conversation. These are the ten she wrote about not being ready for. As I reflect ...
6 Questions to Tackle When Communicating with Students
By: Jon Konen | Nov 27, 2017
Communicating with students is the Danielson Framework component covering expectations for learning, directions and procedures, explanations of content, and use of oral and written language. The 2022 revision renamed it Communicating About Purpose and Content, though many districts still evaluate on the earlier version. Either way, the work starts with ...
Managing Student Behavior: 7 Questions for Exemplary Classroom Management
By: Jon Konen | Nov 27, 2017
Managing student behavior comes down to two things: preventing problems before they start, and transferring ownership of the classroom culture to the students themselves. The strongest classroom managers build clear, student-created rules, use verbal and non-verbal cues consistently, and lean on tiered behavior plans (Tier I, II, III) when a ...
Managing Classroom Procedures: 6 Questions for Danielson 2c
By: Jon Konen | Nov 14, 2017
Classroom procedures are the taught, repeatable steps students follow for everything from lining up to turning in work. Rules set expectations for behavior. Procedures set the mechanics. On Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching, they sit in Domain 2, Component 2c, and the exemplary rating goes to teachers whose students run ...