There are different kinds of motivation, and the kind matters more than the amount.

Saying you taught it but the student didn't learn it is like saying you sold it but the customer didn't buy it.

Maximum difficulty isn't the same as optimal difficulty.

Assessments should compare the performance of students to a set of expectations, never to the performance of other students.

The difference between a good educator and a great educator is that the former figures out how to work within the constraints of traditional policies and accepted assumptions, whereas the latter figures out how to change whatever gets in the way of doing right by kids. 'But we've always...', 'But the parents will never...', 'But we can't be the only school in the area to...' - all such protestations are unpersuasive to great educators. If research and common sense argue for doing things differently, then the question isn't whether to change course but how to make it happen.

What is wrong with encouraging students to put "how well they're doing" ahead of "what they're doing." An impressive and growing body of research suggests that this emphasis (1) undermines students' interest in learning, (2) makes failure seem overwhelming, (3) leads students to avoid challenging themselves, (4) reduces the quality of learning, and (5) invites students to think about how smart they are instead of how hard they tried.

The overwhelming number of teachers ...are unable to name or describe a theory of learning that underlies what they do.