Readiness is a student’s entry point relative to a particular understanding or skill.

As educators we need to understand that there is no finish line in our work.

In my experience, professionals who are best in any field approach their work with humility. They know that their work is more than just a job. It's an exploration of life. Even on days when they feel most confident, things can go wrong. Sometimes even the good things that happen are a mystery - a surprise. There are always elements outside our control. That's humbling - or should be.

We need to understand where are students are at any point during a unit - in other words, what each student actually knows, understands, and can do at a given time based on the content goals we've established.

Creating a classroom environment that encourages students to take the risk of learning. We've known for a long time that when students lack a sense of safety or of belonging or of contribution, learning takes second place to meeting those needs.

A gifted teacher has an unfailing eye for magical classrooms & loses sleep over anything less than the highest quality.

In differentiated classrooms, teachers begin where students are, not the front of a curriculum guide.