It’s summer roadtrip season. What fun! But don’t you hate that moment when your GPS vocalizes, rerouting?

I get a sinking feeling. “What? Did I miss a turn?” Sometimes I’m startled out of my reverie, lulled by the monotony of driving. Other times I was already on high alert because of unfamiliar territory. But now I’m panicking because I may have blown my chances of arriving on time.

I recently realized why most professional development sessions, including the ones I led, did not have our intended long term impact. I have provided professional development since 1997 in two arenas:

1) inservice learning to currently practicing teachers, specialists, and transition coordinators and

2) preservice preparation of undergraduate and graduate students earning their teacher certifications.

Have you ever heard teachers complain that their students resist learning?

They say:

My students won’t practice their skills, even though I tell them it’s important for their life.

My class doesn’t pay attention when we go over a test. Don’t they want to learn from their mistakes?

My kids are bored with this unit, but I tell them we just have to get through it. …

The most common source of management mistakes is not the failure to find the right answers. It is the failure to ask the right questions. ”

— Peter Drucker

How often have you experienced a classroom FREEZE FRAME? You know that moment. The class has just finished reading a text or completing a learning task. Maybe the teacher has just presented new information by lecture, demonstration, or video. What happens at that moment?

“Have a great day!” How often do you hear people wish that for you? But what do they mean? Are they wishing that the magic fairy of happiness would sprinkle sparkly glitter on your head? I don’t think it works like that.

“Have you tried Planned Ignoring?”

That’s what I asked a co-teaching pair last week. I was surprised they hadn’t heard of this tried-and-true method of behavior management.

We were brainstorming after I had watched them trying to control a wiggly late afternoon classroom of 6th graders.

As a teacher, I have often tried to help my students develop new, more productive habits. Most of us agree that developing learner efficacy is an important part of teaching. Lately I’ve been pondering why we generally produce such limited change with our students. But first, let’s make this personal.

Have you ever tried to change a bad habit yourself?

The educational research has consistently reported that whether students are learning vocabulary, new skills, or appropriate behaviors, their new skills must be embedded in the general education context in order for students to grow the brain connections with prior knowledge.

Nobody will dispute that there is a great deal of pressure on schools today.

Improve test scores, reduce behavioral incidents, address achievement gaps, build student resilience, engage families… The list goes on… As I’m setting up for a professional development session, I often chat with teachers about other initiatives they have in their schools right now. I’m not surprised anymore when they start counting them off and run out of fingers.

How can teachers survive in such a stifling environment?

Teachers who are weary of developing differentiated approaches for their students will want to learn more about Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The difference is that in differentiation, the TEACHER has responsibility for adjusting the levels and types of content, process, and product to fit the interests, learning aptitudes, prior knowledge, and skill levels of their students