Systems need to have built into them the mechanisms by which they can evolve in response to the naturally occurring stresses of a learning community. Facilitating that evolution demands that we respect the custodians of that system enough to empower them to shape the system. This was a status to which we had not yet been exalted as teachers at Brick. But to be fair, I rarely see teachers exalted to that status anywhere. This, incidentally, is the kind of evolving, self-perfecting system that we are working to build at Project GENIUS.

When teachers are allowed to grow the curriculum themselves rather than having it imposed upon them, that exalts the teaching profession.

Students do not look to you to be an arbiter concerning precisely how smart they are. First and foremost, they look to you to inspire them to reach beyond themselves in general. But in more mundane terms, they look to you to lay out the rewards and punishments associated with your course in such a way that they themselves as well as their classmates are encouraged towards actions that facilitate a meaningful learning environment.

Wondering if that really tough activity that you just pushed the kids through was pedagogically meaningful or just an act of sadistic teacherliness?  Wondering if that “fun” game you just played in class had some objective beyond getting the kids to like you?  Look long-term.