Things I Know About Teaching and Learning...

but turn out not to be true.  As is so often the case, 'conventional wisdom' comes up short.  According to this article, Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits, some of what you may have believed about teaching and learning seems to be less-than-written-in-stone, so to speak.

What's the Big Idea?  How can it be that what I knew was true isn't???
And WHAT DO I DO NOW????

I think you do what good teachers everywhere always did -

• you try lots of different things.  
• you have a 'toolkit' of varied and tested ideas
• you stay alert to what is working and what is not
• you are always revising, tweaking, improving based on evaluation of desired outcomes
• you remember that you won't always be successful, but you never stop trying to be better
• you study new ideas but don't necessarily throw out the old ones
• you hesitate to blindly follow every new theory
• you plan, 
• you evaluate,
• you build on success
• you remember that you became a teacher because you love learning
• you do everything in your power to encourage the love of learning in your students.

Remember the wisdom of the statement:

Lo alecha ha-m'lacha ligmor

v'lo ata ben chorin l'hivatel mimena

You don't have to finish the work - but you are obligated to begin it