How would you teach if the life of your child literally depended on you teaching successfully?  This is a true story of when I realized how important effective instruction was to the life of my daughter.  This is the story of the first two minutes of teaching my daughter to drive....

Imagine trying to make a decision about what make of car to purchase. You see an advertisement for a particular make of car that claims, “Eighty-eight percent of those surveyed selected this particular make over a Mercedes Benz in a head to head selection.”

That sort of claim gets you...

Today I would like to share an idea I learned from E.J. Rossi.

Mr. Rossi is the Assistant Superintendent for Instruction in the Atascadero Unified School District.  E.J. and I  met at a recent training to inform schools and districts about some changes being made in a statewide report...

For more than a decade TESS Consultants have been training teachers in how to most effectively and efficiently teach students.  Immediately prior to the start of the training, as part of our introduction to the staff,  either a district or site administrator will provide to the assem...

Recently I had an opportunity to attend a training on new tools that have been developed that will provide additional  data to schools and districts to help determine the effectiveness of  LCAP plans.  School and district data  will be provided on multiple indicators that will measur...

Not long ago I attended an education conference.  As I was waiting for the morning program to begin I became engaged in conversation with a person with whom I was sharing a table. We discovered we were both drawn to the conference by the morning’s keynote speaker, Mike Schmoker.

As we...

I was raised Catholic. There are some indelible memories of attending mass every Sunday and “church school” every Wednesday.  In case you did not know this about me, I am old enough to remember when the mass was celebrated in Latin.  Upon reflection, I have to wonder what the purpose...

“The dog bit the boy.  The boy bit the dog.  Same words. Different order.  Different meaning. Different impact. Especially for the dog!”  

-Anthony Robbins

In the early 2000’s nearly all school leaders with whom we worked had loaded up a van-load of teachers and/or administ...

When my 28-year-old daughter, Celeste, was about 3 years old, she dumped her Cheerios on the floor of the family room.  Both my wife and I were home but I nodded and said to my wife, “I’ve got this.”

I directed my daughter to pick up the Cheerios.  She did not comply.  So I told her i...

I have recently begun working out after a hiatus that was way too long. For those of you who have ever started or have restarted a strength and cardio routine after a lengthy break, you know that starting up can be challenging. I have begun working out and I am struggling already. Ne...