Thursday's Three Things—Resources, Reasoning, and Restraint
Three Things. On a Thursday.
This is the final Thursday’s Three Things for the summer as we take a hiatus next week before ramping up our weekly Wednesday writing for the school year. Thanks for following these last few months and best of luck as (many of us) get back into the best time of year.
Thursday’s Three Things
Going, going, Back, back—We could curate a list of back to school resources (which we started to do last week, actually) but then Holly Korbey’s The Bell Ringer Substack comes along and drops its ‘Back-to-School Companion’ which dwarfs anything we might compile in the coming weeks. Whether you’re looking for the latest on learning science, or seeking out resources on math, reading, and translating evidence to practice, this is the place to start.
Good Idea-Bad Idea—Part of going back to school means re-engaging with students of all levels on a more consistent basis than we typically might in the summer months. And when we engage with adolescents, we’re often left wondering, “What were you thinking?” This study from Abigail Baird, Jonathan Fugelsang, and Craig Bennett highlights the varied capabilities for adolescents when it comes to decision making and the inefficient brain networks that “may leave them vulnerable to poor decision making.” Keep that in mind when working with students over the course of the year.
Nods in Nuance—Going back to school in 2026 means grappling, again, with generative Artificial Intelligence.1 This post from Pedro De Bruyckere examines a recent study on the impact of teacher AI use as it relates to student learning. The findings? Evidence suggests “that benefits for teachers do not automatically become benefits for students.” Color us (not) shocked as there’s a ton of nuance throughout the study that De Bruyckere rightfully acknowledges. But we nearly nodded our heads off when reading the line where he writes, “AI can reduce administrative work, provide inspiration and help with routine tasks. But when it starts to replace pedagogical thinking rather than support it, genuine risks may emerge.” If we want our students to think, let’s not offload our own thinking along the way.
Your Weekly Moment of Zen
The Weekly Moment of Zen is often about finding adjacent inspiration. Is it also a rip off of the longstanding Daily Show segment of the same name? Absolutely. Everything is a remix. Think of it as a final stamp on each week’s post. Typically it’s not explicitly teaching and learning related, but if you squint hard enough we think you’ll see some parallels.
This week’s Moment of Zen comes from The Pudding’s recent post, ‘Why Some People Mow A Lawn Better than Others.’ You’ll need to click through this one a bit, but given that we think most Moments of Zen are parallel to teaching and learning, we think you’ll find a lot of value. Plus you can play a fun lawn-mowing video game, learn about your own workflows and processes, and not sweat your actual lawn amidst the dog days of summer.
Hooray!