Nikki Able

Head of Secondary, Chicago. Psych/TOK. Baseball/NFL/Photos/Cats. Huffleclaw/Ravenpuff, hoping the odds are ever in my favour. Teaching/Learning/Edu/Etc.

[James Tate @JamesTate121]

"In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and and say, "And we shall overcome." I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh's madness in Oklahoma City. I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing 'Amazing Grace' in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
"These were the presidents of my lifetime. These were not perfect men. They were not perfect presidents, god knows. Not one of them was that. But they approached the job, and they took to the podium, with all the gravitas they could muster as appropriate to the job. They tried, at least, to reach for something in the presidency that was beyond their grasp as ordinary human beings. They were not all ennobled by the attempt, but they tried nonetheless.
"And comes now this hopeless, vicious buffoon, and the audience of equally hopeless and vicious buffoons who laughed and cheered when he made sport of a woman whose lasting memory of the trauma she suffered is the laughter of the perpetrators. Now he comes, a man swathed in scandal, with no interest beyond what he can put in his pocket and what he can put over on a universe of suckers, and he does something like this while occupying an office that we gave him, and while endowed with a public trust that he dishonors every day he wakes up in the White House.
"The scion of a multigenerational criminal enterprise, the parameters of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. A vessel for all the worst elements of the American condition. And a cheap, soulless bully besides. We never have had such a cheap counterfeit of a president* as currently occupies the office. We never have had a president* so completely deserving of scorn and yet so small in the office that it almost seems a waste of time and energy to summon up the requisite contempt.
"Watch how a republic dies in the empty eyes of an empty man who feels nothing but his own imaginary greatness, and who cannot find in himself the decency simply to shut up even when it is in his best interest to do so. Presidents don't have to be heroes to be good presidents. They just have to realize that their humanity is our common humanity, and that their political commonwealth is our political commonwealth, too.
Watch him behind the seal of the President of the United States. Isn't he a funny man? Isn't what happened to that lady hilarious? Watch the assembled morons cheer. This is the only story now."
- Charles Pierce

[Nikki Able @nikable]

As part of my Masters my assigned reading this week is Do Learners Really Know Best? Urban Legends in Education. I appreciate that it is a 2013 article but by golly it's good. Should be mandatory reading for every educator!

[Shaun Allison @shaun_allison]

Today, our teachers were talking about how they maintain attention. Here’s a summary

https://t.co/5R41eGypzU

[Nikki Able @nikable]

@Mr_Crome It's something I am playing with at the moment - I like the thought of a supportive document that informs this is what x looks like done well. At this sch when we talk about x this is what it looks like. I don't want a bulky policy-esque doc tho. Very much a thought in progress.

[Nikki Able @nikable]

This thread is everything. Knowledge matters.

[Carl Hendrick @C_Hendrick]

"Learning facts is going to fade into the background." 🤦‍♂️
Quick thread on why this is a terrible take🧵⬇️

[Nikki Able @nikable]

We weren't friends as such and yet somehow she made you feel like you were. My thoughts and my heart go out to her friends and family.

[Nikki Able @nikable]

I read about Dawn's passing recently and almost didn't share anything. I wasn't anyone to her - we weren't friends as such. But through Twitter (and I will call it Twitter because I am referring to the edu-twitter of old and if you know you know)... https://t.co/Wn4ztMlRD4

[Nikki Able @nikable]

as an RE teacher and subject lead than most other people. She was kind and good and she embodied the best of twitter as it were back then. I am sad about her passing, because the world has lost a brilliant and compassionate woman....

[Peps @PepsMccrea]

One of the most effective ways to drive effective inclusion is to make our teaching ‘accessible by default’.

Let's dig into what that means:

↓

[Nikki Able @nikable]

I miss twitter.

[HeadteacherChat @Headteacherchat]

“What makes some teachers more effective than others is that they make learners care about stuff they didn’t care about when they stepped into the classroom,” @dylanwiliam

[Mike Downes (NPQLTD) @MrDownesteach]

On Monday, our EiM Collaboration Group came together to discuss ‘The GTT: From Principles to Practice’, focusing on Dimension 4: Activating hard thinking. We used this D4 one-pager to facilitate meaningful conversations on how great teachers should present content and activities in ways that activate student thinking. The successful implementation of the elements outlined below is key to ensuring that students are thinking hard about the material we want them to learn:

✅ Element 4.1: Structuring
✅ Element 4.2: Explaining
✅ Element 4.3: Questioning
✅ Element 4.4: Interacting
✅ Element 4.5: Embedding
✅ Element 4.6: Activating

Please RP if you would like a copy of the D4 one-pager

@EvidenceInEdu @ProfCoe @ProfKime

[Nikki Able @nikable]

@Josh_CPD @MrGoodwin23 Chicago

[Nikki Able @nikable]

I need a Maths teacher... If you fancy living in Chicago and teaching Maths, then check out this role: https://t.co/XrhrXhIPYk

[Nikki Able @nikable]

@Mr_Crome Cannock Chase is beautiful! Spent many years of life working in the 'nock.

[Nikki Able @nikable]

@Mr_Crome I know. I am sorry. Next year will be their year. I have a good feeling!

[Nikki Able @nikable]

I just enjoy these celebrations so much...
https://t.co/f9PpBJjthq
@Mr_Crome

[Nikki Able @nikable]

I like the Rams, I really, really do but I have a real soft spot for the Vikings. Sam Darnold carried my fantasy team this year. I would like to see them make a game of this.