Michael Zen

And, crucially, lots of time practising a pupil's 'inference skills' often drastically decreases the time for these pacy reading experiences, impeding the exact thing that is supposedly being targeted.

So much advice about teaching inference forgets that kids constantly make sophisticated inferences all day long in contexts where they have relevant knowledge. >>

This isn't a coincidence. Every inference is dependent on knowledge specific to the language involved. What fascinated me was the teaching recommendations that were made in this podcast. >>

@SoLInTheWild Since fragments knowledge, it also minimizes outcome, which is learning.

So this is a great example of what I’ve been talking about with choice boards being a learning styles dog whistle while also giving novice students the freedom to opt out of integrating their learning using multiple modalities as opposed to one. Choice boards prioritize selection when learning demands integration. If the goal is understanding, students shouldn’t opt into just drawing, labeling, or writing. They should do all three in one coherent task. Integration builds knowledge; selection often fragments it. Here’s what I’d do differently: instead of asking students to choose between labeling, drawing, or writing, I’d have them integrate all three into a single, coherent product. For example, students create a plant life cycle diagram, label each stage, write a brief explanation for each part, and embed a short narrative that follows the seed’s journey around the diagram. Same content, different modes, but not separated. Integrated.

open.substack.com/pub/richardwhe… New Blog, a want to see if there is an appetite for a civilised discussion about the Science of Behaviour

@muhamedfazalps7 This is very interesting. I need to research more.

@ZebMic A McKinsey study found that workers using AI tools save an average of 30% of their time on routine tasks — but the bigger gains come when AI handles the 80% of work that's context-switching and searching, freeing you to focus on the 20% where deep expertise actually matters.

It is fascinating how many ai chat bots, Curriculum planners, and assistants are available these days. How do you start using them if you find it faster to do it yourself because the knowledge is already in your head?

Fascinating that it is so simple and proved!

@spjohnson2025 @cryptopunk7213 x.com/ZebMic/status/…

@cryptopunk7213 This seems like a science fiction story about a main character trying to find enlightenment. He goes to a monastery to learn from the master and the master is an autonomous robot who was trained by the greatest human masters in the past.

this is insane lol japan is running out of monks... so they're training AI robots called "buddharoid" to replace them 😂 (im not joking): - japan's temples are closing because fewer priests are available to run them + aging population - the solution: chatgpt robots trained on 1000+ years of buddhist scripture that answer your spiritual questions - the robot even sits in religious prayer positions like an actual monk does. you can literally have a conversation on life's deepest dilemmas with a robot as smart as the dalai llama i cannot believe they're scaling these robots to run actual temples.

@josephluria @cryptopunk7213 That is an interesting one. "Mori explains ego like an engineering flaw: it creates distortion in perception" Then question: Those in charge of robots have their own interests and distort perceptions with the help of algorithms.

@cryptopunk7213 There’s precedent. The engineer who coined the term “uncanny valley” wrote a book about it.

In Australia differentiation is now built into law, teachers provide differentiation strategies and if they don’t they can be held legally liable. Most differentiation is aimed at cognitive challenged students is where lessons and assessments are basically shortened and simplified. Differentiation in public schools for gifted students is almost non existent because time and resources is allocated to academically struggling students or those requiring behaviour management.

@warmMagnet @HelpfulTeacher_ What are your top 3 solutions of the effective physical classroom operation to support differentiation?

A quick response: Differentiation on its own is challenging. However, it can actually become increasingly manageable as the school year goes on when it is used in combination with two other approaches. See the two slides below… Slide 1 Ontario policy doc “Learning for All” (now several years old) outlines the 3 instructional approaches that are involved. Slide 2 In my book, Ready to Learn, I go further and suggest that any teacher can learn to effectively address varied student needs by proactively anticipating them and embedding solutions into the physical classroom or how it operates. A key to success is ensuring Ss have sufficient autonomy to access these embedded solutions without involving the teacher.

You know what doesn't work? Differentiation Recent studies show no noticeable gains, especially compared to simple classwide explicit instruction It spreads teachers thin, drives burnout It's a buzzword backed by popcorn science So scrap it. And simplify #differentiation

@Staffnasty2 @HelpfulTeacher_ What do you mean in this context backwards?

@ZebMic @HelpfulTeacher_ You have that backwards

@tombennett71 Critical thinking also requires the presence of innate desire to understand there is an unknown and find the answer. Always learning. Always questioning.

You cannot teach critical thinking. You can teach domain specific expertise, which enables you to think critically about that domain. Brilliant chess players do not make great military commanders. More problematically, people who think they have great critical thinking skills are often the ones who get hoodwinked by any fashionable idea, because they lack the domain expertise to interrogate nonsense.

Wharton researchers gave nearly 1,000 high school math students access to ChatGPT during practice problems Result: chatGPT is the perfect trap. Look at the red bars. Students with ChatGPT crushed their practice sessions. The basic ChatGPT group solved more problems and those on the "tutor" version did even more. Now look at the gray bars. That's the exam. No AI allowed. The ChatGPT group scored 17% worse than kids who practiced with zero technology. And the fancy tutor version? No better than working alone. The researchers called AI a "crutch." When they analyzed what students actually typed into ChatGPT, most of them just wrote - “What’s the answer?” The kicker: students who used ChatGPT believed it hadn't hurt their learning. They were confidently wrong. This is the AI trap in education. Outsourcing your thinking. Of course, lots of half-baked AI literacy curricula being rolled out in schools now Let’s of course ignore that basic literacy (the ability to read) is possible for <50% of 8th graders Source: Bastani et al. (2025), "Generative AI Can Harm Learning," PNAS

@HippyMomPhD Include rubuk's cubes... and give lots of interesting math facts about it. Teach steps from the manual. 1st done-start again, repeat repeat repeat. Then 2nd step...

Thinking about running a math exploration camp this summer with the goal of making math beautiful, fun, & less intimidating. Games, Puzzles, Art. Should I put out the curriculum for everyone?

@Jo10030676 @lornatweets Agree. Should come before school and reinforced by teachers later, for consistency. Same concept: a parent asks to provide a class list for cards. "Your child is in that class. Ask them. There are so many places in the classroom to find proper spelling of names."

@ZebMic @lornatweets My grandson could spell his 7 letter name at 3. It’s sad so many parents aren’t teaching this basic concept before they go to school (unless there is a learning disability). He knows his brother’s and 2 cousins names at 4y. Not the school’s fault.

This is why 5 graders can’t even spell their names these days. Teachers don’t get paid enough to deal with modern day parents.

@teachwhocares1 @lornatweets Teachers stopped calling students by last names. They even sometimes call teachers by their first names only. Students sign their papers with first name of, or something like "Peter N."

@ZebMic @lornatweets What school have you worked at?They learn their whole name in kinder and pre k.Most of use strategies like I make them highlight their name. Ask them the parents name and they will say mommy.They don’t know. I tell my 3rd graders that they need to know their parents entire name

I’ve given many gifts to my superfan book club who already own a large number of my professional books. Recently, I offered them a Pro version of any book they were missing. One of them replied that he already has everything and would love a copy of Classical Math Complete (worth $200) to teach his nephews math — but he would understand if it wasn’t possible. I told him it was no problem at all. No amount of money is as precious as helping a few young kids learn good math. Who knows — maybe one of them will create the next Google or win a Fields Medal someday.

@iamkennethchan Are those living to be ejected when no longer working those jobs? Old? With no dependants?

A new 156-unit, below-market rental housing complex in West Vancouver is now fully occupied with 316 residents. It provides local workforce housing, with 65% of residents being public workers, including school teachers & police officers. #vanpoli #vanre dailyhive.com/vancouver/kiwa…