Responsibility and Authority – Public School Leadership
On the way back from Iowa last month – after visiting my elderly parents – my wife and I drove to Texas through Oklahoma via IH-35 south....
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The New 3Rs Academic Transformation
The Right Systems, The Right Resources, The Right People
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by Blaine Helwig
- Oct 3
- 5 min
Are You Trainable as an Educator?
Over the last four decades, I have come to realize that a myriad of qualitative evaluations are processed in real time during job...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Sep 19
- 11 min
Impact of TEA's Open Education Resource - OER
In 2011, Senate Bill (SB) 6 was signed into law, and it permitted Texas school district administrators the freedom to choose their own...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Sep 15
- 14 min
‘Writing’ – An Overlooked Learning Modality
There are four (4) primary ways humans of all ages learn selected skills or applications – thinking (metacognition), talking, writing,...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Jul 28
- 9 min
The Accidental Principal
My wife and I just finished walking our third ‘El Camino’ in Spain three weeks ago. There are two major walking routes that stretch from...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Jul 19
- 6 min
Preventing Numeracy Gaps from Forming
Numeracy gaps and literacy gaps are the two main academic hurdles in elementary schools, especially Title 1 campuses. Moreover, the...
152
by Blaine Helwig
- Jul 8
- 6 min
Managing Takes Effort!
My mother-in-law has long since retired, but she cleans a small two-story concrete supplier’s office every Friday to supplement her fixed...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Jun 27
- 10 min
Job Title Fallacy Syndrome
If there is one assumed professional trait in public education, it is ‘expertise.’ Now, it is rarely spouted from within the teacher...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Apr 18
- 3 min
Exploring Guided Novel Instruction (GNI) Pedagogy
Learning - any type of human learning - requires consistent practice and reflection to achieve proficiency at a given task. There must...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Feb 21
- 8 min
Transitioning to the Digital/On-Line Testing World
The vast majority of states have moved toward digital standardized testing. They have done this for a couple reasons. First, MONEY! It...
118
by Blaine Helwig
- Jan 20
- 5 min
Solving Aimless "Therapeutic" School Meetings
Most professional people I know dislike meetings of any kind. As a matter of fact, one of my engineering colleagues once philosophically...
124
by Blaine Helwig
- Dec 24, 2022
- 6 min
Academic Gaps - Each Teacher Can't Do It Alone!
I am not a big volleyball fan. But, throughout my life, I played a lot of different sports and activities including volleyball. Last...
166
by Blaine Helwig
- Dec 15, 2022
- 38 min
Math Fact Mastery - Easy to Do!
On July 20th, 1969, mankind demonstrated the ability to place men on the Moon and bring them safely back to Earth. This space journey is...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Dec 5, 2022
- 17 min
Independent Readers - Ultimate Literacy Goal!
Beginning in third grade, every Tuesday night, my mother would load my two brothers and me in the family car and drive us to the city...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Nov 17, 2022
- 8 min
Why Does Failure Continue?
I find the title of this blog interesting because as humans – I would hope that when folks perform poorly at some manageable task or...
312
by Blaine Helwig
- Oct 12, 2022
- 4 min
Instructional Coaches - What do they do all day?
Organizing large groups of people to efficiently complete any complex human task is challenging. In antiquity, for example, the Giza...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Oct 4, 2022
- 4 min
New Teachers Must Control Three (3) Vital Areas
Every person, conscious of the fact or not, strives for ‘control’ of events in their immediate sphere of influence. ‘Control’ affords...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Oct 2, 2022
- 16 min
Bilingual Acquisition – Language Learning Tips
Due to age and perspective, adults immediately recognize that the mastery of a second language is an incredibly pragmatic and useful...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Sep 27, 2022
- 19 min
So, You Want To Be A Principal???
About twenty-five years ago, I was a passenger in a car returning to Austin. I was part of a three-member structural engineering team on...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Sep 8, 2022
- 7 min
Atomic Habits – Repetition, Mastery, Pedagogy
After years of visiting Title 1 elementary charters and traditional public schools, I am constantly amazed at the minimal number of...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Sep 2, 2022
- 6 min
Avoid Self-Inflicted Professional Wounds
As a seasoned campus and central office administrator, I have witnessed first-hand a handful of incidents involving educators that not...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Aug 20, 2022
- 21 min
Solving the Mystery of Poor Student Math Performance
NOPE! The usual suspects of endless blame are not the reason poor academic math results in American public schools. In fact, a...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Aug 8, 2022
- 8 min
An Elem. Assistant Principal’s Goal – "Grow and Go!"
I was an elementary assistant principal for almost two years, and I repeatedly heard the AP position accurately characterized as, ‘Grow...
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by Blaine Helwig
- Jun 30, 2022
- 4 min
Chocolate and Title 1 Academic Inequities
Awhile back, I attended a national charter school founder’s lecture about his experiences opening new schools across the country. After...
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