Fear of Failure Drives Change! (Or, It Should.)
Over the course of my life, I have engaged in deep thought about engineering, economic and educational processes; yet analytical thinking...
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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
Sep 2338 min read
School Systems: Physical, Social & Academic Processes
This blog is very long, but I hope it is helpful to teachers, administrators and educational advocates. Due to its length, I have also...
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by Blaine Helwig
Jul 25 min read
Raising Outcomes: Dazed & Confused Continues!
Let’s begin our short chat with the reality of the professional world. When I was in my sixth year of teaching in 2001, my principal...
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by Blaine Helwig
Jun 129 min read
Teacher Burnout – How to Stop It!
Professional frustration occurs in every job to varying degrees; however, I have never experienced the same levels of isolated...
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by Blaine Helwig
Mar 1813 min read
School Boards - Are the Key to Raising Academics!
Although I am ‘officially’ retired, I continue to regularly watch the televised local school board meetings. The experience can be both...
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by Blaine Helwig
Mar 69 min read
Autonomy Comes with a Condition!
Several decades ago, I attended an August meeting with the associate superintendent of elementary schools in a large urban school...
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by Blaine Helwig
Feb 411 min read
Academic Turn-around (MATH) - 'Do What Matters!'
There is a companion white paper to this blog that includes an executive summary. An interested educator may find that short...
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by Blaine Helwig
Nov 8, 202319 min read
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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by Blaine Helwig
Oct 3, 20235 min read
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, 202311 min read
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, 202314 min read
‘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, 20239 min read
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, 20236 min read
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...
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by Blaine Helwig
Jul 8, 20236 min read
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, 202310 min read
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, 20233 min read
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, 20238 min read
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...
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by Blaine Helwig
Jan 20, 20235 min read
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...
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by Blaine Helwig
Dec 24, 20226 min read
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...
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by Blaine Helwig
Dec 15, 202238 min read
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, 202217 min read
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, 20228 min read
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...
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by Blaine Helwig
Oct 12, 20224 min read
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, 20224 min read
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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