EA Center for Teaching & Learning
@eactl.bsky.social
The Episcopal Academy Center for Teaching & Learning provides teachers with the foundation and inspiration to maximize every opportunity for students to learn. Check out our Substack 'The Beacon' here: https://episcopalacademyctl.substack.com/
A YouTube pivot, an AI-built discussion tool that's mostly sound and silence, and an old essay on why understanding takes sweat equity. This week's Thursday's Three Things 📺 🎣 🧠
Thursday's Three Things—Watching, Wondering, Working
Three Things. On a Thursday.
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
In a world where anyone can build anything, we've been wondering if it's even worth it. This week we consider the bias that makes us overvalue our own builds, what building with AI actually asks, & why playing with 100 imperfect pots beats polishing 1.
Thursday's Three Things—Building, Discerning, Playing
Three Things. On a Thursday.
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
Thursday's Three Things is live on measuring, asking, and inviting. Why testing measures action, not knowledge. How to teach questions that compound. And why one professor is opening fall with a letter, not a policy.
Thursday's Three Things—Measuring, Asking, Inviting
Three Things. On a Thursday.
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
First summer edition of Thursday's Three Things is live: an AI ethics toolkit built for remixing, a 2009 paper on why soccer matches are badly designed experiments (and what that might mean for a classroom), and a CEO's 75/25 rule for AI in the classroom.
Thursday's Three Things—Open Tools, Bad Experiments, Right Doses
Three Things. On a Thursday.
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
School's out. The CTL is not. Here's what we're building this summer: teacher research, AI-infused courses and collaborations, portrait of a graduate PD, and a few plane tickets.
Before the Bell Rings
Inside the CTL's Summer Agenda
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
At EA gratitude isn't just a November thing. It's a June thing too and this week's WDYN makes the case, with research, book recs, and a David Foster Wallace detour. Last one of the 2025-2026 school year (but lots more writing to come in the summer months).
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Gratitude Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
What makes experiential learning stick isn't the experience. It's the design around it. This week's WDYN: PBL's contested research, the far transfer problem, and why we might choose to think of novelty as infrastructure and not an extra (occasionally).
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The May Term+ Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
Pizza Hut brought back Book It. We built a reading list. Felt right. Six books for summer from the CTL.
What We're Reading (and Why You Should Be Too)
The Beacon's summer reading list for 2026.
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
The end of the year doesn't have to just happen to you. This week's WDYN offers a series of tools and inspiration for a better ending. The final pages are still being written. Make them count.
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Better Ending Edition
(Still)
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
Students aren't confused about the AI/honesty line. They're deciding every day whether crossing it costs them anything. This week's WDYN: what the research says, what's shifted, and why honesty might be the most underrated thing we could actually teach.
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Honesty Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
The best interventions for student learning aren't add-ons. They're just good teaching, done deliberately. This week's WDYN looks at the "craft" of teaching.
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Teaching as Craft Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
A celebration is also an argument. This week's WDYN makes the case for the arts: with research, a field guide, and a clock made of people.
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The ArtsFest Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
STEM is having a moment: in theaters, in orbit, and this week in the hallways of The Episcopal Academy. This week's WDYN rides that energy: what does it look like to teach the way the best researchers think?
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The STEMposium Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
What if student motivation isn't a personality trait, but instead a design problem? New WDYN has three resources worth your time this week—especially in April.
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—A Motivation Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
Very cool finding: even young children (6-10 yr old) can prioritize more "important" material for restudy, although the ability to make good choices about what to study & what was learned seemed stronger among the older (9-10yr old) students. #PsychSciSky #AcademicSky #EduSky doi.org/10.1111/cdev...
Earning More Points!: The Impact of Value on Children's Memory and Self-Regulated Learning Strategies
Abstract. Prioritizing what information to learn based on value is a critical developmental skill. Across two studies, value-based memory was assessed pred
doi.org
Courtesy is April's Stripe at EA. This week's WDYN: the research (or lack thereof), a 60-second clip worth stealing, and lesson design as an act of respect.
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Courtesy Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
With spring break at EA just around the corner, this week's WDYN is built around one idea: the conditions that make learning stick are often the same ones that make rest restorative. New research, a good book rec, and a case for doing nothing.
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Minds on Task Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
Change in classrooms happens at every level — mid-lesson, across a unit, across a career. This week's WDYN looks at all three, plus a bird migration visualization that reframes the whole thing. What are you adapting right now?
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Adaptation Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
The Marshmallow Test is more myth than method. Willpower is less useful than a good workaround. And what might drama and improv teach us about self-regulation? Plus: Parkinson's Law applies to your grading pile too. This week's WDYN:
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Self-Control Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
The research was already in the classroom. Andrew just started counting. A simple ritual, a tally counter, and a question worth asking. Read how CTL Research Coordinator an upper school Spanish teacher Andrew Shimrock turned a frustrating class into a fascinating study. 🛫
Wait…We Haven’t Taken Off Yet
The power of ritual in the classroom.
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
We haven't done a dedicated AI edition in a while. A lot has changed—and some things haven't. Get the judgment right. The rest is just tools. This week's WDYN:
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Updated (for now) AI Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
It’s not good enough to say “it works for me”. How do you know? What are the criteria by which you’d change your mind? If there are none, you have insulated yourself from reality. open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
Opening the closed circle: why being wrong helps us find out what's right
Falsifiability, pseudoscience and why "it works for me" is a pedagogical dead end
open.substack.com
New WDYN: The Unlearning Edition. Not what to learn next. What to examine first. Three pieces on feedback, emotional expression, and what evaluation pressure does to teachers — not just students.
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Unlearning Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
New WDYN: The Builders Edition 🔨 February is a good time to recover some time. We're sharing ways to find what you've saved, borrow from good curation, and build the small tools your classroom actually needs.
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Builders Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
Open Classroom Week reminded us that teaching is a full-contact sport. The movement. The language. The constant recalibration. Most of what makes it work is invisible—until you really watch. This week's WDYN takes a closer look.
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The 'What We Saw' Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
Who’s doing the thinking? This week’s WDYN looks at AI, judgment, and visibility—drawing on Paul Kirschner, using NotebookLM as a stress test, and linking it to Open Classroom Week as a forcing function for shared professional learning.
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Invisible Thinking Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
WDYN—The Intersection Edition Labs → classrooms → student lives AI → assignments → intentions Practice → fluency → thinking The work isn’t replacing what works. It’s knowing what to build on.
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Intersection Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
January loves outcomes. Learning depends on rituals. This week’s WDYN is about courage in practice—what we keep, what we drop, and what we commit to doing again tomorrow. Less reinvention. More intention.
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The New Year Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
As winter break approaches, this week’s WDYN leans into the pause. -Settle what already works. -Notice the light (apricity is a great word). -Carry a few good companions into January. No optimization. Just a quieter handoff.
'What Do You Need Wednesday?'—The Winter Break Edition
(Still) "...every tiny thing by one percent..."
episcopalacademyctl.substack.com
