Matt Van Dis
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mvandis.bsky.social
Matt Van Dis
@mvandis.bsky.social
K-8 Principal, The American School of Tangier
M.Ed. K-12 Ed. Leadership
RPCV, Rwanda
“The job of teaching is not just to provide something worth noticing, but to protect students from everything that isn’t.”

Interesting article by @carlhendrick.substack.com

substack.com/@carlhendric...
Carl Hendrick (@carlhendrick)
Attention is a filter not a spotlight, and noisy classrooms assault that filter from every direction. Today's students rarely suffer from boredom or attention shortages, they suffer from attention sur...
substack.com
October 4, 2025 at 11:34 AM
It’s not our fault when a student chooses not to work. But it is our responsibility to respond when that happens. If a student fails to meet an expectation and we do nothing to address it, we are sending a pretty clear message: that a child’s responsibility to engage as a student is optional.
September 20, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Matt Van Dis
NEW: Use white boards for flexible retrieval practice! They are engaging and effective for learning, with flexibility for question prompts and student responses. Read tips by cognitive scientist Dr. Janell Blunt for this no-prep strategy. www.retrievalpractice.org/strategies/w... #EduSky
Use white boards for flexible retrieval practice | Pooja K. Agarwal, Ph.D.
White boards for retrieval practice are engaging and effective for learning, providing flexibility for question prompts and student responses. Read tips by cognitive scientist Dr. Janell Blunt and mak...
www.retrievalpractice.org
April 18, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Matt Van Dis
⚗️ Exciting news — the first edition of my new newsletter, DistillED, is live!

DistillED is about making teaching crystal clear. Each issue breaks down key insights from research and classroom practice into short, sharp reads and downloadable takeaways designed for busy educators.

lnkd.in/gSWydenr
April 11, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Matt Van Dis
The gift of confidence. #confidence
April 8, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Our brains are naturally wired to notice what’s wrong. We automatically see the student who is off task or acting out. It takes a conscious, deliberate effort to notice and reinforce what’s going well.

If we don’t intentionally look for positive behavior, we risk missing it altogether.
March 6, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Anyone who has ever been a teacher immediately recognizes the language and tone used by schoolyard bullies. It sends shivers down my spine when I hear this kind of language used in a school hallway, much less the Oval Office. We should all be ashamed of ourselves for allowing this to happen.
February 28, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Normalizing error is essential to effective teaching. My most successful years of teaching were ones in which my students were not just comfortable taking risks, but enjoyed the practice of analyzing their errors - almost like solving a puzzle. Achieve this, and student growth = 📈
#edusky #tlac
💡Turn mistakes into learning! 🚀

Madi Bienvenu shows how error analysis drives student growth by:
1. Celebrating errors 🎉
2. Analyzing errors 🕵️‍♂️
3. Applying learning 📝

Let's help students embrace every learning opportunity! 🙌

#edusky #teachlikeachampion #education #teaching #learning
February 21, 2025 at 8:42 PM
One challenge I’m seeing when working with teachers new to retrieval practice: understanding the difference between retrieval practice and checking for understanding.
February 21, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Teacher burnout is real. That’s why we’ve prioritized building in a 3- or 4-day weekend into each month of our school calendar. I’m off to Marrakech. I know our teachers will be ready to tackle next week with renewed energy (and put some retrieval practice techniques to good use)!
#edusky
February 14, 2025 at 1:25 PM
In our faculty meeting today, we discussed retrieval practice and the counter-intuitive concept that one must forget in order to learn. We shared Tom Sherrignton’s @teacherhead.bsky.social blog post and asked teachers to choose a few strategies to focus on in the coming weeks.
bit.ly/3CCUdwR
10 Techniques for Retrieval Practice
Image Credit: I’ve written about retrieval practice several times in other posts but here I just want to make it easy to lay out various alternative methods for the process of reviewing your …
teacherhead.com
February 12, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Matt Van Dis
Is it helpful to think about Cognitive Load Theory as a heuristic?

This was just one question from our discussion with @dylanwiliam.bsky.social, @olicav.bsky.social, @drchendrick.bsky.social, and @cbokhove.bsky.social, which is available in full at the link in the reply. youtu.be/vOgrnJZiXho
Is it helpful to think about Cognitive Load Theory as a heuristic?
YouTube video by ThoughtStretchers Education
youtu.be
February 7, 2025 at 2:39 PM
I’m looking forward to attending these FREE webinars later this month - particularly learning more about the importance of retrieval practice in strengthening learning.
🚨*FREE* webinars - How Teaching & Learning Happens course. Join me and @hugheshaili.bsky.social
▶️ 27/2 at 4pm GMT Retrieval Practice
▶️ 6/3 at 4pm GMT Scaffolding
▶️ 13/3 at 4pm GMT Checking for Understanding
▶️ 20/3 at 4pm GMT Questioning
Register here: forms.office.com/e/7pdGTMNmJs...
February 8, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Break up your lessons and promote better learning!
Why are brain breaks so effective? In a recent @edutopia.org article, I unpack the research and share 6 tips to keep students focused during a lesson. #EduSky #EdResearch

www.edutopia.org/article/6-re...
February 7, 2025 at 1:12 PM