Nick Covington

@covingtonedu

Dad. Iowan. Former HS social studies teacher. (PFP illustrated by Farimah Khavari)

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Nick Covington@covingtonedu· 25d

When humidity = air quality

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· 27d

Reminder that autonomy support - attuning to student perspectives, providing choice and student decision-making, respecting student agency, and being open, flexible, responsive, and patient - is research-backed, evidence-based practice 👇

Instructional Behaviors:
1.Suppress s tud e nts ’ p e rs p e c tive s .
2.Rig id ly e nforc e a p lan w ith commands and
pressure.
3.Prioritize own goals ins te ad of le arning ab out
your s tud e nts g oals and b ac kg round s .
4.Remind students of consequences as
rationale s .
5.Re ly on controlling language that
c om m unic ate s p re s s ure and ob lig ation.
6.Dismiss s tud e nts ’ fe e ling s and inp ut w ith
hos tility or c ritic is m .
7.Re ly on incentives and deadlines to m otivate
students.
Control
Instructional Behaviors:
1.Attune to s tud e nts ’ p e rs p e c tive s .
2.Provid e s tud e nts ’ choices and decision making .
3.Seek out information ab out s tud e nts ’
b ac kg round s , c ulture s , inte re s ts , and p re fe re nc e s
and us e it in ins truc tion.
4.Make c onne c tions to s tud e nts ’ values as
rationales .
5.Us e invitational language that c om m unic ate s
respect for student agency.
6.Attend to, ac know le d g e , and ac c e p t s tud e nts ’
e m otions .
7.Be open, flexible, responsive, and patient.
Autonomy -Support

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· 27d

I'm recording a @humanrestorationproject.org podcast w/ Dr. Erika Patall about The Myth of the Unmotivated Student based in her decades of research into self-determination theory and agentic motivation at school and at home:

Evidence about autonomy support and control overall: based on 181 studies, instructor autonomy support relates positively to desireable student outcomes and instructor control related positively to UNdesireable student outcomes.

Autonomy support is also good for instructors: improving self-efficacy, job satisfaction, vitality, and decreasing exhaustion

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· 28d

Really enjoying Joey Santore's Concrete Botany! So many connections to what we've been talking about in our Pedagogies of Collapse book club.

Cover of Joey Santore's book Concrete Botany: The ecology of plants in the age of human disturbance

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 13

Fun is a "deadly sin" for Paul Kirschner: "When I speak of making the learning experience more enjoyable I emphatically don’t mean making learning fun. Of course, it would be really nice if we could make learning fun, and I’m not opposed to this, but learning is hard."

Another quote from kitschner opposing fun

When I speak of making the learning experience more enjoyable I emphatically don’t mean making learning fun. Of course, it would be really nice if we could make learning fun, and I’m not opposed to this, but learning is hard.

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 11

I don't ever want to be updated on parking news.

Screenshot with check box offering to " keep me updated on exclusive offers and parking news"

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 11

Had such a great time with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement this morning! Ideating and organizing for the future of their Public School Strong campaign. ❤️

Summarized design thinking exercise with ideas about how to overcome roadblocks toward ideal public schools

Design thinking exercise with sticky notes

Wall with posters from various community organizing campaigns: people before profits, politics, polluters

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 11

Prominent Science of Learning #eduinfluencers declare war on...the scientific method??

Diagram of the scientific method and begins with asking a question and goes through testing with experimentation

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 10

guy walks up to a group and says "only great books are worth reading" and a guy from the group gives him a sarcastic thumbs up and the first guy goes "brother i once drive truck for a living"

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 9

He later said his kids are all adults now, and he still wouldn't say what he read to them!

hahaheehee
1h

Honestly curious: what are you currently reading to your kids, Doug?

Doug Lemov
1h
Doug Lemov's Field Notes

my kids are grown now. Tell me how old yours are and I’ll tell you a few I loved reading with them

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 9

I would pick A Friend for Dragon over 99% of NYT Best Sellers.

Cover of Dav Pilkey's A Friend for Dragon

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 9

Here's the original post. Again, Doug truly believes that some books actually have magical properties.

Doug Lemov
8h
Doug Lemov's Field Notes

Cognitive patience is the idea that the mental willingness to stay with difficult, slow, or initially unrewarding thinking is a critical attribute. Maryanne Wolf writes about it in Reader Come Home, The Reading Brain in a Digital World.

Students who are impulsive, easily distracted, put off by a hard slog are rarely those who accomplish great things and contribute most to the endeavors of their lives. Learning to resist the urge for immediate gratification and instant understanding and having the capacity to allow comprehension to emerge over time over time are important habits of mind.

This is one reason why it’s so important for students to read not just books but great books. A book rewards cognitive patience and a great book rewards it greatly. The payoff is important. It makes the case for bearing the upfront cost.

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 9

Anyway, here's Doug Lemov crashing out on Substack over a criticism of his weird coded post about "great books."

No you’re not. You’re just projecting. Brother I once drive a truck for a living. (There’s something you know nothing about) My boss was always telling me how everyone was trying to swindle him. And this was his justification for swindling them. That’s what you do. Pretend that other people are trying to force their thinking on others so that you can do exactly that. You’re utterly full of shit. Trying to pretend your some sort of intellectual doesn’t change that

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 9

Proclaiming an illiteracy crisis has become a cottage industry in its own right, and it's created a feedback loop of clickbait headlines that has, ironically, short-circuited our ability to critically examine the claims and construct a working definition of literacy itself.

YouTube video recommendation titled America's Literacy Crisis featuring a thumbnail of someone looking at their phone with the words CAN'T READ

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 9

All the kobs went back on the pick guard for aesthetics, but the plan is to either replace/rewire the tone pot back in and install this pedal-type on/off switch when they come in the mail, so we can still turn the instrument "off" if needed (feedback!).

Screenshot of pedal-style on/off switches

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 9

Couple fun repair projects this week: The first (no pics) was removing a dud volume pot from my 11yo's bass & rewiring the pickups straight to the output. Sounds so much better! The second is troubleshooting our KitchenAid mixer, this worm gear needs to see the dentist. $8 replacement part.

Closeup of greasy worm gear assembly on KitchenAid mixer

Cleaned worm gear with an obviously worn spot where there's no teeth to grab the motor screw!

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 7

"Just go to the park!" The park:

Screenshot of Daniel from Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't: Spiritually Depraved and Misery-Inducing landscapes of North America episode 4, pointing to a playground in the middle of a suburban development with no tree cover being blasted by the midday sun

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 6

"...school-level outcomes from the New Jersey Algebra 1 test are reflections from the societal mirror of the state of NJ. They present a stronger picture of the family social capital of the students in a given society than the quality of the education provided by educational personnel in schools."

The Pernicious Predictability of State-Mandated Tests of Academic Achievement in the United States
by Jamil Maroun 1,* andChristopher H. Tienken 2,*ORCID
1
Manville Public Schools, Manville, NJ 08835, USA
2
Education Leadership, Management, & Policy, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ 07079, USA
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 5

It took me a full day to realize this framed print hanging in my hotel room is very obviously sideways...

Photo of a wall with desk lamp for reference, hotel type rectangular wall hanging print of an impressionist style European village is obviously sideways. Ground on the right side with trees growing out to the left, homes are sideways, mountains and sky are on the left.

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jul 4

Spotted by a friend at their July 4th parade...🤨

Blurry parade marchers hold a sign that reads KINGSWOOD ACADEMY: Real Grades, Real Curriculum, Real Communication with Parents

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jun 30

Just 10 days after I defended his honor in the replies, Klein hosts propagandist white nationalist, Chris Rufo, of all people, for a two hour podcast. I am the meme, beclowning myself.

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jun 24

Anyway, here's some pics of that weekend. Also got to chill with the dudes from Atheist, and I'll never forget their drummed Steve Flynn telling me, when I asked him what had the biggest impact on his style of drumming: "Frank Zappa and drugs, man." @swizzlenuts.bsky.social

Rob from Solitude Aeternus going full savoir mode

Party in the hallway at Chicago power fest with some guys. Steve Flynn, the drummer from Atheist, at the front left

Nick in the back behind Kelly, the singer of Atheist holding a mountain dew

Atheist band on stage, Tony Choy on bass

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jun 23

15 months ago I started seeding clover into my lawn. Today I'd estimate ~5,000sqft is a robust blanket of clover, with other spots coming in gradually. I've swapped to a reel mower which lets me keep it higher. Love my little flowers, and the bees and butterflies do too!

Close up photo of a yard full of white clover

Close up of a manual reel mower in the clover

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jun 19

This, for me, was the central contradiction driving my need to write the piece. "Education freedom" was never about giving parents a choice between "woke" public education & "non-woke" private schools, it was always about comporting the entire public & private system to sectarian religious beliefs:

"But it’s not enough to create an unregulated parallel private education system. The out-group must also adhere to a litany of new restrictions on public school curriculum limiting the teaching of so-called “divisive concepts” like diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and banning books that offend sectarian religious sensibilities. As France quipped about bridges, begging, and bread, we are all free to get public money to attend a private Christian school."

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jun 19

Special education teacher vacancies in Iowa are 5x higher than the next highest shortage area. Can you imagine taking a coursework to become a special education teacher that isn't fundamentally aligned with *inclusion*, the often neglected 'I' in 'DEI'?

Endorsement Title Endorsement Number Number/
Percentage
of Total
Full-Time Positions
Special Education - All Exceptionalities 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 1001 184/0.49%
Music 144, 145 35/0.09%
Mathematics 142, 143, 1431 28/0.07%
General Science 150, 1541, 185, 1823 28/0.07%
English as a Second Language 104 19/0.05%
World Languages 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 187, 188 19/0.05%
English Language Arts 119, 120, 1201 18/0.05%

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jun 18

Unable to read the ebook I purchased for an upcoming podcast because I'm currently locked out of Routledge's proprietary ebook reader.

eBook Library 1total ebooks
To view your VitalSource eBook(s) you will need to create an account with VitalSource, or sign in and apply your redemption code. VitalSource accounts are separate from Routledge.com account.

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jun 18

From Alan Reid's Changing Australian Education: "In these and other ways, neoliberalism does not simply function as an economic philosophy, it pervades our social and cultural lives."

For example, and in no
particular order, neoliberal rhetoric:

· creates the impression that the interests of the wealthy
coincide with the interests of the community at large
· serves to shift the debate about public policy away from
questions about what is right or fair, towards a debate
about what is affordable and efficient, and in particular
that government spending is wasteful
· encourages people to think of themselves as consumers
exercising choice in their own self-interest, rather than as
citizens with an interest in the common good
· enables governments to cut community programs on the
grounds that there is a 'budget emergency' while providing
subsidies to big business on the grounds that it creates jobs
· establishes the assumption that marketisation is the best
way to drive important public infrastructure and programs,
and fans a mistrust of the public service; in so doing, it
has created an environment in which reducing the public
service is seen as a necessary goal while masking the fact
that, when they are privatised, many privately run public
facilities are less efficient and do not serve the public interest
· constructs the debate about support for the least advan-
taged upon questions about their motives, and the need for
strategies to ensure that any support does not have 'unin-
tended consequences'; at the extreme end of neoliberalism,
inequality is actually seen as desirable because it is claimed
to promote individual initiative and so build wealth
· defines freedom in ways that benefit businesses while
attacking workers or the environment
· reduces faith in democratic life by, for example, convince-
ing many that a debate about the direction and nature of
our society is a distraction from economic matters such as
tax cuts and industrial relations reform.

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jun 6

There was an incredible line of storms that rolled through central Iowa yesterday evening, and I caught a great view of them from the Hy-Vee parking lot.

Panorama of a line of huge billowing storm clouds with a large gap in the middle that look like a desert landform

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jun 5

"The Box. You opened it. We came."

Photo of a roughly 1,600 card cardboard deck box full of cards and smaller deck boxes

Nick Covington@covingtonedu· Jun 4

Lahn was the CEO & co-founder (alongside Charles Koch's daughter-in-law, whom Lahn later married...) of Wonder, an openly Koch-funded private school in Kansas: