: Sticking with Evernote After experimenting with both Obsidian and DEVONthink for a month (as discussed here), I’ve decided …
: Political Advocacy analysis, Fall 2027 As I have been doing for the past few years, students in my four psychology courses (two sections of …
: The Mattering Gap, a report The Walton Family Foundation and the good folks at Gallup have partnered for a series of reports on …
: Reposted from SFMTA’s MUNI Instagram.
: View this post on Instagram A post shared by SFMTA (@sfmta_muni) Boooooo — why can’t I just embed …
: Rethinking my PKM: Moving beyond Evernote TL;DR: After more than a decade with Evernote, I’m …
: Kind Notes I primarily teach 12th graders; somewhere else on campus, they were given the opportunity …
: It’s behind a paywall obviously but I have a chapter in a recently published book: Castro, E.E. …
: Watching the Crew-kids practice was thoroughly impressive! The precision movements required …
: I was asked by some students to “come watch” their practice at Lake Merced. I thought I’d just be …
: A student in Social-Cognitive Psychology last semester (Fall 2025) wrote to their federal elected …
: Fall 2025 PEERS Goal Analysis November Goal On November 4, 2025, I submitted the following: I will …
: Political Advocacy, Fall 2025 I, again, asked students to choose a political issue that was …
: 6* Social-Cognitive Psychology lesson on observational learning from September 3, 2025. Began with a …
: I’m not sure why it took this long, but rather than gesticulating wildly with my arms, I went to …
: Instructional practices versus time-available Years ago “full-time” meant four classes for faculty …
: Tumblr vs Wordpress Since school let-out at the beginning of June, I’ve been debating as a summer …
: GWSF side-quests 2025 When summer hits and I’m no longer teaching, my brain rebels at its idleness, …
: From PeerWise to a Self-Check Since the Fall of 2019, I have been having students use PeerWise for …
: Atomic Habits assignment, the first year The Genesis of an Idea When we – Yosup Joo and I – designed …
: Research Participation Requirement “Research Participation Requirements” are common in undergrad …
: With my one section of Introduction to Ethnic Studies this semester, I recently reimagined my …
: It’s always nice to see students write about their psychology classes in the school newspaper.
: https://www.apaservices.org/advocacy/news/high-schoolers-democracy An article published by the APA …
: Eric Castro: AI wrappers around information and decisions schools must make - Descript Me, being …
: Generative AI and Psychotherapies Lesson At the end of the Disorders and Therapies unit during the …
: The power of propaganda: How it contributes to the biased development of racial stereotypes in …
: “Writing” an article For the Introduction to Ethnic Studies course that I teach, I could not find an …
: Jared Diamond and GPT-3 I wrote this as an email to my academic department but for various reasons …
: Verification for Mastodon Mastodon
: Adolescence pre-lecture, part 2 Related to the last, another piece of Scott Reid’s lesson on Development that I stole was around 18 …
: Adolescence, pre-lecture, part 1 Social media connects me to psychology teachers around the country. An AP Psychology teacher in …
: Parkinson’s Law and Midnight deadlines I am committed to the science of education, and I have many loosely-held opinions. Sometimes these …
: School plans for infectious diseases I have gotten a few emails from administrators at nearby schools and one from across the country, …
: Presentation on cognitive load The “Psychology department” was asked to present to the school’s teaching faculty on the topic of: …
: Time-lapse of Stop-Motion Animations During our previous class, I’d lectured on neural …
: Teaching Psychology A respected colleague1 asked a group of psych teachers: “What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned …
: A nice Thank You note from the Director of Professional Development for the two presentations that …
: Neuromyths and teachers A offered a 45-minute presentation to colleagues on the most common neuromyths amongst teachers – …
: Interteaching demo I discovered the widespread use of interteaching through the community of psychology teachers on …
: Cherishing I was invited by the student leaders of SI Unplugged to give a reflection to a small group of …
: Teacher Evaluation reflection Student Evaluations are always, even after 20-years of teaching, a period of deep self-reflection. …
: A thanks It is not often that teachers get a kind note from a student, and so I am just making record of that …
: Repeating Assignments Over the past ten-years, I have been paying more attention to how my assignments and activities are …
: Kathryn Winters (SI ‘92) appearing as a guest speaker for Social-Cognitive Psychology. The email …
: Over lunch last week, idly discussing curriculum and what we were all doing, when I mentioned that …
: Review Stations I previously wrote about our plans to use three stations to review for the upcoming midterm exams. …
: Stations For Review Since my colleague is writing the actual Midterm test foI the coming week, given our division of …
: Interteaching, assessment results Having used an interteaching lesson plan for both Research Methods and Cognitive Development, and …
: Interteaching, student perceptions As part of our firm believe in iterative improvements to the classes we teach, my psychology …
: Interteaching, 2 Students in our Social-Cognitive Psychology course had their second experience with interteaching …
: It me My colleague and class-roommate Yosup Joo was working at his desk while I began the second day on …
: Honest reflections? In my Ethnic Studies course, I’m interested in students thinking back over the content of each …
: Biweekly review and reflection Over the summer, at one of the “curriculum Tuesdays” hosted by our Director of Professional …
: Interteaching (part 1) Introduction I was introduced to the instructional strategy of interteaching by Rob McEntarffer: …
: Banning Devices During Lectures As it has for the past 8 or 9 years, the Office of Professional Development has sponsored Summer …
: Retrieval Practice and Spacing Reading an article by Andrew Watson about the spacing effect in student study habits got me thinking …
: “Thank you” notes are rare, given the number of students that I interact with each year. They are …
: Time to complete the Ethnic Studies Final exam In the transition from analog to digital exams, I am thankful for the ease of statistical analysis. …
: Taking a photo of something impairs your memory of it, but the reasons remain largely mysterious …
: Loyola High School Presentation Embedded below are the slides that backed my presentation to faculty and staff of Loyola High School …
: 20 Psychological Principles That Will Help Your Students Learn Better
: Analyzing “This is America” On the last day of my Ethnic Studies class this semester, when the plan was to review for the Final …
: Royalties I received a nice surprise in the mail: my first royalties check. Like that first paycheck for …
: An Extra Set of Eyes I may know just enough Freudian psychology to recognize that this is probably projection, but I …
: Forensic Psychologist Guest Speaker A colleague shared with me that her nephew would be coming to town, that he is a forensic …
: In our third year of competition, we advanced past the State tournament and into the national …
: “Eric Castro” by Mariel Campoverdi ‘18. Written for SI Live, and performed February 2018. You’re …
: Yesterday, to help out a colleague who couldn’t accompany the club, I joined four students who went …
: Teacher Evaluation reflection I was slightly nervous that the results of the annual teacher evaluation[1] would be lower than they …
: Ethnic Studies presentations Last night I presented to two dozen members of the African American and Latino Parents Association …
: A kind email A kind email from the mother of an AP Psych I have been meaning to write you as Alessandro, over …
: 2017 in Books Because my attention was drawn more to politics in 2017… for some reason… I ended up reading fewer …
: During the writing of this book, my high school psychology teacher died of cardiac arrest. Dr. …
: First Social-Cognitive Psych Finals Below are the grade distributions for the first iteration of the Social-Cognitive Psychology course …
: On Finding God in All Things In the February 16, 2016 letter to the Principal by the Tenure Board, the first recommendation under …
: First Ethnic Studies done Though the Final Exam is in three days, I have finished teaching the first round of Ethnic Studies, …
: SI Running Club doing the “small square”
: Blended-learning Presentation This weekend, at the annual conference of the National Council for the Social Studies, Chuck …
: Exhausted and proud. This is my favorite photo of K143, the September Kairos retreat that I …
: I really like the book and all the practical, wide ranging examples. It suggests that big schools …
: One downside to leading a four-day and three-night retreat for seniors is coming back to all the …
: On running down batteries For the past four weeks, I have been running down my batteries. That’s when I started preparing …
: First Quarter Questionnaire With the new Social-Cognitive Psychology course and the new classroom furniture, I’ll regularly be …
: Thanks to our graphic designer, we now have printed classroom layout posters for each of the …
: Classroom Layouts After getting the new furniture installed, Yosup and I thought about how we would actually move …
: Groupwork and Gallery Walk With the new desks, new whiteboard wall, and new rolling whiteboards, I have been able to more …
: Ethnic Studies reading list The following are the full books that I’ve read in preparation for teaching Introduction to Ethnic …
: Notebooks and Categories I worked on my Social-Cognitive Psych course description yesterday and settled on two changes from …
: Not that the status quo is bad… but there’s probably a way to improve how I do things in the …
: It was a nice surprise receiving the email from my principal: Yosup and Eric, Just reviewing AP …
: Chair Observation On Tuesday, March 28, the Social Science department chair observed my AP Psychology class. It was …
: The Point of Conferences It’s not to hear me lecture; I could flip that. It’s not to watch a video; they can do that on their …
: From one of my favorite Creative Mornings talks, this is Mike Monteiro. All too often teachers are …
: Running in 2016 According to Runkeeper, I ran 687.4 miles in 2016. My premium subscription ran out in October and I …
: When asked to describe myself (not by people but by online services, for the purposes of a …
: Bad Medicine If you listen to podcasts at all, I highly recommend subscribing to Freakonomics by Stephen J …
: The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of quote …
: <div class="caption"> The last time I’d had our Subaru Impreza washed was July 2014, more than two …
: Work Without Credit When I began teaching AP Psychology, my mentor Steve Phelps gave me an activity for the Social Psych …
: A Problem of the Neophyte: Class Discussions and Introductory Psychology From the PsychONE Conference website: A Problem of the Neophyte: Class Discussions and Introductory …
: The final exam in an AP course should – I feel – be a strong predictor of a student’s score on the …
: Well, I guess we did something right with our 145 psychology students (shown in blue) this year — …
: Random connections It is not often that I am so aware of confirmation bias but after reading a study, The effects of …
: K129, September 2015 team. Top: Sean, Michelle, Claire, Caitlin. Bottom: Will, Nick, Madison, Mara, …
: Posting Assignment Dates to Canvas, and Grit At a recent faculty meeting the issue of “grit” was raised in reference to a policy introduced at …
: Interestingly, the motivation for our own experimentation with blended-learning – in the form of my …
: We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience. — <p><a …
: Global Challenge Report My semester-long Modern World History class for sophomores not only gets to the present, but I try …
: Tenure Decreases Educational Innovation I’ve asked before why do we tenure? and even why do we call it tenure? But I’d never gotten as far …
: Choosing an AP Prep Book For complex reasons[1] that I won’t go into here, my teaching partner and I had to choose one of …
: A desire for less hand-holding The above came from a graduate of our school, now attending college, …
: Research Assignment By way of background, our Social Science department is in the process of re-evaluating its entire …
: Cura, 2015–2016 Before and after; a year’s difference in freshmen. It was a great year, meeting …
: <div class="caption"> Seniors entering For no particular reason, I share this clip from Thursday’s …
: <div class="caption"> Philosophical Discussions in Psychology Following the Advanced Placement test …
: Ten Things That Require Zero Talent, via Bill Gross. I dig it.
: Twitter As Protocol? From The Verge’s reporting on Twitter’s earning report: the company’s haul of $595 million was less …
: SocialPsych and Greed Referencing a SocialPsych activity wherein students can choose to earn 5 or 15 extra credit points, …
: <div class="caption"> The Jastrow Illusion popped up on Twitter last week, and so Yosup Joo and I …
: <div class="caption"> My small group of freshmen, coming into their weekly gathering. We call it a …
: Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, by Reza Aslan
: On Faculty Dress and “Professional” Attire Background One of the early annoyances I had to tolerate when I began commuting 10-miles a day to …
: I saw this at the London Transport Museum while in England over Spring Break, and it really made me …
: be a learner, not a hero,” “be a listener, not a giver of advice,” and “be a bridge, not a beacon. — …
: Neckties for male faculty? Just asking… for a friend… Out of idle curiosity, #edchat, are male faculty at your school required …
: The five keys to a successful team, according to research done by Google’s People Operations …
: <div class="caption"> Not all of our ideas for learning activities are fully formed before we try …
: <div class="caption"> In the above video, you see two pairs of students pulling on a rope; first …
: Collegial Observation of PreCalc Per our requirements, I observed a colleague’s class last week. For the first time (that I can …
: Here's how the method of testing can change student scores
: The hidden curriculum is taught by the school, not by any teacher…something is coming across …
: Tenure Offer Embedded below is the letter from my principal, in response to the report from the Faculty …
: Faculty Development Board Report In late-January, I appeared before the Faculty Development Board for what is colloquially referred …
: I often say cynicism is a refuge for cowards. That it is a toxic spiritual state; that is so clouds …
: These notes caught my eye this morning while students were studying for a few moments before the …
: 2015 Student Questionnaire Reflection Looking through the Fall 2015 results of our Student Questionnaire, I once again see the disparity …
: just-shower-thoughts: If Tetris has taught me anything, it’s that errors pile up and accomplishments …
: How well do teachers model the behaviors that we wish for all our students? How do we educators rate …
: Collegial Observation by Katy Dumas A colleague from within the department, one who teaches our required ancient world history class to …
: Board Work Following one of his regular drop-in class observations, our principal sent the following email: I …
: The Difficulty In Summarizing As part of this week’s blended-learning lesson, I had students do something that they complained …
: There is no deep understanding of the innovation process, which is complex and has not been well …
: It’s okay to expect students to learn the facts and terms needed to become experts in a discipline. …
: Collegial Observation by Math Teacher This may very well be the first time that I’ve been observed by a Math teacher. I was interested in …
: FDB Reflection Toward the end of January I went before our Faculty Development Board (FDB) again. We have what is …
: Mistakes Students Make In the Freakonomics podcast episode How to Fix a Broken High-Schooler, in Four Easy Steps Stephen J …
: But the general rule is that treating students with respect — which means we neither compel them to …
: Collegial observation The following is a colleagial observation of my AP Psychology class by Christina Wenger, librarian …
: Observation by Director of Professional Development In preparation for my appearance before the Faculty Development Board as part of our “tenure” …
: Draw a Neuron assignment One of the homework assignments that has changed in AP Psych over the years is “Draw a Neuron.” It …
: Self-determination Across the thirty-odd interviews of teachers and administrators across the country that Paul Totah …
: <p>In a sense every day is judgment day, and we, through our deeds and words, our silence and …
: Reflection on Reflection and Professional Development Plan Before leaving for Christmas Break this year, I needed to submit my Reflection and Professional …
: The 33 books that I read in 2015. Compared to last year’s books, I read about 3,000 fewer pages, …
: invigilate (verb) The fall 2015 final exams represent the third time I have given semester-ending …
: Interaction With Canvas and Scores A number of possible explanations come to mind for this apparent positive correlation between a …
: Short-term Recall With only one day in between the Developmental Psych unit test and the Fall semester final exam, we …
: The Rotation Model Having now developed four blended-learning units for my modern world history course, I can say with …
: The model needs to shift from ‘seat time’ to ‘learning time’ if we are ever going to make …
: Any policy about procedure, rather than performance, undermines the creation of a child-centered …
: A more inclusive survey When creating an anonymous survey for students to complete, I wanted to collect some basic …
: Blended-learning legalese I explained to the sophomores in my modern world history class that the work of historians is …
: Piaget on the goal of Education “The principal goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of …
: A tweet’s stats Last week, I sent the following tweet into the world: My moral & financial support goes to @ACLU and …
: 11 Speeches on Mass Shootings After reading The 11 speeches Obama has made after mass shootings, I thought: “How tiring.” And then …
: Peer Observation, with second display Embedded below is the write-up by a colleague who wanted to observe my modern world history class …
: Collaborative note-taking I tried something new today with my sophomores and the modern world history class/: they took …
: Blended-learning WWII Having already done a one-day blended-learning activity with the topic of suffrage, a two-day with …
: Using the second display for a timer, while activity directions remain on the primary screen.
: Very sweet It is always sweet when graduates send an email just to say they’re thinking of the class they had …
: Travel as Educational Technologist Based on an originating point at my home airport, SFO: 2013–2014 InstructureCon, Park City, UT …
: Observed for Graduate School A history teacher at a nearby school asked to observe me for an assignment he had to complete for …
: Economic and Political Systems Discussing the end of World War I and the inter-war years of the 1920s and 1930s, we introduce seven …
: Last week, on Friday, October 2, 2015, Carole Nickolai, our Assistant Principal of Academics, …
: Not my best time, but a decent time for 7.45-miles.
: <div class="caption"> I was off-campus for almost four days last week while directing our senior …
: People who want to change the world need to hang out with people who want to change the world! — …
: It’s the little things that make a history teacher happy, like a new map.
: Yesterday, on the final day of instruction for the Research & Methodologies unit in AP Psych, I …
: Yesterday marked the first instance of a “blended” class for my sophomores in Modern World History. …
: On the first day of class with my sophomore modern world history students, I broke them up into …
: Derek Sivers on How to Start a Movement. It isn’t really about being the leader, he says; it’s …
: Awarded First Grant This is just to note that I’ve been awarded my first grant. I’d never applied for a grant before, …
: Junior Mints and the long con I needed to buy milk last night, and as I walked through the grocery store toward the dairy section, …
: Trip report, 6/19–24, 2015 - Las Vegas - Chowhound
: When I have thought-work that needs to be done, I like taking the bus. It combines my commute with …
: 2015 AP Psychology Exam Results The results from this year’s AP Psychology exam are available. I am more pleased with the results …
: The first five-years of teaching.
: As Paul Totah and I continue, for our book, to interview teachers from around the country with …
: 21st century Parenting I was asked to give a presentation to about 100 parents of middle schoolers, discussing some …
: San Francisco Food & Drink Compiled for a friend, here is a list of the best the City has to offer to regular folks who like …
: A sweet, and quirky, note from a graduating senior at the end of the 2014–15 school year.
: A very kind note from the mother of a graduating student: Hi Mr. Castro: We’re sorry you won’t be …
: Upon receiving the assignment details for the required sophomore research paper, I copied the list …
: Teacher Spotlight I was honored by being interviewed for The Psychology Teacher Network, the quarterly newsletter of …
: Year-end Performance Review Pasted below is the follow-up email from the Principal after my year-end performance review with …
: Building and Sustaining a PLN Yesterday, I traveled to Watsonville[1] for Alive15, the Educational Technology Leadership …
: What’s after going 1:1? In our third year of a 1:1 program, I’ve finally answered the question that’s been nagging me since …
: No one cares No one cares if you’re busy. pic.twitter.com/bH8VqaNEqx — Bored Elon Musk (@BoredElonMusk) April …
: Kids will say anything the week before Finals…
: Or, as we used to say on Moral Decay in the ‘90s, “knowledge shared is power lost.”
: My One Day, One Class I wrote previously about my One Day, One Class idea. So, what topic-based, 6-hour class would I …
: Me: Sometimes it’s an either/ or. <p><img …
: Slack I think as Educational Technologist it’s an important part of my job to think about how things could …
: One day, One class Fifteen years ago a colleague, Paul Hanley, and I went to Urban High School to investigate their …
: I’ve learned more than I can even call to mind in my eight years as Educational Technologist. This …
: A beautiful day in the City for some softball. (As an aside, this was the first softball game that …
: 2014–15 Aministrative Evaluations Embedded below are the results of the 2014–15 Administrative Evaluations by my peers, the teaching …
: My final EdTech Committee meeting I chaired my final EdTech Committee meeting yesterday, March 24, 2015, after eight years serving as …
: Collegial Observation by Mr Noblejas Here is the write-up following an observation of my AP Psychology class by Mr Noblejas. It wasn’t a …
: Writing in Psychology The following was written for Teaching High School Psychology at the request of Chuck Schalhorn. I …
: Collegial Observation by Wolf here is the write-up by Ms Katie Wolf, who observed my AP Psychology class recently: Collegial …
: "Change is the essential process of all existence" Ben Casselman writes at FiveThirtyEight: Spock, after all, was both what I was and what I hoped to …
: Collegial Observation by Hickox Mr Hickox came to my AP Psychology class last week and observed the lesson on Personality Disorders. …
: On Saturday, February 14, SI hosted the (first annual?) “Catholic EdCamp SF,” which I helped …
: Writing in Psych #psychat This week’s #psychat is on writing in psych and will be hosted by @eecastro - 8 pm CST on Wednesday …
: Student Questionnaire reflections, 2014–2015 I reviewed the results of the Fall 2014 Student Questionnaire with some trepidation (list of …
: <div class="caption"> Lacerate, the second video made of a rosegram sent to me on Valentine’s Day …
: <div class="caption"> Student leaders from Kairos 122 sent me a kind rosegram on Valentine’s Day. I …
: Stereotype Threat Presentation Reflection Yesterday, I presented on Steele and Aronson’s stereotype threat with a presentation to faculty and …
: My next gig, Friday, February 13, 2015: How Stereotypes Affect Academic Achievement In Every School …
: Chilling-effect — In constitutional law, the inhibition or discouragement of the legitimate exercise …
: Few will understand the references inherent in this, but I post it here as some strange, permanent …
: …our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics …
: It must be January in San Francisco. How do I know? It’s not the 60* highs … it’s that I had my …
: On Voicemail I believe the days of voicemail are over; the technology – like that of the fax machine – has been …
: LMS Committee Reflection [ed. note: This had been posted privately in 2013, and now that sufficient time has passed, I’m …
: Today, I earned the coveted Get Out of Hell free card by helping a nun change her flat tire.
: <div class="caption"> Waiting for the outbound 71 Haight … time does not move this rapidly… …
: I commute most days between work and home on my bike, a 2012 Raleigh FT-2. On Friday, I was …
: ' .1* semester-ending grades . ; ' .2* semester-ending grades . ; Shown above are the stats from …
: Why I Choose Uber Without exception, every trip I have taken in a taxicab has been uncomfortable, regardless of city …
: The 50 books I read in 2014. I re-read some classics, which I really enjoyed (like Red Harvest and …
: A kind note from a young teacher who came to campus to observe my AP psychology class: … It was …
: <div class="caption"> This is how my family has sung “Happy Birthday” for generations. <p><video …
: “I think as we get older our Christmas list gets smaller and the things we really want for the …
: <div class="caption"> The world goes by on a rainy day at 24th & Harrison. <p><video …
: As quoted in French Writers of the Past (2000) by Carol A. Dingle, p. 126 <p><img …
: For the first time, I feel the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator lesson went particularly well. Rather …
: On Meetings I had reason recently to reflect on ways in which information is communicated within schools. I will …
: If you want someone to accept new evidence, make sure to present it to them in a context that …
: Sensation & Perception Psychat Need some sensation and perception ideas? @eecastro hosts #psychat tonight. 8 pm CST be there! — …
: I do love that I can walk to Slim’s, see a show (Walk the Moon, in this case), and walk home after. …
: Miller-Fleig 2014 Collegial Observation The above is a write-up (linked here also) of a …
: On the passing of Sr Margaret Mary Dillon, DC
: Based on a post by Rob McEntarffer, we developed and ran a new demonstration for Perception this …
: I accompanied a colleague yesterday as a chaperone for his class’ field trip to Alcatraz Island. …
: Four Day Retreat A post elsewhere by zullingerc got me to do some arithmetic. Over the next four days, I’ll be on the …
: First Online Unit Test in Canvas Today marked a first for my AP Psych students/: an all-online Unit test using Canvas, our new …
: Leading the processional for the first Friday Morning Liturgy on the 2014-2015 academic year, and …
: The first day of school, Room 314, 2014–2015 academic year. For the past three years, we have begun …
: <div class="caption"> Time-lapse video of a lecture on experimental design, using the theory that …
: I was in the Faculty Workroom and noticed that one of the English teachers had this book, and I …
: georgetakei: There’s a map for that. Source: That’s Messed Up Dang… I had this map hanging in my …
: …work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that play consists of whatever a body is not …
: Segregation is not only inconvenient—that isn’t what makes it wrong. Segregation is not only …
: Third Annual Psych One conference I’ve been to enough conferences over the past 16-years that I’ve lost count. Of those, the Psych One …
: Success requires enough optimism to provide hope and enough pessimism to prevent complacency. — …
: When Psychology teachers go on pilgrimage. When I teach my students about this, I have two main …
: No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; … …
: 2014 AP Psychology Exam Results The results from this past year’s AP Psychology Exam are in now, and I’m relatively pleased with the …
: It’s always difficult to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And wherever you …
: Sometimes, the only way to discover who you are or what life you should lead is to do less PLANNING …
: 2013–14 Performance Review Shared below is the write-up from my supervisor as Educational Technologist, the Assistant Principal …
: 2013–2014 Administrative Evaluations In my role as Educational Technologist I am part-time Administration, and as such am subject to the …
: Beginning recovery I felt well-enough today after my bike-commute home to go for a run. After reviewing the notes of my …
: “I like to learn by doing and failing and learning from the mistakes I make.” — David McCandless. …
: On "Poaching" I recently read a post by Greg Brockman about cold recruiting, or initiating an interview for …
: I dig it. If you’re a City kid, you need one — the one from your ‘hood. Mom bought it for me at the …
: Defining Tenure Apropos of nothing, the following description of tenure by Perry Zirkel, professor of education and …
: “Schools kill creativity” – Sir Ken Robinson From one of my favorite TED Talks, and now a great …
: Transformative Uses of the iPad slidedeck. I was invited to give a keynote address at the 2014 …
: Paid Web Services Darwinian principles govern the life of web services as well as the animal kingdom. For the …
: Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. — <p>Samuel Beckett, <a …
: Students on the last day of my two sections of AP Psychology — and then the three juniors who …
: Year-End Performance Review Below is the written follow-up from my Principal for 2013–2014: Eric, Thanks for our end of the year …
: creativemornings: “‘Creative block’ – what a dumb term, just totally invented. Listen, there’s no …
: I am no athlete I did not start running until I was 30; and I’m nowhere even close to Malcolm Gladwell’s …
: Dealing With Emotionally Challenging Days Yesterday, I asked folks on Facebook how they deal with emotionally hard days at work, and I …
: The most valuable compensation for working at a startup as opposed to a “normal job” is a …
: This is Pam Selle’s talk at Ignite Philly on the topic of work-life balance; she called it Go the …
: … honor is not the same as dignity. One might even say: honor is surplus dignity. It is that …
: I, _________________, hereby swear to abandon all fear; to question everything; to trust in myself; …
: Some good fucking career advice.
: <ol> <li>What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?</li> <li>What if I fail — how …
: Cobain wasn’t a monster, ever. At his worst, he was a mess, but so are most of us, only we get …
: startupquote: Get five or six of your smartest friends in a room and ask them to rate your idea. - …
: To Advance Education, We Must First Reimagine Society
: It’s been that sort of two–weeks…
: Pro-Social Social Psych Activity I barely remember how I came up with this idea for a SocialPsych activity[1] which was new this …
: Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom Writing for The Financial Times, Katie Roiphe, a journalism professor at NYU, writes: There is a …
: Intellectual Sprawl, the good and the bad Michael Lopp, better known as Rands, describes his process for reading widely and making connections …
: from Life’s Little Instruction Book. As a teacher — of both adolescents and adults, albeit in …
: Success can build a deadly culture of arrogance
: In a continuing effort to make AP Psychology more experiential, we had a general class discussion …
: Brené Brown, Why Your Critics Aren’t The Ones Who Matter. <p><img …
: First tweet Just for future reference, here is my now-ironic first use of Twitter: Not twittering; just …
: St Ignatius Free Clinic For the third year (I think), we’ve ended the Abnormal Psych and Therapy unit with a full-class, …
: Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas. — Erwin Rommel (via <a …
: Shoshin is a principle in Zen Buddhism. related to the last post… <p><img …
: What am I doing? A colleague in the Social Science department recently shared a New York Times article on the value …
: <p>It doesn’t interest me<br/> what you do for a living.<br/> I want to know<br/> what you ache …
: Scoring Track & Field meets Big thanks to Mr. Castro for all his help at the track meet yesterday, staying late into the …
: Student Questionnaire Reflections, 2013–14 Linked here are the unedited results of the annual student questionnaire given to my two sections of …
: 2013–2014 Student Questionnaire results Below are the written comments from this year’s juniors and seniors in my two sections of AP …
: More broadly, the findings suggest that pure happiness is about getting what we want in life—whether …
: A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, …
: The last photo (by ecastro). It’s been 12-years since my father died, and I miss him and think of …
: On assignment Our Director of Communications made the following suggestions to me in regards to writing an article …
: In Trouble on Valentines Day Girl Scout cookies count as “lunch,” right? Oh, they don’t? Dang… After flying in late lastnight …
: Our AP Psychology students were scheduled to take the unit 11 test on “Intelligence Testing and …
: We can understand the happiness of fishes—or ants, or inchworms—because what drives us to think and …
: Dress Like a Teacher Day, 2014 hehe — pretty funny…
: Tenure Process Notification At the beginning of January (Jan. 13, 2014, specifically), I received the following from Dr Paul …
: Shooting the Moon, 2014 For the past 15-years of teaching AP Psychology, I have allowed students to “Shoot the Moon” on the …
: Fun, but educational? In the midst of the unit on Emotion, I organized the students into two groups, and gave separate …
: Do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing, and you’ll never be criticized. — <p>Elbert Hubbard, …
: Enough With the 'Lifelong Learning' Already
: Yesterday’s remarkable is today’s really good and tomorrow’s mediocre. — <p><a …
: Valley of the Blahs: How Justin Bieber’s Troubles Exposed Twitter’s Achilles’ Heel
: “Let us remember…” by Yosup Joo. A fisheye shot of my 2* AP Psychology class, Fall 2013.
: When I took over Rm 314 as my classroom, I inherited from the previous teacher, John Harrington, a …
: On sharing Writing about the disruptions that society will face as some sectors of society continue to …
: 3,000-miles run I began running in 2004, shortly after turning 30, when I was diagnosed with skin cancer, and …
: Guest Speaker on Eating Disorders For the first time, today I had a guest speaker for AP Psych on the topic of eating disorders in …
: I Messed Up the Order of Operations For the Motivation/ Emotion Unit, I wanted to show a scene from scary movie and then have a …
: It is no longer good enough for schools to send out students who know how to do what they were …
: 2012 vs 2013 Fall Final Exam scores I have held off on writing this reflection for more than a week because I wasn’t sure what to think. …
: Copyright is broken Today, I wrote to my two Senators and my Representative, urging their attention on our broken system …
: An exercise in problem-solving This is for the good folks at #psychat, an exercise in heuristics vs algorithms: The challenge in …
: Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel …
: Democracy demands the Primacy of Conscience From the Editorial Board of the New York Times: Considering the enormous value of the information he …
: No Resolutions, but… Over breakfast at Oakland Grill while spending New Year’s at Jack London Square, I asked Christina …
: 2013 in Books According to Goodreads, I read 13,271 pages across 43 books in 2013: Looking at the four 5-star …
: On being nettlesome While the following advice was given in regards to beating Grandmasters at chess, it’s still fun to …
: Do not try to do too much with your own hands. Better the Arabs do it tolerably than that you do it …
: Amid this din of complaint and trivial offense, how to know what really mattered, how to identify …
: You can’t help someone get up a hill without getting closer to the top yourself. — <p>Norman …
: What are the best day to day time saving hacks?
: Moved Blog Over the weekend, I moved my blog, from a Wordpress install on a remote web-server that I was paying …
: The utility of living consists not in the length of days, but in the use of time; a man may have …
: Blogging Is Hard I am struggling to keep up with this long-format blogging and self-reflection. It is too …
: Gratitude is toxic to discretionary retail because of what grows in its soil. The habitually …
: On Restorative Justice Over the many years that I have spent going on retreat with my colleague Mary McCarty, I have heard …
: First Day of Class, 2013 Today was the first day of the 2013–2014 academic year. As I have been for the past five years, I …
: 2012–13 AP Results Today was my first day back on campus full-time after Summer vacation, and I found in my mailbox the …
: In Gratitude… for Buffalo? On Thursday, May 30, 2013, I found the above poster in my mailbox in the Faculty Lounge; there was …
: Thanks For A Great Year Over breakfast, I finished The Happiness Manifesto, by Nic Marks. While only “okay,” I did find a …
: For my part I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of ignorance. — Adlai Stevenson, …
: Administrative Evaluation Reflection, 2012–13 At the end of this academic year, my sixth as Educational Technologist, I was again included in the …
: I dig it. <p><img src="https://eecastro.micro.blog/uploads/2026/70726225398.jpg"></p>
: A-B Testing A Story Having “taken” Dan Ariely’s “A Beginner’s Guide to Irrational Behavior” MOOC, I’ve been thinking …
: The Struggle Is The Struggle Of Life We’ve all heard the aprocryphal response from George Mallory to the question of why he wants to …
: It’s understandable that schools still offer blogging workshops, but the fact is that teachers don’t …
: Let’s start the story 120 years ago, when American factories began to electrify their operations, …
: AP Psych's Hidden Curriculum Yesterday morning, in the Faculty Room getting coffee, I spoke with a colleague who teaches in the …
: When I work, my first relationship with people is professional. There are people who want to be your …
: Here is a radical truth: school doesn’t have a monopoly on learning. More and more people are …
: First Track Meet Nervousness This afternoon will be my first day as the official Course Recorder for the Jack Wilsey Track. In …
: Men's Group opening prayer The Faculty Men’s Group meets every two weeks to pray together and engage in faith-sharing. For …
: How to teach about, but not teach, cutting After introducing the Psychological Disorders & Therapy Unit, Yosup and I had a long debrief. By way …
: 2012–2013 Student Questionnaire Reflections When I was the Chair of the Social Science Department, I read What the Best College Teachers Do, by …
: Teaching about disordered eating, follow-up I would’ve liked to have written this reflection a few days ago, right after finishing the topic of …
: Teaching About Disordered Eating Every year when I get to the topics of disordered eating and, later, suicide, I get nervous. Both …
: My 2012 Fall Final Review sucks With nine chapters completed in our text during the Fall Semester, and a cumulative Final Exam next …
: On Finnish Homework and What We Want Over the weekend an opinion piece by Louis Menand, The End of Homework?, in The New Yorker made it …
: Fall 2012 Nonfiction History fans, As we approach Christmas break, I’m already picking out where I’ll walk to in the City …
: MUNI as Thought Incubator This is a brief note-to-self regarding the downtime necessary for deep thought and reflection — and …
: What to do? Break a social norm! As I noted earlier, on Thursday, I was struck by the unfamiliar feeling of panic, not knowing what I …
: What to do? So, I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do for tomorrow’s Introduction to Psychology classes. …
: Student Questions and Engagement With the new block schedule this year, students have a Resource Period: one period wherein they do …
: Don’t impose on me what you know, I want to explore the unknown And be the source of my own …
: Biting Off More Than You Can Chew I live in a state of constantly feeling that I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. When the school …
: Looking Out For Each Other At this morning’s liturgy, Fr Fran Stiegeler, SJ, spoke about a valuable life lesson he learned …
: What Does It Mean To Be A Man? I received the following email (edited for the sake of anonymity): My son, X, whom you also taught …
: Plans versus Reality The agenda for today was: Passback Monday’s test Discuss results and retake options Do the “Case …
: Tweets, Dreams, and Group Work Day 3 went much closer to plan. The thing that’s so surprising about that is that guests had dropped …
: First Chapter Written Okay, so “chapter” is perhaps too generous a word for it … but it’s our plan, really! Yosup and I …
: Kairos 108 Friday, I returned from serving as the Retreat Director of our 108th Kairos retreat; it’s a job …
: …writing has always seemed to me a fight against loss, an instinct for replay; a resistance to the …
: The Sentimental Value of Small Gifts The cup was a gift in 2004 from two students, thanking me for being the guest speaker at one of …
: The Plan For Test Days In the past, when our classes were 50-minutes in length, we would have full-period Unit tests for AP …
: Reflections on the First Week With Block Schedules and iPads This past week has been thrilling. For the first time in YEARS, I had difficulty sleeping on Sunday …
: Focusing on Class Management Each year, we are expected to select an area of our teaching that we wish to focus on improving; …
: How and When to show a TED Talk I wouldn’t say that we show a lot of TED Talks to our AP Psych students, but (a) Yosup and I do …
: New Year's Resolutions It’s one of the traditions at my school to call the beginning of a new academic year, the “New …
: Supervisor Performance Review, 2011–2012 Related to my previous post on evaluations done by my fellow faculty members of me as Educational …
: 2011–2012 AP Results Reflection On my last trip in to campus, I found in my faculty room mailbox the AP Subject Score Roster for …
: Administrative Evaluations, 2011–2012 At the end of this academic year, my fifth in the position as Educational Technologist, I was …
: One Lesson Learned Teaching I was at a dinner party this week, hosted by a former debater and student of mine, who is now a …
: I will not allow yesterday’s success to lull me into today’s complacency, for this is the great …
: <p><img src="https://eecastro.micro.blog/uploads/2026/70700042441.png"></p>
: Science is not about certainty. Science is about finding the most reliable way of thinking, at the …
: Appreciation While this may at first appear to be about one student’s appreciation, it’s really about my …
: Talking about Love, Reflections and Delay One of the primary motivators for beginning this reflection blog was an amazing end-of-year …
: Intellectual Sprawl Sitting around in the Psych classroom after school one day, three of us teachers began kicking …
: Let's make better mistakes tomorrow My first post was an introduction to the the title of the blog, Intellectual Sprawl, and its …
: 25 Things This was originally posted to Facebook, but since Facebook might not always be around, I wanted to …