SamTastic Weekly Tip: 10/26/26 - Learning Requires Work
This week’s Tip: Learning Requires Work
The research is crystal clear. Overall, tech in schools harms learning more than it helps. When we use computers, other tech screens, apps and AI, we remove the cognitive effort required to build long-term memory and deep understanding. Neuroscientist Dr. Jared Horvath says it best: “Technology is there for experts to get work done, it is not there for kids to learn how to do work."
In developing the SAM process, we tested whether our tech tool, TimeTrack, without the SAM Daily Meeting and Coaching, would deliver the same positive results. It did not. However, when the experts, principal, SAM and coach, used TimeTrack to be reflective and determine next steps, the gains in teacher practice and student outcomes were remarkable.
You might wonder if we tested whether The SAM Daily Meeting and Coaching would work without TimeTrack. We did. We learned that the time data is necessary. In other words, the cognitive effort combined with the data leads to positive results.
As educators, we try to make learning interesting, fun and satisfying. That’s a good thing, as long as we are transparent with students that learning is work requiring concentration and effort.
My first year of teaching, I remember my fourth graders complaining that learning multiplication basic facts were too hard. I agreed that it was hard. I disagreed that it was too hard. I told them they could memorize most anything if they gave effort. Then, I recited Jabberwocky, the nonsense poem written by the English author and mathematician Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass, the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The fourth graders loved the poem, but not one believed they could memorize it. Every day, for the next ten, we spend three 15-minute sessions learning the poem. I’ll never forget their joy when they mastered the poem. Suddenly, learning multiplication facts became doable.
You’ll find the poem, Jabberwocky, at the end of this email, after the conference and other information, below.
Best for a SamTastic week,
Mark
Mark Shellinger, Director
National SAM Innovation Project
Conference updates: 90% of the seats have been taken for the 20th annual National SAM Conference, Register now: https://bit.ly/4zVNzdD
Already registered? Great news! You’ve been upgraded! Every conference we book entertainment for the evening events. This is an anniversary conference so we decided the entertainment should be special. We are pleased to announce:
· Saturday night we will be going to the Bellagio resort to see the top show in Las Vegas: “O”, by Cirque du Soliel
· LA All Stars, the hottest dance band on the West Coast, will join us two nights, Thursday and Friday (They were at our 10th annual conference, too!)
Reminder: Registering for the conference was your first step. The deadline is approaching for purchase orders or payment. If you have not provided a purchase order number, or made payment another way, please make sure to do so by November 1. If this hasn’t happened by November 15 we may need to cancel your registration. Let us know if you have an issue and we will do our best to work with you.
Travel information is due November 15. If we don’t have your travel information by December 1 we will have to suspend your registration. Let us know if you have an issue and we will do our best to work with you. Send travel information to Travel@SamsConnect.com
· Here’s the link to register: https://bit.ly/4zVNzdD
· Here’s a link to the pre-conference all-day session descriptions: https://bit.ly/4A3zMSD
· Here’s a link to the agenda: https://bit.ly/4il4gJe
· To submit a proposal to be a breakout sessions presenter: https://bit.ly/3TyCVcu
Jenn David Lang’s The Main Idea is available to active SAM team members at no charge. This online service provides comprehensive book summaries, professional development (PD) plans, and leadership workshops. Click here to be added to the weekly mailing list: https://forms.gle/ACrmUUPqtxFsYrCr7
Kim Marshall’s, The Marshall Memo is available to active SAM team members at no charge. This weekly digital publication summarizes the most important articles in K-12 education. Click here to be added to the weekly mailing list: https://forms.gle/8XBPjgJKSsjTg6167
Jabberwocky
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
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