This page shares my most recent, popular and favorite blog posts on topics such as teaching, manliness, gardening, social innovation and more. If you’re ready to dive in, you can start with my most popular or favorite posts. You can also browse my most popular posts by category or scroll down to see every post by date and title.
TOP BLOGS
MOST RECENT
MOST POPULAR
BEST BLOGS BY CATEGORY
ALL BLOGS BY DATE
Blogs are listed in reverse chronological order from most recent to the very first.
2024
April 9 – The Pedagogy of the Wild
April 2 – Our Most Beloved Teachers
2023
March 5 – Grandmas
2022
December 5 – Rome Has Fallen
November 30 – My Top-Rated Football Speech: Jay Hawkins
July 28 – Operation Desert Storm and a Bull Horn
February 18 – My First “No” for the Tribe
January 26 – Fuel
January 11 – The Art of Shunning
2021
December 16 – My Kinda Different
December 9 – Your Students and Their Fearscapes
November 16 – Disbandment
November 3 – Those who can, do; those who can’t…
October 26 – Arrival
October 18 – Fear in the Classroom
October 11 – Being Disrupted
October 4 – Fandom
October 1 – The Day I Met Gen Z
September 20 – Welcome to College
September 6 – You and Your Classroom’s Culture
August 26 – Exiled
August 19 – Racial Equity Sidekick Pledge
August 6 – The Roads that Make Us
July 21 – High School Reunion
July 15 – The Deer
July 9 – B but Leave
July 5 – Outstanding 8th Grade Boy
June 28 – Depth Charts in the Classroom
June 15 – 20 Saddest Country Songs of All Time
June 1 – How to be Vulnerable with Your Students
May 24 – I Would Rather Take the Beating
May 5 – 50 Bits of Unsolicited Advice
April 21 – Junie
April 11 – Top 20 Traveling in the Truck Country Songs
April 1 – Five People
March 24 – Career Day at Taylor High
March 12 – Mr. Baker
March 4 – Number 32
February 24 – Street by Street
February 10 – Shirtless Swagger
January 27 – Not Davos, North Bend
January 21 – A Checklist for Changing the World
January 11 – Raised by Trees
2020
December 18 – Gestation
December 16 – Daily Mandate
October 6 – The Carpenter Bee
September 17 – The Mosquito
September 8 – Fear of Poverty
August 21 – Remote Teaching Checklist
August 20 – The Joy of Moving Heavy Objects
August 11 – Do’s and Don’ts for Zoom
August 4 – Hard Things
July 28 – The Art of Landscape Maintenance
July 20 – Labor-Saving Devices
June 12 – The Edges of Our Love
May 27 – Appalachian?
May 19 – Dispersed
May 7 – A Better Soil
March 22 – Dear Coach Carr,
March 5 – The Day I Became Dr. Humphrey
February 26 – Dear Econ 202 Students,
January 2 – A Better Changemaker Curriculum
2019
November 17 – Deep Tissue Secrets
September 10 – Did You Teach Your Kid How to Fight?
August 6 – Man Up
August 2 – Best Sports Movie Speeches
July 30 – Green Beans and Ham and Being a Man
July 23 – Height
July 16 – Physical Fitness Test Database
July 9 – One Tool, Many Gardens
June 3 – The Lid to the Pickle Jar
May 20 – The Hedge
April 16 – Family Night Out
April 9 – As
February 6 – Five Adjectives
January 17 – 21st Century College Advising
January 15 – Two Letters
January 10 – Grad School Advice
January 4 – Gentle Nudging
2018
December 7 – Dating 101
November 30 – Flip the Field
September 5 – Handshakes 101
February 28 – A Better Changemaker
February 6 – IMAGINE
January 11 – Anthems
2017
December 8 – Sportsmanship 101
December 4 – That Little Ball
January 4 – How I Grade
January 3 – How I Teach
2016
November 30 – Sidekick Manifesto
November 23 – 190 Words
November 18 – My People’s Promise
July 11 – It Was Early
April 4 – The 10 Promises of a Social Good Sidekick
March 9 – Hang Up Your Cape
January 10 – Grad School Q&A
2015
December 2 – Doug and I
November 10 – The 16 Best Pump Up Songs (1980 – 1993)
October 30 – Five Species of Students
September 30 – Eroding Agency
September 21 – Hey Teachers! We’re in the Liberation Business
September 16 – Get Sh*t Done Diagnostic
August 19 – A Day in the Life of Change-making Animal
July 27 – Dr Humphrey, Tear Down This Wall!
July 15 – Agency
July 1 – The Arena
June 24 – What’s the Optimal Size of Your Tribe?
June 17 – The Choice
June 10 – Hold the Line
March 26 – What will we do when there are no more Poor People?
February 26 – The Do-Gooder Industrial Complex
January 28 – 7 Books for Becoming a Change-Making Animal
January 14 –Taking Pictures of Poor Kids
2014
December 18 – Winter is Coming
December 5 – Owning that ‘Fro
November 18 – The National Two Dollar Challenge
November 12 – Hot Chocolate and Losing
October 29 – She and I
October 8 – Harder not Smarter
September 24 – Four Steps to Becoming a Change-Making Animal
September 11 – An Invitation
August 27 – Get Your Head in the Game
August 14 – 11 Promises of a Change-Making Animal
August 7 – Rewild your Students
July 30 – Co-Authors
July 16 – Spoken
July 2 – Be a Man
June 25 – Both Warden and Prisoner
June 11 – I am Not Your Professor
June 2 – There You Are
May 22 – Do-Gooder Duel
May 15 – Dear Graduating Class
April 25 – Wonder Years
April 18 – Pedagogical Puberty
April 10 – Chains, Cone-bras and Coveralls
April 2 – Inquiry vs Insult (redux)
March 28 – Reality Check
March 21 – Late Bloomer
March 13 – Standardized
February 27 – My Do-Gooder Adolescence
February 19 – Life Chart
February 14 – Chain, Chain, Chain
February 5 – Publish or Perish
January 29 – Packaging Poverty
January 24 – The Gridiron Teaching Academy
January 15 – Hug or Handshake
January 8 – I Have Something to Say
January 2 – A Dog and Her Boy
2013
December 19 – Digging Ditches
December 11 – Is Love A Secondhand Emotion?
December 4 – Dear Students,
November 27 – I Blamed Norman Rockwell
November 21 – Scars, Stories and Students
November 13 – (RED)washing
November 6 – More Than 100 Yards of Turf
October 31 – Sometimes Grading Has to Be Personal
October 23 – Pumping People Up About Poverty
October 18 – Blue
October 9 – Love Not Fear
October 3 – Resistance Training
September 25 – Poor Paternalism
September 18 – Mismatch
September 11 – Making the Poor Pay
September 4 – The 10 Steps to Becoming a Change-Making Animal
August 28 – Tribes
August 22 – FS DOGUDR ISO PR PERSON
August 6 – The Letter
July 31 – Do-Goodernomics
July 25 – Why Teach Economic Development
July 17 – Armor
July 10 – Walk the Line
July 3 – “Don’t Look Up Dr. Humphrey”
June 27 – Had to Go Back to Go Further
June 24 – Hey Teacher! Give those Kids a Different Role.
June 17 – What will we do when there are no more poor people?
June 11 – Michael Jackson and the Wealth of Nations
June 3 – About
May 28 – Three Bullies and a Bathroom
May 20 – My “Ability to Do Good” Checklist
April 29 – Pedigree
April 25 – Write Now!
April 15 – We are Sidekicks!
April 8 – Processing Failure
April 3 – The Price of Groceries
March 25 – Five Captains
March 18 – Inquiry versus Insult
March 11 – My Tree of Insecurity
March 4 – The Handshake
February 25 – Unbundle Your Socks
February 18 – I Do Not Know
February 12 – Blue Collar
February 4 – Build Your Own Table
January 28 – Positive Thinking (Necessary but not Sufficient)
January 21 – Quitters Sometimes Win
January 14 – Bridges and a Brontosaurus
January 8 – You’re Good but not that Good
2012
December 4 – Where We Become La Ceiba
2011
April 7 – TDC Existential Crisis
April 5 – TDC vs. Wolverine
April 4 – Ford Ranger vs. Sport Trac
2010
April 7 – The Grocery Store as a Classroom
April 5 – The Role of Students in the Process of Economic Development
2008
April 18 – Some Answers for the People of Siete de Abril
April 17 – Assessing the Two Dollar Challenge
April 15 – “You Got Two Bucks Man?”
April 14 – 19 Cents
April 13 – Playing Poverty
2007
April 8 – Thoughts that Linger
April 6 – Thirteen Hours of Sleep and a Shower
April 5 – Challenge to Remain Coherent
April 4 – Media Day
April 4 – Caffeine Withdrawals and Thunder
March 30 – I Had to Give Back the Walnuts
