Happy b'day to TeachEffectively.com

Here's a post about a predecessor to SET

On 6 January 2005 I posted the first entry on a then-new blog called Teach Effectively. I had installed an early version of WordPress on the computer under my desk and configured it to serve Web pages from the domain name johnl.edschool.virginia.edu.¹ I wrote what amounts to a “Hello, World” page and, voilà, TE went live.

Here is the content of that first TE post. It had the very inventive title, “Teach Effectively’s purposes.”

This is a podium dedicated to promoting effective instructional practices. Effective practices are those methods, techniques, procedures, strategies, algorithms, programs, and etc. that produce measurably better outcomes for learners.

In this space, the primary emphasis is on effective instruction for students with disabilities, particulary learning and behavior problems typically identified in the U.S. as “learning disabilty” and “emotional or behavior disorders.” Students identified as having associated problems such as attention deficit disorder or mental retardation may also benefit from the practices promoted here.

The goal of this site is to provide a trustworthy source for consumers of educational methods. Unlike many sites on the Internet, this site will not hawk it’s own products. It will not bend evidence to support a practice. Instead, it will simply report the reasons for adopting evidenced-based practices and the evidence about those practices.

There was not a big bang. Readers didn’t flock to the site in droves. No one left a comment. TE simply joined a couple of other WordPress blogs about special education and disabilities that I was running from that trusty old Mac next to my knees.

Nowadays, of course, people can subscribe to Special Education Today, receive new posts, and support the on-going effort to disseminate news, information, research, and opinion regarding effective instruction for students with disabilities.

Footnote

1. Note that that domain name is no longer functioning so, don’t expect any toys to fall from the piñata when you click on it!