We don't teach adults how to actually work.

Maths, Science, English. But not how to think, work, or focus. The essay argues that schools prepare young people for exams, then quietly assume the cognitive skills required for adult life will sort themselves out.

Focus. Deliberate effort. Protecting your best thinking. They do not sort themselves out, and nobody in the system is accountable for closing the gap.

I also released an International Classroom episode on why attention is worth more than time, and why giving someone your full unhurried presence may be one of the most useful things you can do for them.

Deep Work, by Cal Newport. The argument is straightforward: the ability to focus without distraction on cognitively demanding tasks is becoming both rarer and more valuable.

The phrase that has stuck with me is attention residue. When you switch tasks, part of your attention stays on the previous one. Every open loop quietly burns cognitive resource in the background.

If the productivity gap had a textbook, this would be it.

The Den is open. The intention is for it to become a genuine community of practice, not a mailing list with a nicer front end.

This month's theme is AI Coding for Educators: from your first prompt to your first working tool, with no coding experience required.

Cal Newport and James Clear are quietly making the same argument: productivity is not a personality trait.

Attention is learnable. Focus is learnable. Deep work is learnable. Identity is changeable. Environment is designable.

The productivity gap is not a crisis of character. It is a crisis of curriculum, and that is fixable.

Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule, by Paul Graham. It has more practical implication for how schools are run than most CPD programmes I have attended.

Most school timetables are manager's schedules applied to an institution full of people whose best work needs a maker's schedule: teaching, thinking, writing, planning.