What Topics Does the Practical Theory Blog Cover?

Practical Theory (practicaltheory.org), subtitled "A View From the Schoolhouse," is an education blog written from the perspective of someone working inside a school. Its posts focus on how schools should respond to real pressures—especially AI-driven cheating, student safety, and the loss of historical context in education decisions—rather than on abstract policy theory. It is most useful if you want a practitioner's view on teaching practice and school leadership, not a news digest or a research database.

AI in Education and Academic Integrity

The blog's most prominent recent topic is the arrival of generative AI in schools and the cheating problem that has come with it. The post "AI and Showing Our Work" argues that roughly three years after ChatGPT's launch, the introduction of AI into schools "isn't going so well." The author reports that every administrator he has spoken with describes a clear rise in AI cheating, and says this matches what is being seen at SLA (Science Leadership Academy).

The post lays out two camps it rejects:

• AI as revolution: Those—often not in schools every day—who argue AI will "revolutionize school" and tear down old ways of doing things.
• Back to the blue book: Those who want to return to in-class handwritten exams because they don't want the burden of figuring out whether a student wrote something.

The author calls both camps unrealistic and says the middle ground is difficult to find. Key claims worth noting:

• "It is too easy to cheat using AI. We have to own that."
• Teachers cannot be expected to out-design cheating by making every lesson maximally engaging for every student at every moment; with 30 kids in a class and compulsory subjects, some assignments will always appeal to some students more than others.
• Generative AI functions as the latest and greatest "easy button" in a world of immediate gratification, which puts schools that ask for thoughtful, effortful work in tension with what surrounds students.

The excerpt ends mid-thought ("That's not…"), so the full post is the place to look for the author's proposed response.

School Safety

The heading "Keep the Kids Safe" signals a second strand: student safety as a school responsibility. The available page evidence gives only the heading, not the body, so treat this as a topic the blog addresses rather than a summary of its argument. If safety policy is your interest, open that post directly.

History and Context in Education Decisions

"Meeting the Moment by Knowing Our History" points to a third theme: grounding current decisions in historical understanding. The title suggests an argument that schools and leaders respond better to present challenges when they know how their institutions and the field arrived here. Again, the page evidence supplies the heading only; the post itself carries the reasoning.

Teaching Practice and School Leadership

Running through all of the above is a reflective, practitioner voice—someone writing about what teachers and administrators actually face day to day. The AI post is a good example: it treats lesson planning, student motivation, and administrator observations as concrete constraints, not abstractions. Expect opinionated essays rather than how-to guides or product reviews.

What the Blog Is Not

Based on the available material, Practical Theory is not a commercial site: no pricing signals, payment platforms, or product links appear in the page evidence. It is a personal/professional blog with paginated posts and a "Recent Posts" list. There is no indication of a subscription requirement either way, so don't assume free access to everything—check the site if access matters to you.

Is It Worth Reading for Your Purpose?

Start with "AI and Showing Our Work" if your interest is academic integrity, then use the post pagination to browse earlier entries on safety and history.