Embracing humor in the classroom invites creativity, reduces stress, and enhances retention Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” – Victor Borge In my first year of teaching, I taught kindergarten. There are moments from that year that parallel later moments teaching middle school because in both, students are figuring out the spoken and
Understanding the limitations of education research and accepting responsibility for contributing to moving it forward Most studies in education are observational studies. This means that investigators pore over data previously collected by others. They seek correlations between different variables. This approach is far less expensive than other methodologies because it is easier and faster. With
Read More… from The Problem with, “Show Me the Research” Thinking
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Examining the cultural narrative around these ideologies As with most things in education, context can be everything. A skill taught in isolation from meaningful context, for example, is rarely learned, and often becomes grist for blaming the student for his lack of learning rather than analyzing the teacher’s instructional design. Read a mediocre piece of
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Changes in school or classroom practices unleash a variety of emotions. How can we support each other in the process? The faculty lounge crackles with disagreements about the new grading policies suggested by the standards-based grading committee. The English department debates whether or not grammar proficiency is a requisite for writing proficiency, and whether or
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Benefits of quick access to working memory and 25 memorization techniques In a world in which we can always look things up, memorization still matters. Depending on the situation, engagement, meaning, progress, expediency, and safety are increased significantly if participants have the following information at their mental fingertips ready for immediate use: The alphabet’s sequence
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Ben reads below grade level, and knows that if he whines about how unfair school is, his dad will cave in and do most of the work for him. Jacqueline knows how to do the math, but she doesn’t think she should have to prove it to the teacher repeatedly via tonight’s homework assignment, so she asks
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