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Does your homework look like this?
What should we change about the nuts and bolts of homework, after reading Benedict Casey’s excellent article in the New York Times summarizing the cognitive research into effective studying? Here’s my short version: Study the same thing in different locations. Varying the... Read MoreHomework and the middle-school mind
My guest today is Dina Strasser, who teaches seventh grade English in upstate NY and whose blog The Line I depend upon for consistent and thoughtful insights on life in the middle school classroom. Dina's taking my previous post on homework another welcome step here, as do s... Read MoreIs homework “deliberate practice”?
Ideally, homework should be "deliberate practice," targeting individual areas of need and pushing each student to a new place just within reach. But students tell me it rarely works that way.
The kids make their case in Chapter 8 of Fires in the Mind, part of which is ada... Read MoreFor Parents
A pro or an amateur?
Susan Klonsky passed along this video in which Zack Arias, a professional photographer, talks about the difference between what we call a pro and the people we call amateurs. It raises interesting questions, she points out: How do you differentiate between professional and amateur? Is it just about money (that's how they used to decide whi... Read MoreSocial genius and ‘disability’
I just caught up with Anderson Williams’s post about his “profound week with a group of students, both with and without intellectual disabilities, who are part of Project UNIFY through the Special Olympics.” Anderson, a youth development activist with an M.F.A., likened what these kids did to Picasso’s particular genius: deconstructing tired norms ... Read MoreFor Teachers
Singing Pythagorus
Anyone who remembers the periodic table via Tom Lehrer's wonderful song "The Elements" (below) will also appreciate this musical mnemonic ditty about the Pythagorean theorem, composed by a high school boy from Pendleton County (KY) High School. Does anyone else have a great one to contribute? (If you send yours in, we'll send you a complimentary ... Read MoreFun as serious business
The elementary school teacher who calls for more fun in the classroom in a post on today's Gotham Schools community blog is talking about serious business--math, reading, science, and history. When children are totally absorbed in their time outside schools--straining to reach the next rung on the jungle gym, or caught up in imaginative play--they ... Read More
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