Coach Students Rather Than Teach Students
Students learn best when teachers stop doing for them what they can do for themselves. Read Full Post >
Recently in General Instruction Category
March 29, 2013
February 10, 2013
Flipped Instruction or No Instruction?
A truly flipped classroom would involve more learning by doing and less lecturing--whether live or via video. Read Full Post >
May 30, 2012
Memorization Through Application
Last post I introduced Concept Cards, a note-taking system that helps students store, retrieve, and use information more efficiently than traditional note-taking methods. Now, here are a few tips for maximizing the benefits of Concept Cards: Alphabetical Rather Than Chronological. One problem wit... Read Full Post >
May 19, 2012
A Noteworthy Note-Taking System
"Look it up in your notes," I told students when they asked me for information that either I had already given them or they had found on their own. "You're the teacher. You're supposed to answer our questions," students responded. "The answers to those questions should be in your notes." I replied.... Read Full Post >
April 08, 2012
Independence First, Interdependence Second
"Stop the madness for constant group work." said author Susan Cain in her recent TED Talk, The Power of Introverts. "We need to be teaching kids to work together, for sure. But we also need to be teaching them how to work on their own because that is where deep thought comes from." (Check out Cain's... Read Full Post >
March 23, 2012
Learning and Leading by Listening
A lot of teachers give students participation points for speaking up during class discussions. The more students contribute, the more points they get. I've heard teachers say this motivates students, and it does seem to motivate some of them--those who need or want to improve their grades. But par... Read Full Post >
March 12, 2012
There Are No Stupid Questions, But...
It's fine to encourage students to speak up by telling them there are no stupid questions. Yet students' willingness to ask questions has less to do with us encouraging them to do so than how we respond when they actually do ask questions. Unfortunately, teachers often respond to questions in w... Read Full Post >
February 20, 2012
Mandatory Homework--for Teachers
In my recent post, Don't Prevent Students' Mistakes, Prepare for Them, I wrote that lesson planning should be more about anticipating students' errors and preparing to help them learn from those errors than trying to develop presentations that prevent all errors. "Sounds good in theory," a teacher ... Read Full Post >
January 02, 2012
Don't Prevent Students' Mistakes, Prepare for Them
It's common knowledge that people can learn as much from their mistakes as anything. And yet traditional teaching methods often deny students the chance to learn from their mistakes by preventing them from making mistakes. In social studies and science, for example, a lot of teachers tell student... Read Full Post >
October 15, 2011
Students at the Board: Confidence Booster or Buster?
Presenting solutions to homework or class work in front of the class can be a real confidence booster for students. But it can also be a real confidence buster for them if they come to the board thinking they're experts and their answers turn out to be wrong. And if that's not deflating enough for... Read Full Post >
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