A good classroom teacher looks like a well-oiled student feedback machine. Student responses are analyzed, feedback is given, and the loop repeats. Whether this is done verbally in an all class discussion, or in marginalia scrawled on a stack of quizzes, good teachers know that giving students … [Read more...] about Giving Effective Feedback to Foster Understanding
Study Skills Activities to Promote Independent Learning
Your school year is going fairly smoothly. With your carefully crafted lessons and strong scaffolds, students seem to be getting the material reasonably well. Then you start to wonder… Would they be able to learn more about the topic on their own? Or in college, where the instructors leave … [Read more...] about Study Skills Activities to Promote Independent Learning
Teaching Study Skills to Empower Your Students
Too often, conscientious students show up to class thinking that your job is to lay out the perfect plan for them to learn. And theirs is simply to glide through it. It’s frustrating because you do try to design lessons that will help all of your students to master the material. But the … [Read more...] about Teaching Study Skills to Empower Your Students
Teaching Kids to Program Computers
As we propel headlong into the 21st century, there is increasing interest in teaching kids to program computers. A few schools have been teaching kids to program for decades. Others are seeking ways to include it now. Yet, programming has often been treated as a specialized technical skill. It … [Read more...] about Teaching Kids to Program Computers
Tiger Moms Eat Their Young: A Parenting Style to Avoid
A common stereotype holds Chinese mothers to be strict authoritarians, mercilessly ruling over the children with iron fists. The thought of adopting a parenting style that exerts such extreme control may be hard to think about for many European-American parents. Yet, there is the nagging … [Read more...] about Tiger Moms Eat Their Young: A Parenting Style to Avoid
Critical Thinking Skills: What are They and How Do I Get Them?
Critical thinking is often touted as a superior way to confront the issues one faces. But what is critical thinking, really? How is it done? Can anyone do it, or are Spock-like mental abilities required? Critical thinking is sometimes talked about as a near-mystical skill that … [Read more...] about Critical Thinking Skills: What are They and How Do I Get Them?