Workshop participant: What is that pen tool you were using? Me: It’s a Wacom Intuit tablet — it lets me use my computer like my Smartboard. Workshop participant: So you’re using Smartboard software? Me: Yeah, I like it better than Powerpoint. It’s easier for drawing graphs. Workshop participant: Oh that’s interesting. I’ve only ever used…
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I have been teaching high school for 26 years, and I cannot tolerate bored, disengaged teenagers. I've spent my entire career developing student engagement strategies that work and abandoning lessons that don't work. As a result, my students frequently comment that they are "never bored" in my class. I'm proud of that -- and of my students' outstanding performance.
I'll use this blog to talk about engagement strategies as well as other issues facing teachers, students and everyone who cares about education today. I hope you find it interesting.
Is the teacher supposed to get it wrong?
Oops. Nothing feels worse than making a mistake that could confuse your students for days, if not weeks. Today, in a summer course for new econ teachers, I drew a graph wrong. That really shouldn’t happen at this point — I’ve done this for years, and I know how to show firms shifting production from…
Read MoreYes, fun is a good goal
Have you ever run into students over the summer who told you excitedly that they are studying vocabulary for next year? Drawing graphs? Solving problems with formulas? Reading textbooks? No, probably not. Last night I ran into three students at a Junior Achievement event, and they couldn’t wait to tell me what they’d been doing…
Read MoreNot enough hours in the day
It’s a common complaint among teachers: There are never enough hours in the day. It seems strange to have the same complaint in the summer, but here I am. Between writing four final grad school papers, preparing for workshops I’m leading this week and next, and trying to eke out a little time for exercise,…
Read MoreWhat will you do with what you have learned?
At the end of last week’s nearly 60 hours of intensive coursework, one of our University of Pennsylvania professors put these questions to us: What will you do now? Will your education change you? Or will you go back to doing what you’ve always done? The professor, Rahul Kapoor, had taught a challenging course on…
Read MoreColleges: Don’t complain about who you admit
Note to readers: I’m off to a week of full-time graduate school, so I won’t be posting July 18-24. Former Stanford dean Julie Lythcott-Haims’ book about helicopter parenting and today’s college students is popping up on social media again, and I’m tired of hearing about it. She’s not the first or only university type to…
Read MoreTechnology we need in our classrooms
In just the past two weeks, I have read about Apple’s new technology that could be used to disable iPhones from photo and video recording during concerts as well as neoprene pouches, produced by a startup called Yondr, that are already being used to lock up smartphones during concerts. Why do we need these expensive…
Read MoreLet’s use – not abuse – standardized tests
Watching Frontline’s documentary of Michelle Rhee during the same week AP scores were released has me trying to wrap my head around this issue of standardized testing and how we should use test scores. I know many teachers hate standardized tests of any kind — and for good reason. They cause anxiety. They are biased…
Read MoreWhat’s next when reform fails?
What do you do when you’ve invested a lot of time and money in an educational reform, and it doesn’t work? If you’re the Los Angeles school district, and you spent $1.3 billion on iPads and educational software that doesn’t transform student learning, you sue to recoup some of your money. But what if your…
Read MoreMissing my students during a teachable moment
The big news this week is the Brexit — Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. I wish they hadn’t voted to leave, but if they were going to do it, I wish it would have happened while school was in session. This is an incredible teachable moment. In almost any class — but particularly…
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MARTHA RUSH 