Earlier this week, I got an e-mail from Maddy, a 2015 graduate. “I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about how you got interested in teaching?” she asked. “I’m starting to realize teaching is something I think I would truly be interested in.” I responded with a short e-mail recounting my…
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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.
Why teenagers are bored by civics
Most American teenagers don’t talk about politics — not at home, not with their friends, not even at school. Nowhere in their daily lives do they engage in substantive discussions about critical issues like immigration reform or trade protection, or even hot button issues like gay rights, gender equality or police brutality. Last week, Prof.…
Read MoreThe technology that could replace us
Most of the claims that new technology will make teachers obsolete are patently false. TED Talks, MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses), educational videos, vast online databases and typical educational apps and games simply cannot replace an effective teacher in a classroom. But that doesn’t mean that nothing can. The technology tools with the greatest potential…
Read MoreRe-learning that really works?
Three years ago, under a new principal, my high school leaped head first into the “re-learning, re-take” trend sweeping public education. The philosophy is simple and has undeniable logical appeal. If Michael performs poorly on a test, he should have the opportunity to re-learn the material and improve his score. After all, we get more…
Read MoreWould you give out all As?
What would happen this year if I tossed out all of my rubrics, test scores and grading scales and just granted As to all of my students? Would my classroom become a utopia, where students — free from the rat-race of chasing grades — would engage in learning for the pure love of it? Or…
Read MoreParenting by pain avoidance
In 20 years of teaching, I have seen all kinds of parenting. I’ve seen tragic situations, of course. Parents who kick out their teenagers in anger. Parents who abuse or manipulate their children or make them pawns in divorces. I’ve also seen parents who have just plain given up on their kids. But this post…
Read MoreYes, there are dumb questions
Teachers often tell students there is “no such thing as a dumb question,” but that’s not true. There are plenty of dumb questions, and we ask them as often as we answer them. Here are some dumb questions teachers ask: Do you understand? Students say yes, not knowing what they don’t know. Why didn’t you…
Read MoreIf Econ can change…
Economics is not an easy discipline, and it’s not a subject teenagers are itching to learn. Most college-educated adults look back on Econ 101 as a boring series of lectures, with too many graphs about “widgets” and “utils.” One of the best parts of teaching high school econ, though, is that so many professional economists…
Read MoreThey might not be paying attention
If you could secretly observe each of your students during class one day, what would you see them doing? I hope I would see my students all on task, listening intently to me (or their classmates), contributing to discussions, taking thorough notes, working collaboratively during group time, and getting the most they can out of…
Read MoreWhat I learned in 3rd grade
Have you ever wondered how your subject is taught to students at a lower grade level? When we think about these unseen colleagues in our elementary and middle schools, we usually don’t get past our aggravation with them. Middle school English teachers wonder: Why didn’t anyone teach these kids how to use punctuation? High school…
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MARTHA RUSH 