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,…
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What 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 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…
Read MoreAll kids deserve to compete
Taking my students to competitions — like the Junior Achievement Student Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. this week — is rewarding because they work hard and perform well, and sometimes they win. It’s also humbling because I get to see how much energy teenagers will devote to an activity they love. In class, kids might…
Read MoreNeverBore starts with teacher training
If you had one full day to spend with brand new pre-service teachers just starting their masters’ program, what would you do? How would you prepare them for the challenges ahead? Some teachers I know — frustrated by the low status, low pay and increasing pressure for standardized test performance — would tell them “get…
Read MoreSummer: A time to balance work and play
Summer break: three glorious months to relax, unwind, reflect on the school year and… feel restless? I remember back in elementary school how the promise of three months of nothing-to-do enthralled me. I couldn’t wait for the moment when I could pick up my report card, hug my teacher goodbye and run home to the…
Read MoreWhat is your purpose?
Over the weekend, I bumped into the same three words – “sense of purpose” — everywhere I went. I read about new research showing that people with a sense of purpose are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, even if their brains develop all of the signatures tangles and plaques. A sense of purpose is also…
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MARTHA RUSH 