What are the best new ideas in education? Who has the solutions that will motivate and inspire today’s students? This week, several of my Penn classmates attended the ASU GSV education technology summit in San Diego. According to the summit’s promotional materials, the program included “the top minds in talent and education from around the…
Read MoreAll articles filed in professional development
New teachers need real feedback
There’s always a lot of talk about teacher evaluation, but not so much about feedback, which is the heart of our enterprise. What is the point of evaluation if not to provide meaningful information about an individual’s strengths, weaknesses and growth? Unless you just want a reason to fire someone. We would never assign students a…
Read MoreWe must help kids overcome the opportunity gap
The teenagers in our classes may not realize it, but they are on the verge of making one of the most important decisions of their lives: How will they develop their “human capital”? Our challenge is to make sure they understand how critical this is — and to help them make the best decisions possible.…
Read MoreWhat teachers want
This week I presented my first workshop as a College Board consultant. My task: In six hours at a hotel conference room in Cincinnati, help 10 high school teachers hone their ability to teach AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics or both. Six hours isn’t much time, let alone for two distinct subjects, and most of the teachers at…
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…
Read MoreWe can get better
Every hour of the day, teachers need to provide meaningful content, build relationships, inspire young minds, maintain order, assess learning, correct for mistakes, help kids in crisis, respond to parents, follow IEPs, tolerate interruptions, ensure equity, manipulate technology, interpret data and manage frustration. Doing this job well requires passion, energy, organization and the ability to…
Read More
MARTHA RUSH 