If we want our kids to become “lifelong learners,” one of the most important skills we can teach them is how to ask questions. Once you leave your formal education, the world isn’t going to spoon feed you information anymore. You actually have to find your own answers, whether it’s “Where is the bathroom?” or…
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Success Academy: Under pressure
It’s too easy to be shocked by the New York Times’ video clip of a Success Academy teacher tearing up a first-grader’s math paper and publicly chastising her, which is making the rounds on social media. Who would think it is OK to humiliate a first-grader? Who would support a school culture where, as one…
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 MoreSimplest is not always best
According to Doug Lemov, author of Teach Like a Champion, teachers should teach everything in the simplest, most straightforward way possible. I just can’t do that. Yesterday I was explaining to my fresh crop of AP Macro students the different types of economic resources: land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship. Sure, I could have given them…
Read MoreGrading time brings a burst of ‘motivation’
At the end of the semester, “motivation” soars. High school teachers get heartfelt pleas from two groups of students: those who are failing and really want to pass, and those who are earning A-s and really want As instead. “What can I do?” both groups ask. “I’ll do anything!” The first group – the kids…
Read MoreTech devices are powerful – but not motivating
The optimists among us see technology creating schools full of self-directed, collaborative workers, using the power of the internet to advance their own learning at light speed. The pessimists see technology allowing teenagers to become image-conscious dabblers, skilled at manipulating their Facebook profiles, taking selfies and playing games — but not much else. This digital…
Read MoreHow to destroy motivation
Some days I just get tired of collecting everything. Every handout, every practice problem, every reflection, every quick quiz. I know students benefit from practice, but the paperwork volume is enough to give me a migraine. Like most teachers I know, I wish my students would sometimes — just sometimes — do work for the…
Read MoreThe goal: Get students to love the work
In 20+ years of teaching, I’ve never heard one student say they deeply enjoyed the time they spent studying for or taking a multiple-choice test — or that they were really engaged by reading the textbook. Working on a meaningful creative project, however, triggers something different. “It sounds cliché, but ‘time flies when you’re having…
Read MoreHow badly do you want the answers?
You have just taken a five-question quiz. Now you have a choice: I will either tell you the right answers, or I will give you a candy bar and not tell you the right answers. Which would you choose? According to Dan Gilbert’s Stumbling on Happiness, what you think you would do and what you…
Read MoreYour words count
You’re just not good at math That book is beyond your reading level College isn’t necessarily for you Why do teachers insist on making disparaging comments that pigeonhole students? These comments are all ones my own students and grad school classmates have heard from other teachers — probably well-intentioned teachers who thought they were giving…
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MARTHA RUSH 