Helping you to hone your craft, improving the art and science of teaching.
The Curse of Knowledge: once you know something, it's hard to think from the perspective of someone who doesn't know it. And the more you know, the harder it gets.
The more I started looking, the more I realized that most of my questions asked students to remember, not actually think.
Asking questions is such a basic tool of teaching, yet how many of us have ever been taught to ask good questions? In this opening to a series about questioning, we'll explore how to get students asking each other questions.
I so often let my most advanced students pick their own paths. What I thought was empowering, actually led to stagnation. Students need guides!
My mentor pointed out that often “hands-on” means “brains-off.”
Which of the three jobs brings you joy? And which one sucks the life from you?
How I’d push a mere science demonstration to higher level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Teachers who are most successful at differentiation plan for thinking, not merely for content.
I knew how to help my below-level writers become on-level. But how the heck do you make the next step?
Beware one-off questions. Any question that we prepare should have a natural follow-up question. And those follow-ups should push students up Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Here’s why I never approach a lesson as being “for a grade.” Instead, I think of a lesson as I’d think of baseball, chess, or the piano.
When you’re teaching a reading skill, can you replace some of those dull sample texts with glorious artwork?
How to push your learning objective beyond the bottom of Bloom’s and get kids thinking in interesting ways.