There’s no special note-taking system to solve your students’ memorization needs. Instead, we have to teach them how (and when) to review their notes.
All AboutBetter Teaching
Helping you to hone your craft, improving the art and science of teaching.
Find The Controversy in Any Topic
By leveraging a point of contention, we can get students interested in just about any topic. Yes, even boring old spelling has controversy we can exploit!
The Frayer Model – A Tool To Explain Concepts
I love Dorothy Frayer’s 1969 model for developing a deep understanding of a concept: The Frayer Model! It really illustrates how insufficient a mere definition is when trying to explain an idea.
Is it a Lesson or Just a Topic?
Early in my career, I mixed up “topics” with “lesson.” Here’s how I learned to plan real lesson objectives, not merely list my topic.
Fluency: Asking For (Way) More Than One Answer
Being able to generate many possible answers is key to high-level thinking. So why don’t we ask students to do it more often?
Creating Your Philosophy On Homework
I had a reader ask a question about homework and gifted kids and I figured this was a pretty common question. My thought: you need a philosophy about this.
Getting to the Root of Problems with “The Five Whys”
Often, the problems we try to solve are not the root problems. The Five Whys is a thinking tool to help you sift through the superficial to find the real issue.
The Inert Knowledge Problem
90 years ago, Alfred North Whitehead used the term “the inert knowledge problem” to describe an issue he faced while teaching. I’ll bet you’ve seen the same thing…
The Curse of Knowledge in an Infant Safety Class
My recent experience as a learner and what it’s like when your teacher falls into the trap of Curse of Knowledge.
Thinking or Remembering: Abstract and Concrete
One way to emphasizing Thinking over mere Remembering is to consider the level of abstraction we’re asking students to use. You might think of abstraction as a spectrum from highly specific, concrete details to really big (but vague) ideas.