How to ask Divergent Questions and ensure that your students are thinking rather than merely remembering.
All Of MyExamples
Page 9
Ira Glass on Perfectionism
For people who do not suffer from perfectionist tendencies, it can be hard to understand the crippling feeling a student feels when their work doesn’t match their expectations. Ira Glass, who you know from This American Life, has a fantastic quote that gets to the heart of this problem.
Thinking From Anything’s Perspective
How a small change, with very little effort on the teacher’s part, leads to a delightfully complex task that can will get students thinking.
Why I don’t include “Explain Why” in Questions
I used to think that adding “explain why” to the end of a question somehow made it higher-level. But now I see two problems in asking students to “explain their thinking”.
When Too Much “Depth” Leads To Simplicity
Here’s the most common mistake I’ve seen in implementing depth and complexity: the “fill in the blanks” worksheet.
Word Pyramids – A Delightful Vocabulary Puzzle
A fun, abstract vocab puzzle in which students can add one letter per line, forming a pyramid of words.
Beware “Real World Problems”
Why I stopped looking for “real world” problems and started aiming for “interesting.” The real world is often tedious and annoying. Interesting never is!
What “Gamification” Gets All Wrong About Games
I love Margaret Robertson’s piece about how typical gamification items like badges and levels completely miss the point of what makes games great. Take a look.
Thinking Hats and Lunar Survival Skills
How Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats helped me solve a problem with my favorite group discussion task.
Puzzlement Tournament
Perfect to wrap up the year: a four-round puzzlement tournament.