Good Morning Blog

One of the "revelations" I had over the past few years that has helped me change my instruction was that having someone else waste your time sucks. I enjoy having my time wasted as much as the next person. Which is to say, I do not enjoy having my time wasted at all. It is one of the things that irritates me the most. When I realized that students often feel that way in school, I knew I had to be different. I didn't want to lecture any more than necessary. And when I did, I wanted to err on the side of talking too little. If a student can learn something without me, I want them to do so. If I could assign 15 problems instead of 30, I'd assign 15. I was reminded again recently of what it feels like to have your time wasted by someone else. I am in a graduate class and one of the requirements for the class is that we post solutions to homework problems on a discussion board and others respond to them. You can't see the solutions others post until after you pos...

We've all seen them. For a while they were all the rage. Hack videos. You know, "47 Paperclip Hacks You Didn't Know," "12 Ways to Use a Tissue Your Mom Never Taught You," and "23 Ice Cube Hacks You Can Use Today." None of those are real, but these are; " 43 Simply Brilliant Camping Life Hacks ," " 26 Nail Hacks Every Girl Should Try ," and " 30 Crazy Food Hacks ." [click at your own risk] I think one of the reasons these types of videos became a thing was because they showcased everyday items doing unusual things. Things most people would not have thought of. In many ways, math classes should be the same way. There is a difference between learning how to solve math problems and learning how to solve specific math problems. If Algebra 1 students know the steps to solving a variety of two-step equations, but do not understand how to apply the concept of inverse operations in other contexts, they don't really u...

There's a saying that good teachers meet their students halfway. I'm not sure that is true. Don't get me wrong. I think it is critical for teachers to meet their students academically...somewhere. I just don't believe the meeting point needs to be defined with that much specificity. If I have a student who is capable of going 80% of the way toward learning a concept, meeting that student halfway is a disservice to the student. I should only meet them at the 80-20 mark. If I have a student who is only capable of going 25% of the way toward learning that same concept, meeting that student halfway isn't sufficient. I should meet that student at the 25-75 mark. My responsibility to each student is different for the exact same concept. So why should it look the same for each student in my classroom? It shouldn't. Our classrooms are filled with students who come in with varying ability levels, various levels of self-worth, various levels of self-doubt, and...