Are the kids born between 1982 and 2000 just plain dumb? That’s what Emory University professor Mark Bauerlein argues.
His point is that the explosion of social networking and technology has led to a generation obsessed with their social lives and ignoring intellectual pursuits.
Bauerlein, with his new book, The Dumbest Generation, kicks off a debate and [...]
No one can see if I’m on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.
I’m invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?
You’d better believe it.
Of course this raises all kinds of concerns. But I like it. Not so much because of the reward (I actually very much dislike the extrinsic reward–can you say bribe?). Talk about throwing money at a problem.
But maybe this program will get people talking about the real challenges related to motivating students.
There’s an interesting discussion going on right now over at Freakonomics about whether or not grades in school are a good predictor of future success.
The discussion centers around these five premises:
The definition of success is elusive.
How do you measure the validity of grades?
Most middle schools and high schools put so much emphasis on homework versus [...]
A new brain study suggests that children under the age of 8 aren’t really able to learn from their mistakes. This Dutch study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, illustrates that younger brains learn differently.
The brains of adults and 12- and 13-year-olds are more strongly activated by negative feedback, but the brains of eight- and [...]
Dalton Sherman of Charles Rice Learning Center in Dallas Texas recently delivered one of the best speeches I’ve ever seen. Not bad for a 5th grader.
I wrote about this type of thing once on my other blog.
And now it’s happened again? What’s the deal with some teachers and tape? You know, there are other, less potentially emotionally enraging and media exciting, ways to control a classroom.
This is an outstanding example of creative problem solving.
Being creative requires using different lenses and breaking through static or ingrained thought patterns. On a number of different levels, this video exemplifies how to turn obstacles into opportunities. It’s about a 7 minute video, and a little slow (with intro material) in the [...]
This short article is from a business and marketing blog, but it relates to teaching perfectly. We had an interesting conversation about intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation at my Masters class yesterday. And it relates to that as well.
Wienies are extra.
Wienies are what you give the audience after they think they’re already satisfied.
Wienies are [...]
Overnight field trips + Teens = Sex? You’d better believe it. And if you’re brave enough to supervise an overnighter, you’d better be ready to prevent it–or pay a price.
