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 [...]
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 [...]
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.
Glen Beck, a commentary writer for CNN and radio talk-show host, wrote an eye opening piece recently entitled Tax-free hypocrisy from higher education. This is interesting. I had no idea.
The top five college and university endowments reported a combined value of over $100 billion at the end of 2007. That’s five funds, a hundred billion [...]
CNN Money uses numbers to paint an interesting picture of teaching nation-wide. Lots of jobs opening up, lots of layoffs, lots of larger classes to teach, little (relatively speaking) money to be made.
. . . In addition to the relatively low pay, heavy workload and bureaucratic pressures that have become synonymous with the profession, [...]
