Teaching

Twenty year teaching veteran Anthony Cody shares his list of lessons learned about classroom management. They make common sense and provide useful insights and reminders for most teachers. Great suggestions, Anthony. I too found textbook published tests and quizzes too difficult for students in my classes. So, I showed them how to complete the tests and to use them as study guides. It only...

Nancy Flanagan lists 10 actions she thinks schools could learn from businesses. Choice is good. Develop a culture of excellence. Use technology to do actual work. Stimulate innovation. Beware of dependence on the charismatic leader. Stop doing what doesn't work. Use a combination of data and narrative to talk with the public. Use competition honestly ... to produce the best possible services. This is...

Cisco released a report of a survey July 26, 2007, that concludes that Americans realize the importance of adopting information technology to upgrade schools, connect communities and improve educational content. Zogby International conducted the survey in May, and titled the report, "Education Attitudes 2007." "How to best educate students so that they have the skills needed to succeed in the 21st century workforce is...

Lisa Zyga reports how to use with secondary school students a Nintendo Wii remote control accelerometer as a pendulum. To teach students concepts in dynamics and kinematics such as force, velocity and acceleration, Vannoni and Straulino used the intact Wii remote to measure acceleration of a swinging pendulum. They connected the remote to a PC via Bluetooth, and used software to interpret data from...

Teachers responded thoughtfully to the post Business Talk to Teachers. I’d like to repost some of them, so they don’t get lost. These teachers follow the spirit of what key business deciders expect of teachers. I’m confident others do too, but they did not post here. (I included the link to commenters that provided it with their post. You'll likely find useful information on...

Vicki Caruana, Bill Ferriter, and others at the Teacher Leaders Network (among an increasing number of other online education communities) do a good job of describing teachers' interests, sentiments, and concerns. Together, they reach out to industry and public policy makers in order to influence product and policy decisions that may affect school students. I think most people support that effort and wish them...

Thanks, Bill Ferriter, for keeping a discussion about scripted instruction going. Bill argues that scripted curricula have a place in classrooms. His statements have drawn comments, including disagreements. Teachers can consider Mobile PC education software as a form of scripted curricula for a classroom. Teachers disagree about the utility of any scripts in classrooms. Two sets of ideas come to mind while reading his...

Randall Stephenson, CEO, AT&T said today at the National Governors Conference that U.S. schools "are failing to develop the best and brightest in math and science. We've got to change that. I can't think of a job today that's not high tech." Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano opened the plenary session of the National Governors Association 2007. The session focused on innovation and technology, including...

In an ongoing series of posts, Barnett Berry asks a generic question: What can raise the number and the quality of school teachers, especially in schools where students perform below minimum expected levels? To his credit, he created the Center for Teaching Quality to address variations of this question. He has attracted talented teachers and project staff to help. Their comments and reports are...

Jim Vanides reviews uses of Tablet PCs for music instruction. It seems to me that a tablet pc and projector has several advantages over a whiteboard:The projected image can be MUCH bigger than a whiteboard or SmartBoard - so everyone can see what is written no matter how far away they sitWhatever is "written" can be saved and re-projected during class, and then distributed...