In this guest post interview Mike Bell explains how he got interested in evidence-based teaching and provides an overview of his new book “The Fundamentals of Teaching“…
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GUEST POST: THE BIG REVEAL: Showing Students How Metacognition Works
When I talk to adults about metacognition, I begin with a broken vacuum cleaner (a picture of it, that is) and ask, 'What would you do if your vacuum stopped working?’ Someone always says they would kick it, but most people take a more measured approach. They might begin by opening it up to see …
GUEST POST: Using Checklists to Improve College Teaching
Why might checklists help? First, our memories and intellects are fallible. We suffer from cognitive overload. Second, we’re overconfident. We might skip some steps because we’re confident that we can succeed regardless. Checklists address both problems…
GUEST POST: The Mind's CEO: Executive Function
Stop me if you've heard this one. The left hemisphere of your brain is responsible for logical processing; the right hemisphere is designed for creative and wholistic thinking. While there may be a tiny grain of truth to these over-generalizations, there is a much less talked about difference in brain functioning. As you go from the back of the brain to the front, thinking goes from extremely concrete to highly abstract.
GUEST POST: Developing a Culture of Collective Knowledge Building with Students
During a 3 month, online professional development opportunity exploring making learning visible (1), I learned how to move students beyond collaboration into collective knowledge building (2). I noted dramatic improvements in my students’ skills in communicating, socially interacting…
GUEST POST: Podsie - Connecting Teachers and Students to Learning Science
Quick math time! What’s -2 - 4?
As a first-year teacher, that was a question most of my eighth-grade students struggled with during the first week of school. We spent a full week going over various strategies to help …