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What video games get right about motivation

Pre K - 12 Teachers, Undergraduate Teachers December 9, 2019

What video games get right about motivation, and how education can benefit

People who are extremely old like me, born at a time when a typical class would begin with the teacher saying, “All right, students. Everyone take out their cuneiform scroll and let’s practice writing the 12 letters of our alphabet,” tend to think of video games as a waste of time. We see children and teenagers playing on their consoles and can almost see their brains deteriorating. “Video games,” we say, pointing our index finger to the air, “are a distraction from studying and thinking! Now hand me the remote so I can watch Matlock.”

Pre K - 12 Teachers November 5, 2018

Increasing Student Engagement: Are You Up for the Challenge?

Sometimes, keeping students engaged in the classroom feels like an uphill battle. Teachers work long hours, are held to high standards for content delivery, and have a voluminous amount of preparation and grading to complete every day. We all know that experiential activities and inquiry-based strategies are related to student engagement. We are also fully aware that creating classroom environments that employ these approaches take a lot of time. Therefore, in spite of the research, “lecture continues to be the predominant mode of instruction.” [1]

Two funny handsome kid boys and young father playing together checkers game. Sons, siblings children and dad spending leisure together. Family having fun in summer garden outside.

Parents, Pre K - 12 Teachers July 9, 2018

How “unschooling” can help our children avoid summer learning loss

In the early 1900s, 85% of American families were involved in the agricultural industry. Consequently, as the summer months rolled around, children were needed to pitch in on the farm. Our current school calendars reflect this history. Children start school in late Summer, and finish in late Spring. This allowed our children to come home and work on the farm with us. Now, you may be thinking, “But I don’t work on a farm!” Yes, times have changed and most of us have very little to do with agriculture. Yet the school calendars persist.

Parents, Pre K - 12 Teachers April 16, 2018

The importance of parental sensitivity and responsiveness

If you watch young children playing you’ll notice how they “check in” with their parents every so often, as if to make sure that Mom or Dad is still there, and that the world is still safe. A child who has been brought to an unfamiliar room with toys may begin by holding onto his mother’s leg and looking out at the possibilities. In order to encourage her son to leave the safety of her presence, Mom may engage in conversation: “Do you see that boat over there?” Or, “Hey, Jack, look! That’s the same Lightning McQueen car that you have at home!” Eventually, with the implicit blessing that these prompts provide, Jack is likely to walk over to the toys and begin exploring. 

Pre K - 12 Teachers, Undergraduate Teachers November 20, 2017

Learner-Centered Assessment Strategies for Greater Student Retention

Teachers usually have their own set of ways to teach their students and make sure that the students are actually learning. Most teachers usually don’t challenge the traditional way of teaching, which can leave some students overwhelmed and confused. When I first started teaching, without even thinking, I constructed courses that looked the same as how they looked when I was in school. Step one: Teach a unit; Step two: Give an in-class exam; Step three: Teach a unit; Step four: Give an in-class exam. Etc. My observation is that a lot of teachers do the same thing. In my own research, however, in-class exams are poor alternatives to something called learner-centered assessments.