I am currently reading a book called “Cross-X: The Amazing True Story of How the Most Unlikely Team from the Most Unlikely of Places Overcame Staggering Obstacles at Home and at School to Challenge the Debate Community on Race, Power, and Education.” I kid you not, that is the name on the cover. Cross-X is what adorns the title page inside the book, so we will go with that for the remainder of this post.

» Continue reading “Book of the Day”

Along the lines of a conversation I had online with some friends, today I implemented what I hope will be a new tradition in our house. Rather than fighting to get my older son to vaguely tell me about his day, I have five questions I think every family should consider answering at the dinner table.

What made you happy today?
What did you learn today?
What did you do to help someone today?
What was your favorite moment of the day?
What was the biggest problem you had today and how did you solve it?

» Continue reading “Roses and Thorns”

When I first read the headline for this article, I assumed they were clicker training these kids.

In Search Of Answers, Teachers Turn To Clickers

Now, I think this idea is a better one than my idea for clicker training. A lot of classroom participation is hindered by issues with confidence. Providing a way for students to posit an opinion or respond to a question, removing the judgment from the process, and providing an anonymous way to navigate a classroom of people with different abilities is a great, non-confrontational way to increase participation, improve student comprehension, and build student confidence. The process is both real-time and offline, allowing teachers a way to direct their attention to the subject areas requiring the most clarity for the class as well as direct their attention to specific areas where individual students are struggling. It cuts through the guess work to pinpoint areas that need improvement and does so in a way that is immediate and valuable. This idea is particularly appropriate, given the prevalence of the use of handheld devices and video games in this generation. By including a connection between hands and heads, this teaching method is instantly more engaging.

» Continue reading “Signs You Spend Too Much Time with Your Dogs and Dog Friends”

According to a study that was published on Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, cutting back on calories can help improve your memory. Just three months on a restricted diet helped improve performance on memory tests for the study volunteers. I always called it mommy brain and attributed my memory issues to sleep deprivation (which is still probably a large contributing factor), but maybe I just eat too much!

» Continue reading “No Wonder I Can Never Remember Anything!”

“From now on, every member of Congress must preface their floor remarks with the phrase, ‘Just to clear the deck, I own no monkeys.’” -Jon Stewart

I don’t often get a chance to watch much television, and what time I do spend (waste?) is very often spent on BBC America. I did happen to catch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night, however, to my delight.

» Continue reading “No More Monkey Business”