The typical public high school teacher is responsible for 160 students and teaches at least two different classes–e.g. AP English 11 and Honors English 9–with multiple sections of each course, for example: 3 periods of AP English 11. So, what does this have to do with an online grading system? If one assignment…
Tag: Homework
Plagiarizing Doesn’t Happen Only in School
Original thought that contributes to common knowledge and greater understanding is demanded of students across the country. New software that scans students’ work and rates the percentage of the document that is potentially plagiarized are being used in high school and college classrooms. One high school junior told us that her teacher returned her history…
Fail to Succeed?
Steve Jobs on Failure: I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter into one…
To Cheat: Not A Simple Decision
To Cheat: to deprive of something valuable by the use; to practice fraud or trickery of deceit or fraud (Merriam-Webster.com) If deprive means to withhold, what is missed in the end by both the withholder and others? What possibilities could have been realized or ideas built? In a student’s mind, what is the value that comes…
Make Money from Doing Your Homework
“Hands on learning”–somehow these eduspeak words have invaded Seniors’ vocabulary to describe the classroom environment they desire in college. (Incidentally, their next sentence usually includes something to the effect, “You know, the opposite of high school.”) Well, how about taking “hands on learning” to another level and actually making money with the knowledge one gains…
Just Because You Can, Does That Mean You Should?
Are we “solving” issues too quickly with medication, or just “kicking the can down the road” only now with more complications for a generation of today’s youth? According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reports 14% of Americans 12 years and older have been on medications…
Evolution of Learning
We expect teachers and schools to be objective. Yet, we demand subjectivity when a kid struggles to understand concepts. We assume knowledge is knowledge–some static, unchanging entity. So, if a kid doesn’t understand or even simply takes longer than the class is allotted to learn the concept, there’s something inherently wrong with the kid or…
Risk & Reward
Fear of mistakes can become a liability. Henry Kissinger once warned that our search for certainty can leave us simply reacting to the next emergency. Yet, transformed, this same desire for perfection can create an exacting attention to detail and ability to forecast probabilities. Is your view that life is inherently full of risk or…
Standardized Testing: The Good, The Bad and A Hmmmm…Moment
Bob Schaeffer of FairTest, an organization committed to a fair use of standardized testing in K-12 schools and college admissions, recently spoke with Creative Marbles about assessments. Our conversation reminded me of questions I’ve been asking since I was a beginning teacher, “How do we know (i.e. grasp clearly in the mind) what another has…
“I Don’t Get It”: How Teens Ask for Help
Getting help isn’t as simple as asking the teacher, although usually the first suggestion parents make when a teenager doesn’t understand the assignment. Teenagers may not have been taught to identify the problem, to know what exactly the student is asking. Then, there’s the humbling of oneself to admit there’s a lack of knowledge (not…
Oh, No! Summer Reading!?!
Summer reading is a fact of life for honors and Advanced Placement students. Parents dread the looming clashes to complete summer reading. Students dread summer reading period. Yet, the assignments inevitably are finished–perhaps not the quality expected, but done. Here’s a few tips to reduce the stress:
European History in 3 Minutes…Wait, Don’t Click Away
Ever wonder how history is relevant? Do you believe history is boring–simply memorization of facts and dates? Here’s a short 3 minute history of the changes in Europe for the past 1000 years. Watch and wonder how many people’s lives changed with the shifting borders, how many cultures were exchanged after being conquered and conquering…
Parents and Academic Success
Parents often ask what they can do to support their children’s education. Elementary school parents can feel confident to assist with homework assignments and welcome to volunteer in the classroom. Yet, as students mature, mom and dad’s presence on campus at middle school and high school can be an embarrassment to teens, while mom and…
Grade Inflation is present and its effects may be more damaging then you think
The Economist this past week spoke of the notion of panflation, or better said the inflation of everything. “This ‘panflation’ needs to be recognized for the plague it has become.” I couldn’t agree more. What caught my eye in the article was the authors discussion of grade inflation. Grades have always been a tricky topic…
Spring Slide to Summer Break
With warmer weather combined with the last quarter of the school year, students and teachers start counting the days until summer break. The monotony of daily homework, interspersed with grade impacting, year-end projects, can challenge any student to stay focused. Parents often raise concerns that they’re making more frequent “reminders” about homework deadlines and trying…