In How To Turn Around Difficult Students (Part 1), I made the case that teachers struggle with difficult students because their compassion overrides doing what is best for the student.
If you haven’t read the article, I encourage you to read it before continuing with this one.
In this week’s article, I’m going to going to show [...]
At the start of every school year you drag your finger down your roster, hopeful you won’t see one of the few names that can send shivers down your spine.
Every year, it seems, there are a handful of students that have the potential to make your life miserable.
Having one of these beauties on your roster [...]
In their book, Made To Stick, authors Chip and Dan Heath describe the story of Jane Elliott.
Jane was a third-grade teacher on April 4, 1968, the day Martin Luther King was assassinated.
Struggling to explain the tragedy to her students, Jane decided to try something unusual. She separated her class by eye color.
She placed the brown-eyed [...]
Calling out is a momentum killer of the highest order and can turn a well-planned lesson into a halting mess.
But that isn’t the only reason why you should require your students to raise their hand.
Here are a few more:
Calling out is unfair
Every student has a right to participate, not just those who are more assertive. [...]
Years ago I was asked to teach a summer school science class to a group of eighth graders.
Because many had failed a similar course during the school year, more than sixty students signed up.
Another teacher was brought in to help.
His name was John Dugan, and we hit it off right away.
John was hilarious.
After a test, [...]
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