Last school year, I studied the impact of a fairly simple method for increasing public speaking comfort in kids. Thanks to support from Character Lab, I was able to verify that, indeed, this intervention produced a statistically significant improvement in public speaking comfort. (See Figure 1.) The activity is meant to take place during the first […]
“Overachievers” and the Tyranny of Low Expectations
The other day when my students were brainstorming questions they could ask to a panel of local professionals, a student said she would like to ask, “What motivated you to overachieve and become successful?” This was an earnest question from a pretty transparent kid. The definition of an overachiever, in my general education classes especially, […]
A Simple Technique for Affecting Belonging, One Genuine Connection at a Time
It’s common enough to see a really well-meaning teacher whose chief goal is to create a classroom where kids feel welcome, included, enjoyed, and honored, but to forget that this is only half the battle. Yes, we need kids to all identify with school, to identify with our class culture, to feel that who we’re asking […]
The Physical Classroom Environment: Why Your Classroom Need Not Be Pretty
Again and again in my professional reading, I come across thoughts that point to the possibility that the physical classroom environments we create for our students aren’t as important as we might think they are. Yet at the same time, it seems like I frequently come across some blog post or image about the physical classroom environment, […]
A Simple “Expectancy-Value” Activity for Helping Students Care about Your Coursework
Emily was my staunch “When are we ever going to have to use this?” kid last year, especially when it came to learning map locations. We’d look at a map, and I’d ask them to identify the names of countries as a warm-up, and, without fail, her hand would shoot up to ask The Question. […]