Knowing a kid’s name is almost a prerequisite for genuine connection. Unfortunately, it’s not simple getting 100+ names down at the start of a semester. So, rather than relying on the latest app or some other means of over-complication, here’s how I quiz myself to get 100+ names memorized within a few days. (Also, for what it’s worth, […]
There’s No Such Thing as Critical Thinking Apart from Knowledge
Without knowledge, critical thinking — or critical reading, or critical writing, or critical speaking, or critical listening — probably isn’t all that critical or all that good. Consider: Without geographic knowledge — the regions of the world, the world’s major physical features and political borders — and chronological knowledge — basic periodization schemes and accompanying dates […]
Do You Need New, or Will Used Work?
Many times early on in my career, I would run into a situation where a given strategy — say, modeling higher-order reading — wasn’t working like I wanted it to, and so I would go and seek a new strategy. This created a cycle: try, fail, find new, try, fail, find new. This used up precious […]
Fulkersonian Argument: The Mixture of Debate and Discussion toward which Pop-Up Debates Strive
Note: I expanded the arguments in the article below and provided practical teaching applications into a full chapter of my book These 6 Things: How to Focus Your Teaching on the Work that Matters Most. When you buy a copy, you directly support my work as a thinker and writer. -DSJR In the introduction to Teaching the […]
An Expectancy-Value Pop-Up Debate (Valued Within Exercise)
This is a simple pop-up debate activity meant to: support the development of expectancy-value academic mindsets reinvigorate pop-up debates if/when they become stale deepen students’ understanding of Fulkersonian argument (i.e., collaborative, argumentative discussion) give students a chance to practice Palmer’s PVLEGS Also, it doesn’t need to take long (doable in 20 minutes for a 30-student class), as there is […]