To increase the odds that our students will follow through on their goals, evidence suggests that mental contrasting and implementation intentions help a lot. Here’s how to use it in just four steps: Have students set a goal. I’m going to read three books this semester. I’m going to use every document in my next DBQ […]
knowledge building
Drafts of Learning
Over the summer, my Advanced Placement World History students are assigned to learn a set of dates and what those dates mean. That assignment has evolved (and simplified) with each year I’ve given it, but it’s purpose is always the same: I want my students to have an initial, very rough draft of world history […]
Knowledge Builds on Knowledge
At the time of this writing, I have a clear idea of how you and I can improve our practice in five of the six components of the “Non-Freaked Out” Foundations Framework for Literacy Instruction Across the Content Areas. For argument, reading, writing, and speaking/listening, a general pattern emerges: quantity precedes quality. From this, we […]
Want More Writing Across the Content Areas? Validate the Content
The first step to improving the percentage of our kids who are capable writers is to increase how much writing they do. Typically, the classes with the greatest opportunities to do this are the non-ELA ones. Unfortunately, content area teachers are often given the impression, when a writing initiative comes into town, that writing is more […]
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 […]