I will admit I’ve frequently railed against using business models to design and evaluate schools. There are so many ways schools and businesses are different that attempting to translate one to the other risks assuming children are some kind of consistent raw material that can be transformed into a uniform product. I can see teachers … Continue reading
They say that medical students spend much of their early training examining themselves for symptoms of every disease they study, no matter how obscure. The more they think about something, the more they find evidence of it in their lives. I’m finding something similar (although less frightening) happening to me this semester as I’ve taken … Continue reading
I have a friend whose son is in second grade. It is now March. As far as his mother can determine, the teacher has yet to make a positive comment regarding a child’s work. Accurate work is met with more work. Mistakes are met with red marks and, “Do over.” The intent is high standards, … Continue reading
Every family has sayings that stick with them forever. Some of these seem common to a lot of families: “If Johnny jumped off a bridge, would you jump, too?” Or, “If you can’t say anything nice about someone, don’t say anything at all.” In my family, one of my mother’s classic sayings had to do … Continue reading
Few things concern teachers more than student motivation. The degree to which students are invested and engaged in classroom activities is basic to their success. We may sometimes talk of “unmotivated students,” but the truth is, every student is motivated. Every student attends to and puts effort into something—it just isn’t always the things we … Continue reading
One of the most interesting and puzzling dilemmas in thinking about creativity and schools is the relationship between creativity and intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation, of course, is defined as the motivation to do something for its own sake, for the sheer pleasure or satisfaction of the task. A runner may run marathons for the joy … Continue reading
