No HW assignments for 2016? Can it be done?

I’ve been spending a lot of time this summer reflecting on my best practices for teaching. I’ve been seeing all these apps that do students homework (see blog post below) and thinking about how much copying transpires amongst students and I’m debating – just hear me out – assigning NO homework for the upcoming school year. Now I teach history to high school juniors and seniors in AP (Advanced Placement courses) which I know are traditionally rigorous and the bane of most students homework woes BUT what if instead of assigning them textbook readings and excerpts from historical books to read out of the classroom – I assigned them healthy tasks to do.

Students should go outside and play baseball, volunteer at a homeless shelter, babysit their sibling, hold a door open. Would they become better more AWARE people by the end of the year? Would their test scores be the same anyway?

Continue reading “No HW assignments for 2016? Can it be done?” →

nofiredrills3 Comments

Using Marketing in the Classroom

One of the greatest tools a teacher can have, especially on the high school level, is preparing their students for the post collegiate world. Students are often exploring their interests during this phase of their lives and teachers have the ability to open students eyes to more careers then the basic “teacher”, “doctor”, “lawyer”. One way to do that is to have students create their own infographics. Infographics make information eye catching, shareable and easily digestible. They also play a crucial role in the increasingly visual world of marketing. Check out some of my samples from Piktochart that I have used to show students how to market items (For example, try it during a Shark Tank activity perhaps – sell me your item!) or create them to advertise an upcoming class assignment. An invaluable lesson! My favorite site is http://www.piktochart.com.

pablo (2)
Using marketing in the classroom
Sample Piktochart Example for a college fair
Sample Piktochart Example for an economics class

nofiredrillsLeave a comment

An App For Homework?

Every teacher wonders – how many students are actually doing their assigned homework?? Surely a certain percentage of students are copying or getting excessive help via social media.   BUT…  several apps introduced over the last few years take homework “help” to a whole new level!

Have you heard of Photomath? Below is my trial of the free Photomath app which is terrific at solving math problems.    Answers seekers can type in or  snap a picture of a problem and the solution is immediately returned.  Wow!  Where was this when I went to high school?

What is on your child’s phone?

doinghw-01

become a google search pro (1).pngbecome a google search pro (2).png

 

nofiredrillsLeave a comment