William Knarr

Discussion

The topic, "When to drop students from chat sessions?" is thought provoking. It's just like the classroom: When and what techniques do you, as the the teacher, use to to preclude a student from dominating a discussion or changing the topic to something they want to discuss. It takes tact and skill but you need to be firm or the other students will see it as a waste of time, lose interest, and stop participating.

William Knarr

Discussion Comment

Learning by teaching

I also agree. I find that teaching forces me to double check my work and in doing so, I learn much more in terms of validation and, in some cases correcting ideas that might be erroneous. To Jill's point, it is incredible how much you can learn from students, in particular their different perspectives based on their experiences. It really expands my knowledge base and encourages discussion.

William Knarr

Discussion Comment

Learning styles

I find it rewarding, and am sometimes pleasantly surprised, when a student takes class content and is able to paraphrase, diagram or apply it in very different but perceptive ways.

William Knarr

Blog Comment

Pitfalls When Developing Rubrics

Tena, Thank you, this is very helpful as I develop the lesson plan for a new class. I'm at the part where I am developing the rubric. Bill

William Knarr

Discussion Comment

A "Cluttered Desk" means a "Cluttered Mind"

Patricia, I was surprised at the section on a "Cluttered Desk" means a "Cluttered Mind." I'm not sure that I agree with the analogy. I've seem many a teacher and researcher that had a cluttered work place but was very "crisp" in presentation and thought. Comments please? Thank you, Bill

William Knarr

Discussion Comment

The "Slippery Slope" of negotiating with a Cheating Student

Patricia, If we, as teachers, catch a student cheating, one of the alternatives is to write down, agree and have the student sign up to those conditions under which he/she (the cheating student) may remain in class. It seems to me that is a slippery slope. That is, we have just provided the student with authority that conflicts with the ethics of the situation. How do we reconcile that in such a way that it doesn't appear to be wishy-washy and reinforce the students actions? Thank you, Bill

William Knarr

Discussion Comment

The "Group" hider

Patricia, I've found that using the "small group" technique to pressure the inattentive student into working sometimes backfires. That is, all we've done is frustrate the other small group members by forcing them to deal with the inattentive student and pick up his or her workload. What technique do you recommend we use to to ensure we are fair to other group members as well and not imposing an additional workload on them? Thank you, Bill

William Knarr

Discussion Comment

The naysayers

There's always a place for those that challenge the status quo, but periodically you have a student that always sees the cup as half empty and after awhile the class doesn't want to listen to them. How do you bring that student back into the fold as far postive contributions?