By heather on May 17, 2017
As we’re ending the school year, I know that the tween brains in my classroom are all silently deciding what information will be transferred to long-term memory and what will forever be taken out with the trash. To hopefully avoid
By heather on April 10, 2009
Yes, there are many problems in education. But many of them boil down to the fact that we are a cadre of professionals who are taken advantage of as part of the job requirement.
By heather on April 8, 2009
I can’t wait to show my 8th Grade Honors class this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq6b9bMBXpg. It’s a great display of the act of spreading the arts publicly and on a huge scale. My students have been working all year on their
By heather on March 25, 2009
Know a teacher who got a pink slip? Maybe my newest post at Teacher Magazine can help. Click here for the article. It’s Step 1 of my Top Secret New Teacher Handbook. Hope it creates some shortcuts, a machete even,
By heather on February 24, 2009
The Register reports that DARPA (Defense Advance Research Projects Agency) is currently researching how to create robots that are “like some self-aware computer systems capable of “meta-reasoning” and “introspection…” Their goal is to “Provide machines with an ability to reason
By heather on February 18, 2009
This weekend I’m presenting at the CATE conference in Santa Clara, CA. It’s a session on developing high level, critical-thinking commentary in expository writing. My feeling is that great commentary is the Voice in Expository, it is the Show, Not
By heather on February 18, 2009
I recently heard Judy Willis (of “syn-naps” fame) speak at a conference. In her pre-teaching life, she was a neurologist and she brings her knowledge to the classroom and to her lectures. (See my recently published article in Teacher Magazine, “My
By heather on January 29, 2009
Science Daily is reporting that there has been a shift in how students are thinking as a result of their use of technology. They believe it possibly lowers critical thinking skills and analysis. Additionally, they wonder just how much schools
By heather on January 25, 2009
So I just got the January MindWare catalogue and I realize that here we have a toy catalogue that is solely for metacognitive purchases. So this got me thinking: how can schools market metacognition? I realized, of course, that until
By heather on January 20, 2009
I’ve been working on metacognitive lessons with my middle schoolers in an attempt to teach reflection and the act of thinking about thinking. Anyway, one of the most important elements in teaching about thinking is in your own remembering of
By heather on January 11, 2009
The Boston Globe is reporting that some students deliberately “shoot themselves in their own foot.” Some of the reason is that trying hard is frightening. Now, don’t get all uppity. Let’s face it; even the most mature of adults may
By heather on November 16, 2008
I have two sessions that I will be presenting at CUE in March this year. I thought I’d share a little of what I sent to them to give you a little preview of what I’m going to be talking
By heather on September 6, 2008
So you know when you get your group of kids on the first day, there are those who immediately set off your alarms? Well, that definitely happened to me on my first day. I have a student who clearly needs
By heather on July 14, 2008
OK, normally, I would reflect on one of the presenters at the UCIWP with my own spin-off thoughts and musings. Not so today. Here are some Golden Lines from today’s presentation with Sheridan Blau, award-winning educator, past president of NCTE,
By heather on July 6, 2008
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer posts a not-so-intelligent take on teacher vs. student-directed classrooms.
By heather on June 27, 2008
Today my colleague and I were almost hit by a car while we talking about thinking with clarity. Sigh.
© 2015, Heather Wolpert-Gawron
Asking for Student Opinions Isn’t Risky, It’s Rewarding
By heather on January 24, 2009
I was reading this great article from Slate Magazine about the cheese that is Billy Joel. And I thought back to many a car trip singing his “Themes from an Italian Restaurant.” I also remembered just how many times I’d