Student Guide Corner

I would like to invite everyone to attend the Southeast Regional meeting of the American Accounting Association in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina, (near where I grew up) on April 16 to April 18.   At the meeting, I will be leading a panel discussion on the topic of �Becoming a More Effective Classroom Teacher.�   In fact, if you have any questions that you think we should discuss, drop me a note at  Jhoyle@richmond.edu . Here is the original proposal that was submitted for this panel to give you an idea of the thought behind our discussion. **  In �What It Takes to Be Great,� in the October 30, 2006, issue of  Fortune  magazine, author Geoffrey Colvin makes the following assertion.   �In virtually every field of endeavor, most people learn quickly at first, then more slowly, and then stop developing completely.   Yet a few do improve for years and even decades, and go on to greatness.�   In  What the Best College...

Prior to today, this blog has had 204 entries.   Over the years, the site has had over 134,500 page views (or roughly 650 views of each of those entries).   As always, thanks to everyone who passes along this link to other teachers who are interested in thinking more deeply about the day to day rewards and challenges of going into a classroom to help students develop and grow as human beings.   Thanks!!! ** A few weeks ago my dean sent me a note containing a simple question:   Can anyone learn to become a great teacher?   Unfortunately, I did not have a great answer and did little more than ramble around in response.   It is a question that I have thought about often during the intervening weeks.   Is it possible for anyone to develop into a great teacher or is that goal only available to a chosen few? What do you think?  If you have thoughts, I would love to hear them. Let me start the conversation by asking a d...

If you have followed this blog for long, you know that one of my primary recommendations is that every teacher should work to get 5 percent better every year.   If all of us could manage to improve by just 5 percent during the next 12 months, imagine how much more effective our educational system would become.   I think 5 percent is a realistic goal.   It would not take radical change.   If every teacher truly pushed for a 5 percent improvement, our schools and students would benefit in unbelievable ways. As we start each new year, I like to step back and think about how I might achieve my 5 percent improvement.   This is my 44 th year as a college professor and I am no longer a young person.   However, if I am not willing to push myself to improve, then it is probably time for me to retire.   Because I really do not want to retire, I am actively working on my 5 percent. Are you? As I mentioned in an earlier blog entr...

    Recently, I have had several people ask me if I would send them an email when I post a new entry here on my teaching blog.  I am more than happy to do that.   If you send your email address to Jhoyle@richmond.edu , I�ll drop you a note whenever a new entry goes up.   I will not sell your email addresses or send out spam.   You will only get an occasional note that I have added more of my thoughts to this teaching blog. ** Many years ago I was called to serve on jury duty.   For an entire week, I hung out around the courthouse trying to stay awake.  I was bored to death and felt like the experience was the ultimate waste of time.   At the end of that long miserable week, the judge called us in to dismiss the group.   He took a few minutes to describe all of the many things that the court had managed to accomplish during the week and it was amazing.   As I remember it, hundreds of cases had been ...

Do you spend a lot of time searching for the most effective apps/extensions for your students? With thousands to choose from, how do you decide? The web is filled with collections of recommended apps for special education. Some of the "Best of" lists are better than others. Some are categorized using a system that is difficult to follow. Some Top Ten Apps for Special Education include apps for the widest possible range of special needs, rendering the author's recommendation of the top ten apps meaningless. Instead, I've compiled helpful collections of resources for educators working with students with special needs. Here are recommendations I believe to be excellent compilations of apps and extensions to use with students with special needs: Apps for Special Education   - compiled by  Spectronics . An extensive list with detailed information about each recommended app Friendship Circle Apps - Excellent app reviews and recommendations by category - Com...

Greetings!!    I trust you are ready for a wonderful new school year.    At this time of the year, I always feel like I can leave my mistakes from the previous semester behind and start anew with refreshed hope and enthusiasm.    To celebrate the new year, I wanted to discuss two words that I believe can make anyone a better classroom teacher.     Not immediately, but over the course of a semester or two.    I am not sure that anything works immediately.    Progress has to be slow and steady. ** Word One Back in August of 2014, I wrote a blog entry that mentioned the following article from The Chronicle of Higher Education.    http://chronicle.com/article/Confuse-Students-to-Help-Them/148385/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en I just think the importance of confusing students cannot be over-emphasized and is worth a second look. I define �lecturer� as someone who does 80 percent or more of the tal...

Our classrooms are the only places where our students still live in the 20 th  Century. -    Dave Warlick It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.  - Albert Einstein Fair doesn�t mean giving every child the same thing, it means giving every child what they need.  - Rick Lavoie Spelling is the spoiler of thought. - Richard Wanderman