Teach Effectively!

When I looked at data about visitors’ locations today, I was pleased to learn that Teach Effectively! gets around a bit. Thanks to readers from Canada, Philippines, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan, Germany, Vietnam, China, (not set), South Korea, Turkey, Poland, Denmark, Thailand, South Africa, New Zealand, Brazil, Ireland, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, France, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Mexico, Egypt, Israel, Nigeria, Japan, Italy, Iran, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Guam, Belgium, Taiwan, Russia, Norway, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, Sweden, Switzerland, Kenya, Romania, Morocco, Cambodia, Algeria, Oman, Jordan, Brunei, Colombia, Argentina, Bahrain, Ghana, Greece, Tunisia, Bulgaria, Malta, Kuwait, Puerto Rico, Hungary, Uganda, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Czech Republic, Peru, Slovakia, Austria, Panama, Lithuania, Nepal, Botswana, Bahamas, Belize, Finland, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Iceland, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Estonia, Latvia, Ecuador, Albania, Chile, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Maldives, Laos, Slovenia, Barbados, U.S. Virgin Islands, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Papua New Guinea, Cayman Islands, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Yemen, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Sudan, Syria, Grenada, Libya, Antigua and Barbuda, Croatia, El Salvador, Macedonia [FYROM], Saint Lucia, Lesotho, Myanmar [Burma], Guyana, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Bhutan, Uruguay, Iraq, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Afghanistan, Dominica, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Bermuda, Guatemala, Namibia, Nicaragua, Zambia, Bolivia, Timor-Leste, Cape Verde, Swaziland, Netherlands Antilles, Martinique, Macau, Mozambique, Fiji, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Rwanda, Armenia, Kiribati, Zimbabwe, Tajikistan, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, and (of course) the USA.

Thanks for reading!

Randall Munroe creates the xkcd comic, and he often includes insights about logic, mathematics, and science in his strips or other images. This is one of my faves, so I’m passing it along to readers as a gift.

The image points to that particular cartoon. Once you’re there explore, or click this link to go to the home page and see the Mr. Munroe’s current cartoon.

It’s gratifying to know that Teach Effectively has been referred to by other sources on the Internet. Of course, it’s nice to be aggregated by sources such as CVille Blogs, but it is even more encouraging to find references by sites that are addressing topics related to that are likely of interest to readers. Here, for examples, are some sites that have linked to TE:

• Language Fix by Paul Morris;
• All the fine folks who contribute to Kitchen Table Math;
• On Special Ed by Christina Samuels and, currently, Lisa Fine;
• Kylie Sturgess’ PodBlack Cat;
• “Dick Dalton’s” The Life That Chose Me;
• Society for Quality Education;
• Joanne Meier’s Sound it Out;
• Bill Evers’ Ed Policy;
• Cal Teacher Blog from “Mr. Bibo”;
• Lon Thornburg’s No Limits to Learning;
• Rightwing Prof’s Right Wing Nation;
• D-Ed Reckoning by Ken DeDosa;

There are also some mentions of TE elsewhere, too. Examples: “Education Law” by David Ferlinger and “Blogs for innovative educators” from Biomedicine on Display, and “100 Best Blogs and Websites for InnovativeAcademics” from Accredited Online Universities

I don’t have much idea whether it’s an honor, but I note here that Teach Effectively! was included in one of those “top-100″ lists of blogs. In a post on its blog, Accredited Online Universities (AOU) headed the list with this statement:
Continue reading ‘TE recognized’

I don’t ride horses, but I’m in the horse latitudes. It’s summer. I’m coasting. I have lots of posts that I have considered writing, but I’ve not written them. I lollygag. I read news. I dawdle.

Sigh.

Happy anniversary

It was 6 Jan 2005 when I posted the first entry on Teach Effectively. So, Tuesday TE starts its fifth season with, so far, no summer reruns (even if John Lloyd sounds like a broken record).

How long have you been reading TE? What’s your least favorite post? Most favorite?

In Bogus Bowl V, the voting is pretty close. However, more respondents say that the most bogus reason for professors failing to teach prospective teachers effective methods is that they “don’t want to stifle future teachers’ creativity” than any of the other choices. However, it’s not a runaway; that explanation has garnered only about one third of the total votes. another reason—they “say that using research-based practice is only one small part of what future teachers need to know”—could catch and pass the leader with just a few votes.

Bogus Bowl V is only open for a little longer. If you’ve not voted yet, jump on over to it and cast your vote for your favorite.

I’ve posted a couple of entries decrying the the limp rigor and sorry quality of professional development for teachers. Having seen people attending some very good workshops recently when I was at the Reading First conference in Nashville (TN, US), I was reminded that I wanted to run a Bogus Bowl about the worst in-service sessions readers have seen.

So, I’m calling for nominations. Please send me accounts of the worst professional development sessions at which you’ve had to be present. Now, this will be a little tricky, so I’ve got to promulgate some rules for submissions.
Continue reading ‘In-service nightmares’