Common sense

This week's Mr. Teacher column on education.com is all about the trials and tribulations of getting kids to check the reasoning on their math answers. No, 11-5 should NOT equal 14! Nor should it equal 115!!!

I started a Participation Posse today. Took pics of the kids last week, and I devoted a bulletin board to the pictures of the kids who participated in class. Most of them got their pictures up yesterday. Of the few who weren't up when they walked into my classroom this morning, almost all of them really did try harder today and got their picture up. I did have to take one down though, as he wasn't trying at all today.

We'll see how it goes for the next few weeks. I think I'll have little rewards or something for the people whose pictures stay up all week long. If it goes well, I may start this at the beginning of next year.