This is Part 3 of an interview series with Barry Garelick and J.R. Wilson about Traditional Math: An Effective Strategy that Teachers Feel Guilty Using. You can read Parts 1 & 2, and the rest of the saga as it comes out, here. Q3: How does a traditional approach to math teaching offer opportunities for … Continue reading What is Traditional Math? Part 3
What is Traditional Math? Part 2
Over the next few blogs, I will be interviewing Barry Garelick and J.R. Wilson about their new book, Traditional Math: An Effective Strategy that Teachers Feel Guilty Using. You can read Part 1 and the rest of the saga as it comes out, here. Q2: I can picture students becoming very fluent with the procedures, … Continue reading What is Traditional Math? Part 2
What is Traditional Math? Part 1
In this special blog series, I will be interviewing Barry Garelick and J.R. Wilson about their new book, Traditional Math: An Effective Strategy that Teachers Feel Guilty Using. You can catch the whole saga, here. https://twitter.com/MrZachG/status/1632463582322626563?s=20 Let’s dive right in, shall we? Q1: Can you tell me what you mean by “Traditional Math”? J.R./Barry: First, … Continue reading What is Traditional Math? Part 1
PBL or Direct/Explicit Instruction: What Works?
I was recently invited to debate the merits of direct instruction and project-based learning with Drew Perkins on the TeachThought podcast. It was fun being back on the other side of the interview table after hosting so many consecutive episodes of Progressively Incorrect. There are a couple of tweaks I would make to my "performance" … Continue reading PBL or Direct/Explicit Instruction: What Works?
Assessment and Feedback Strategies Livestream
In a few short weeks, a book I'm featured in, Amplify Learning: A Global Collaborative, will be released. I'm the author of the chapter on assessment and feedback. On May 26, 2022, 7PM EST, I will be talking with the lead authors of the project about some of the assessment and feedback strategies that I … Continue reading Assessment and Feedback Strategies Livestream
Is Working Memory Fixed or Can it be Trained?
Many teachers allow students to play "brain games" as part of the curriculum. When I say "brain games", I'm referring to short - often fun - activities that are unrelated to the core content, but which are thought to engage the mind or make you smarter. When I was a student, if I finished my … Continue reading Is Working Memory Fixed or Can it be Trained?
Bridging the Gap Between Teachers and Researchers
Something I've been trying to do for more than a year is transition this blog from one about "Zach and Stephanie's latest thoughts on teaching" to one about evidence-informed teaching and learning design. Compare this older blog post, for example, to a more recent one to see the difference. I haven't been modeling this blog … Continue reading Bridging the Gap Between Teachers and Researchers
Taking the Plunge: Should America’s Teachers Consider Moving to Teach Overseas?
Followers of this website will know that Education Rickshaw is a blog on teaching and living overseas. My wife Stephanie and myself, both raised attending public schools Tacoma, Washington, were teachers at a Native American school before “taking the plunge” and moving to teach at an international school in Vietnam. Since then, we’ve taught in … Continue reading Taking the Plunge: Should America’s Teachers Consider Moving to Teach Overseas?
Do Teachers Need Research to Be Good Teachers?
Seasoned teachers know a lot about how to do their jobs, and can generally execute the default instruction that we're all familiar with pretty well. Practical knowledge of this kind is sometimes referred to as craft knowledge or wisdom of practice, and it forms the basis of some national teaching assessments (Leinhardt, 2007). While craft knowledge includes … Continue reading Do Teachers Need Research to Be Good Teachers?
Should You Raise Your Kids Abroad?
If you're a fan of our website, you know that it's primarily a blog about teaching and learning overseas. Stephanie and I were both trained and certified as teachers in the United States, and soon after took our first international teaching jobs at an elementary school in Vietnam (Check out our video cruising around the … Continue reading Should You Raise Your Kids Abroad?
Education Rickshaw 