David Curlette

Imagine a picture of someone that has failed at something.  Did the person you just imagine give up, stops trying, or walks away not to ever return to the activity or job?  Probably not!   The person works to improve his or her weakness and focuses on his strengths to keep pursuing the dream or goal set forth.   Because i f we don’t fail, then we cannot succeed.      Teachers should produce lessons that will challenge students to be successful through the process of problem solving and learning.  T eachers should teach students that failure will happen along the way, but don’t give up.   Students will be able find a possible solution or answer.   Yes, teachers we can teach our student in this way. To teach students through failure is to remove the obstacle that there is only one way to solve a problem.   Allowing for failure will promote students to derive their own path to solution and answers.   Giving students owners...

Math...the class that everyone lines up outside classroom doors excited for the next lesson.  Wait, I have not seen this to be true for many math teachers.  Instead student arrive stressed and worried about the lessons taught in math classes.  Why?? Math instruction that is skill, drill, and lecture helps to create the stress and anxiety for students.   Instead of skill and drill defined as showing a student how to solve a mathematical problem then having students replicate this process for "leaning".  Math teacher should move away from this concept (have a paradigm shift in teaching) to teaching through asking students questions that engage them into the math lesson.  The questioning allows students to feel apart of the lesson and that they are all learning together.  Also, teachers should allow students to teach each other as well as to encourage (without forcing) students to demonstrate how to solve problems by co-teaching the class with the...

Motivating Students to Achieve More …. Test Point System Motivating students to achieve at their maximum potential takes keeping them on task and encouraging them to support their fellow classmates.   A strategy I use to keep my students participating and helping others in class by rewarding them for their test grades.   The reward system I created gives points associated to the letter grades on tests, and the points cumulative throughout the semester. How is this done?   After all tests a graded I count the number of A, B, C, D, and F test scores.   Each letter grade scores points such as an A = 4 points, B = 3 points, C = 2 points, D = 1 and F =   - 6 points.   Yes, a grade of a F is worth negative 6 points.   This makes a grade of a F equal to an A and a C, and a grade of a F is equal to a B, C, and a D.    Now you will need to create you reward system based upon the number of points needed to get the reward.   I created a syst...