I think we could all use a little lift right, so I’ll start throwing some gems at anyone who needs a little optimism right now. This one is from my favorite guy ever, David Henry: “I know of no more...

Make sure you make an effort to connect with a student personally before launching into the material for the day. It’s especially important to engage on this more informal level with online instruction, when being on a screen can, in...

It’s been a strange month. One of my students asked me what my day was like and the length of my answer was surprisingly long. The tedium I feel apparently doesn’t fit reality. “I wake up when my son starts...

Make sure your backdrop looks professional (or at least marginally presntantable!). The angle of the screen matters… Seeing your cat napping casual side up on a pile of dirty socks might be cute to you, but it’s not a great...

Make sure that you and the student have all of the same hard copy materials you will need. If it’s a math or a science that probably means a textbook. Spring for a cheap, used copy if needed. It will...

HELPFUL TIP: How many times have you worked through a problem for more time than you probably should only to put down the answer for X in the wrong units, or forgotten a negative sign that threw off the answer,...

HELPFUL TIP: Slow yourself down a bit and make sure you understand what the question is asking you. Is it asking for meters or cubic meters? Is it asking for X or X+Y? Is it asking which sentence to eliminate...

HELPFUL TIP: Standardized tests are as much a test of mental endurance as they are of the quadratic formula or punctuation. Push yourself to take the three hours on a Saturday, Sunday, or over a break (say from the Coronovirus!)...

The kids were already out of school when the Coronavirus touched down, thank god.  What’s funny is that its arrival was sort of announced when Tom Hanks announced he had contracted it and the day the NBA was suspended.  Kind...

Tom was an overgrown boy, with shaggy brown hair creeping out of the sides of the baseball hat he usually donned, and a soft-spoken demeanor.  He was intelligent in the analytical sense: he could readily solve a problem or a question...