3 Tips for Great Question Writing

Figure 1. Tower of Hanoi Puzzle

Count the number of moves required to duplicate the exact arrangement of disks on the first tower and the last tower.

Rules: Only move one disk at a time. You may never place a larger disk on top of a smaller disk.

Hint: Sketch out your strategy versus trying to walk through the steps in your head.

Possible answers: 5, 7, 9 or 11 moves

Most blog posts don’t open with an assignment for the reader. Why have I chosen to do so? And do you even care why, or are you hoping that in the next few lines I will reveal the correct answer? Chances are, if you actually tried out the puzzle above, you want to know the sol…

Teachers and Parents: Bridging the Gap

When Parenting magazine and the National Education Association conducted a 2012 survey on parent-teacher communication, 68 percent of teachers reported “difficulty in dealing with parents” — but strangely, 63 percent of parents reported never having difficulties with teachers.

If that weren’t enough of a disconnect, the study also found that more than a third of the parents surveyed “stated their biggest challenge has been teachers’ perceived lack of understanding for their concerns,” while teachers cited “parents’ lack of understanding of their child’s issues” as their biggest challenge.

Other areas of disconnect:

  • Conferences: 71 percent of teachers felt that they hold enough pare…

Teach100 Mentors: Expertise from Professionals

If you could tell a newcomer any one thing about your job, what would it be?

That’s what we asked the education professionals of the Teach100 community as part of our new Teach100 Mentor series. Education is a demanding line of work, but certain tricks of the trade can ease the way--and lucky for you, we’ve sourced ours from the best: Teach100 Mentors withan average of 10-20+ years of full-time experience working in education.

We organized their answers into the following categories, but the question we asked everyone was the same. Here’s what our Teach100 Mentors have to say to new and aspiring education professionals.

Teach100 Mentors: Advice from Our Teachers

If you could tell a newcomer any one thing about your job, what would it be?

That’s what we asked the veteran teachers of the Teach100 community as part of our new Teach100 Mentor series. Teaching is a demanding line of work, but certain tricks of the trade can ease the way. Lucky for you, we sourced our tips from the best: Teach100 Mentors with an average of 10-20+ years of full-time teaching experience.

We organized their answers into the following categories, but the question we asked everyone was the same. Here’s what our Teach100 Mentors have to say to new and aspiring teachers.

“What is one piece of advice you would like to offer new and asp…

Intro to Tech for Teachers: 5 User-Friendly Recommendations from ExamTime

"Get with it or get left behind" — that’s the usual message surrounding technology in the classroom. But Philip Ellis of ExamTime, a platform that helps teachers create “digital backpacks”, is hoping to make things more user friendly.

“We want our users to be co-authors of knowledge and that means sharing content is something we have focused heavily on in developing these tools,” he says of the company, which helps teachers create flashcards, quizzes, mind maps and notes online.

If that sounds daunting and you’re new to using tech in the classroom, don’t fear! Ellis has some great ideas on how to get started with five tech recommendations for teachers that are truly “…a joy to work with and something you…

 

The Highest and Lowest Teacher Salaries in the U.S.

Are you curious about teaching salaries? A better question to ask might be, Where are you planning on teaching?

The National Education Association has reported that many states have seen a large boost in teacher salaries, despite a small overall drop in teacher pay (-3.2%) as of 2002–2003. New York (up 11.9 percent), Wyoming (15.2%), North Dakota (10.1%), District of Columbia (10.1%) and Massachusetts (10%) have all seen jumps in public educator paydays. Three of those states (NY, MA, and DC) are in the reigning top 10 for salaries.

It seems that one of the determining factors for rate-of-pay comes down to your zip code. Here is a look at some of the highest — and lowest — paying districts and schools in the best compensating states for teachers:

 

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