Is Anybody Out There? Getting and Holding Students’ Attention by Larry Coty, USATestprep
Please enjoy this guest post by USATestprep, a sponsor for our SC Midlands Summit. One day I came to school sick. I wasn’t too sick -- I just had a cold -- but I was sneezing occasionally and sounded stuffed-up. “Come on, Mr. Coty! Why did you come to school today? Do you want to make us all sick?” My reply to the students was this: “Don’t worry. Between you and me there is a powerful, though invisible, barrier; and this barrier allows absolutely nothing to pass through: bacteria, viruses, mathematical knowledge -- anything that could be harmful or even fatal is permanently barred from ever infecting you.” Of course I wasn’t being completely serious. I had pretty good evidence that some mathematical knowledge had, in fact, been “spreading” through the class during the preceding weeks and months. But there are times, aren’t there, when every teacher wonders: Is anybody out there? Is anyone paying attention? Getting and holding students’ attention is a constant struggle f
