My friend and colleague Jai Flicker just posted this lovely essay on the time he knew just what to say to a student to make a big difference. His point was that one's attitude towards work matters a lot. I take away a different point: that there's more to teaching...
Our philosophy
Take It Like A Grown-Up
A few years ago, a 35-year-old took the SAT and wrote about the experience. I responded with the essay below, which I think is relevant to most academic work, not just the SAT. I posted the essay on Facebook, where a very interesting discussion ensued. Forgive me if...
Math Excellence For Girls
From MIT and NBER, this just in: "...almost all girls with the ability to reach high math achievement levels are not doing so." (Here's the paper.) The basic premise, which I believe in my bones to be correct, is that half of the very best math students in this...
Stanley Kaplan, RIP
I have plenty of criticisms of what's taught under the Kaplan name these days, but there's no denying that, love it or hate it, the test prep industry started with this dynamic teacher and entrepreneur (and, later, philanthropist). Rest in peace, Stanley Kaplan.
Team Codex Goes Down
...as my team, Beginner's Luck, wins the 2009 MIT Mystery Hunt in 63 hours, 2 minutes. Check out some snarky and fun coverage of the event by G4TV's Attack of the Show.
I Don’t Care Whether You’re Smart. I Only Care How Hard You Try
Carol Dweck hits the nail on the head. You might think that "you're so smart!" is a good thing to say to someone. You'd be wrong, though; that turns out to disincent people to work hard. If you want to praise a student, a better choice is "you must have worked hard...