TMAO loosens the knot on his bag of tricks, detailing some strategies for turning not-readers into readers. He inspires commenter, math teacher, and dy/dan blogroller, H., to turn in her math credential:
Glorious. Makes you want to convert to teaching English so you can read the Onion in class. I’ll pass it on.
At the end of a strong list he writes:
These things take time — time to plan, time to gather realia, time out of lessons and periods that we sometimes feel is slipping away, time when either folks who don’t get it or our own internal clocks yell at us to get on with it already. This time is more than paid back in increased student interest and understanding, more than paid back when kids start getting far more out of text than before.
Which is absolutely true. There is no substitute for imaginative, thoughtful planning – no manipulative, no incentive, and no web app that will work as well as when someone sits, agonizes, and finally devises engaging activities for it.