Stupid teacher tricks: Obvious in retrospect

A tweet from a respected colleague during Tuesday night's #apbiochat got me thinking: https://twitter.com/APBIORoswell/status/410586723052052480

I was aware of the concept from the work that Carl Zimmer has written about, but for whatever reason, I had never really thought of using the concept in my own class (and NOT because my students writing is above such contrivances).  So I started one.  Here's what it looks like at the end of week one, following a comprehensive review of our most recent lab reporting:

It will be interesting to see what transpires as the year progresses.

This is a quick example of the major utility that my network of colleagues has for me.  Would I have ever thought to do something like this if I wasn't connected to a thousand other teachers to trade ideas with?  Maybe.  But it certainly wasn't going to happen this week.