A Recipe for Motivation: Easy to Read, Easy to Do: Exercise routine. Gourmet cooking. If it’s easy to read about, it must be a cinch to do is an article in Scientific American describing recent research. The experiments showed that people were more likely to complete tasks if the font seemed clearer and more accessible.

I don’t think it’s a brilliant insight, but it did get me thinking a bit. I don’t have the greatest handwriting in the world, and this study might just be another reminder (and, let me tell ya’, students don’t hesitate to remind me, either) that I should be more mindful of my writing when using the document camera — especially for instructions. I try to type out instructions for display in advance, but can’t always do so. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s absolutely essential to have written instructions students can refer to prior to their doing any activity.