One day, I was sitting at the playground near where I live. In good weather, when school is out, I spend a lot of time at that playground. Most of the children who play there know me by now, and so do their parents, who know that it’s okay to do some work inside while…
If I were playing an instant-word-association game, and I heard the word “laughter,” I might say, “joy,” or “fun.” I usually think of laughter as a good thing. I like laughing, and I like getting other people to laugh. I’ve always preferred to have people laugh with me, not at me, but there have been…
There’s neither any danger nor any hope that we’ll become our parents, nor that our children will become us. Our parents are already them (or were), we’re already us, and our children are themselves. On one level, I’m sure everyone reading this already knows this, but there are times when I’ve heard people speak as…
Working with fourth graders, I get to see the interesting ways children deal with feelings that are new to them. Some of them are starting to feel attracted to other children in ways they’re not used to, and seeing that brings back memories. Some adults think the beginnings of romance and sexuality are funny. I…
Selena is one of the children I work with. Very often, she seems to be in her own world, sometimes concentrating on a useless task she’s given herself (e.g., scraping the yellow paint off a pencil), but more often, reading a book. The books she reads are the kind teachers often wish children would read,…
When someone asks me, “Should I be a teacher?”, my first impulse is to say yes. I’m a teacher, and teaching is one of the most reliable joys in my life. How can I, in good conscience, advise someone not to do what has given me so much pleasure – what has provided me with…
We aren’t supposed to teach people younger than us to be us. Not that we could, anyway, but it would be good to be aware both that we can’t and that we shouldn’t try to. We can let them know what’s important to us, and hope that whatever is becomes important to them, too, but…
As we teach our children, we try to get them ready for the part of the world they’re probably going to end up living in. We tend not to teach children a lot about farming unless we think they’re likely to become farmers. We spend more time teaching them how to use the language and…
A duo called “Poetry Alive” came to the Fort River School to do a performance and subsequent workshops with several classes. They recited and dramatized poetry by Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, and several more. They captured the attention and imaginations of the children. There was no need for authorities to get children to quiet down…