A third grader recently spoke to me about something she remembered about first grade. She remembered that I spent one recess drawing a portrait of one of her friends. I remember it, too. I’m not sure, but I think she may have wished I’d drawn a portrait of her. But that’s not my main point….
Teachers, like many other kinds of people, sometimes accomplish what they try to accomplish. They succeed. And also like many other kinds of people, they are often reticent to admit to themselves or anyone else that they have succeeded. Some think it would be arrogant to claim success. Some think it would be bad luck….
Yesterday, I worked with a boy named Elijah. He was supposed to be doing a worksheet dealing with the values of various sets of coins, but it quickly became clear that he had very little understanding of what coins were worth. I asked his teacher whether I could work with him on that understanding, rather…
I’ve sometimes tried to write fiction. I’ve liked some of what I’ve written, and even sent some of it to a few publishers (with no success). And yet I only recently learned, in a third grade class, that there are some conventions to follow in writing fiction. I learned that even though you may have…
We adults try to figure out which tools children will need as they face their futures. That’s because we care about them, and want to make sure they’re ready – that they aren’t hit by unpleasant surprises. After all, we know what it’s like to be hit that way; we’ve been there. And maybe we…
I understand that there is such a thing as talent – that some people learn some things so quickly and become so proficient that they seem to be in a separate league. I’ve sometimes heard admirers of these people say, “That kind of expertise can’t be taught; they’re born with it.” Of course, anyone who…
When it began to get dark, Misha started to look for Nadyezhda. But by then, they were pretty far from that log, and besides, they all had to be home by dark. Misha was pretty upset. He told the other children, and though some got concerned looks on their faces, most were silent as Fyodor…
Zhizn was a village in old Russia. The Russian word “zhizn” means “life,” and to the people who lived in Zhizn, the village really did seem to be all of life. From time to time, they heard of other villages. They even heard of a big city called “Moscow.” But none of that seemed real;…
I’ve always known that some people get grumpy when they get old. When we get old, there’s often more to complain about. Little inconveniences we used to put up with or not even notice begin to really bug us. Children, who are reliably young, have things to complain about, too, but it’s not the same….
The English language, more than most languages, is full of words. Perhaps that’s partly because of the various people who have invaded England and partly because of the various people England has invaded. There are words that come from all over the place. English is supposed to be a basically Germanic language, but knowledge of…