I used to think art appreciation was totally pretentious. I thought the honest way to respond to art was to like or dislike it. To me, trying to understand what the artist was trying to “say,” or trying to feel what the artist was feeling, was a dishonest game some people played. I like art…
Teachers were told, quite a while ago, that we ought to teach children to use Celsius, because we’d be switching to it soon. I thought it would be a difficult transition, but I didn’t know how steadfastly our country would cling to our way of measuring temperature, even as the rest of the world left…
I have a friend named Emily who, at the time I’m writing this, is eight years old. Her father has one kind of chronic neurological disease, and I have another kind. She plans to learn about pills so that she can mix some pills together and cure us. I could spend time talking with her…
When two or more teachers get together to combine their skills and energy, great things can happen. Children have diverse learning styles and personal styles, and can benefit from some diversity in teaching style. Teachers can focus their energy a little more on their strengths, knowing that other teachers with different strengths can complement their…
We spend a lot of time trying to get children to know how to write complete sentences. It’s hard, because they don’t think or talk in complete sentences. Neither do we. Complete sentences happen during conversations, but not reliably. Know what I mean (not a complete sentence) (neither was that)? Children learn how to have…
I used to think I was supposed to like everyone, and I made it my business to see the good in absolutely every person I encountered. Whenever I found myself starting to dislike someone, I thought there was something wrong with my perception, and I just needed to look harder; if I looked hard enough,…
I suspect that we’re the only species given to wondering whether we’re ruining our children’s lives. Most of us provide the basic necessities, and teach our children strategies for getting those necessities for themselves when they have to stop relying on us. Those are pretty fundamental tasks for adults, and though we’ve evolved enough to…
I understand why children want to have clubs. Ricky Eugster and I formed the Texas Rangers when we were seven. I was Jase Pearson, and he was Clay Morgan. There were a few other members from time to time. And everybody else wasn’t in the club, so we got to be “us,” and everyone else…
I work with Paul Oh, a teacher who believes, among other things, in children’s ability to solve math problems. One day, he asked children to try to find ways to form certain shapes using Tangrams, an ancient Chinese puzzle. The children worked in pairs, with adult support. Some quickly became frustrated, and the frustration built,…
We like to have heroes. When I was in elementary school, George Washington was one of the great people we were supposed to admire. As far as I can remember, one of the most important things he did was confess to a minor misdeed that didn’t seem so bad to me. I never chopped down…