Imagination is more important than knowledge –Albert Einstein
Art teacher Merry Lanker moved around the room reacting, commenting, helping fourth graders with their drawings, and drawing out the creativity in her students. On the smartboard in the front of the room was a photo of the Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream” (1893). Continue reading
At dinner one evening in the fall of her high school sophomore year my daughter Lizzie said, “The new science teacher is not a good teacher. He just isn’t teaching right. I can’t understand what he is trying to do.” Continue reading
Calling for more parental involvement in our children’s education will not make things better in schools. It’s not about more or less engagement, but about teamwork. The team that is raising the child needs to get organized, so that everyone on the team 
“plays position.” Here is an example that sixth grade teacher, Continue reading
If parents understand the “terrible twos” as a developmental stage for parents as well as children, they can take parenting to the next level and keep supporting their children’s drive for self-determination. Continue reading
In my article “School Bus Bullying? Look Who’s Taking Responsibility and Who’s Not” on Tuesday I reacted to the social uproar that attended the horror story of four seventh graders cruelly and mercilessly mocking a 68-year old bus monitor. Now that emotions have settled a bit from the initial shock, what becomes clear?
Half way into her first year in high school Clair came to her mother and said, “I think I need a tutor in math.”
Her mother was delighted and a little surprised at the request: delighted because Clair asked for help, and surprised because she didn’t know her daughter cared that much about her academic success. She immediately set to the task and in short order found a math tutor with an excellent reputation.
Several months later the tutor told Clair’s mother (Jill) that he thought Clair should get tested to see if “there were some organic reason” she was having such a hard time Continue reading
“Tell me about how it is okay for teachers to make mistakes,” Michelle said. “I am both a teacher and a parent,” she went on. “As a parent, when you make a mistake, you can acknowledge it, change your mind, make a better decision, and move on. But when you are responsible for other people’s children, you can’t make mistakes. What’s a professional to do?”
In a talk I gave last month at a school in the Midwest, I had made the twin statements: “Mistakes are learning opportunities; Fear of Making Mistakes is a learning disability.” The idea hit a nerve. Continue reading
Even though parents and teachers are both educators, things will work better if parents and teachers play different roles. A year ago Lorrie Soria told the following story in a comment on one of my posts about homework. I read it again this morning and decided it stands on its own two feet as a great story about “playing position.”
Years ago, when my daughter was in 3rd grade, homework was indeed a struggle. Continue reading
What are the implications of this:
and this:
Just because children are self-centered, doesn’t mean they have to be selfish.
Last May I stood on a polished hardwood floor in the middle of an 80-year old multipurpose room with a 30-foot ceiling in front of 250 wooden seats that rose before me like the stands in a baseball stadium, looking up as a couple of hundred 10- to 15-year-olds, flooded in and filled up these seats. Continue reading