— The Genius in Children

The Invincible Thirty-Something and the Three Joys of Parenting a Difficult Child

March 7, 2012

“You were a difficult child,” my mother said to me in one of the last few conversations we had before she died.

“I know,” I replied, and we held hands. Ever since I have regretted not saying, “Tell me about that.” I thought I knew because we had both been through it all back when I was three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine-years old. But still, what a gift it would have been for her to review for us—she at 85, me at 60—what it had been like for her to raise a “difficult child.”

I told this story to my seatmate last week on the flight from Chicago to Seattle. We had hit it off right away when she opened with, “I am going to the NAIS conference, too.” Read More…

Technorati Tags: Authority, building character, character, child-rearing, children, conflict, decision making, Discipline, education, Emotional control, Genius, kids, Leadership, Learning, Learning community, learning social skills, overparenting, Parenting, parenting skills, parents, teacher, teachers, teaching, teaching responsibility

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The Speech that got the Longest Standing Ovation at the NAIS Conference of Educators

March 5, 2012

Just in case you missed the longest standing ovation of any speaker at NAIS in the last thirty-years, or perhaps you just wish you could see it again.

Thank you to the educators of the National Association of Independent Schools for a great conference in Seattle last week.

Technorati Tags: character, conflict, decision making, Discipline, education, Emotional control, Genius, gifted, kids, Leadership, Learning, Learning community, learning social skills, respect, responsibility, school, school reform, teacher, teachers, teaching, teaching responsibility

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Kids get Smarter Faster when they Make a Difference

February 27, 2012

Learning Mathematics in Real Life

How to behave in public is something the students at St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Oakland, California, practice daily on their two-block walk to the park for lunch, recess and physical education. (Yes, it’s true. It doesn’t rain that much in California.) This hike to the park has been going on for years, and the students are well trained and in good habits.

Halfway on their journey the children pass a sidewalk café and, of course, are too engrossed in each other and their social dynamics to pay much attention to what goes on there. Yet one day there was something new. Over the vacation the owners had built a low wall with planters on top separating the sidewalk from the tables, and in each planter were white pebbles right at hand-height for a sixth-grader.

To children, especially tweens with their minds on more important things, white pebbles are irresistible, and before long the route from the school to the park was marked by little white pebbles that went right up to the school door incriminatingly, Read More…

Technorati Tags: Authority, building character, character, children, conflict, decision making, Discipline, education, kids, Leadership, Learning, Learning community, learning social skills, math, math teaching, mathematics, Parenting, play, respect, responsibility, school, school reform, teacher, teachers, teaching, teaching responsibility, teenagers

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Children Have Empathy Built In. 3 Ways We Can Help Them Use It

February 22, 2012

Don’t Teach Empathy. Teach Thoughtfulness

So much of what I read about combatting bullying, instilling morality and teaching empathy leaves out our greatest resource: the natural inclinations of children. Read More…

Technorati Tags: Authority, building character, character, child-rearing, children, conflict, decision making, education, Emotional control, Genius, kids, Learning, learning social skills, Parenting, parenting skills, parents, play, respect, responsibility, school reform, teaching, teaching responsibility

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School as Abuse and Education as Art

February 19, 2012

Very Important Article about School as Abuse and Education as Art. It is a must read even though it makes it sound like Ritalin and Adderall are evil.

Let’s not get distracted by disputes about the efficacy of various drugs. In some cases they have proven beneficial, and many of those who prescribe them are competent and responsible and at least doing no harm.

The deeper message is Read More…

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Teacher Authority and the Business of School

February 15, 2012

Sitting in the speaker’s chair at morning meeting Claire presented a yellow silk scarf to her class. As she spoke she floated it through her hands and around her neck, all eyes of her second grade classmates were on her.

When she was finished talking, she asked: “Does anyone have a question?” and when six hands went up she hesitated, looking at each one before calling on James, who asked, “Did you ever think of using it in a dance?”

For ten minutes the questions kept coming. Ginny, the teacher, was particularly happy when she heard “Why do you think it’s so expensive?” because she saw an opportunity to make a connection to the study of silk worms she was planning for the afternoon.

Claire spoke quietly but with authority and everyone listened. It felt good to be someone who knew something that interested others. With each question Claire’s authority grew, and her way encouraged the inquiry of others.

I was reminded of this moment during a conversation with John Richard, a photographer in his thirties and my seat mate on a flight from New York to Chicago two months ago.

What’s the Role of Education in an Awesome Life?

February 8, 2012

What are the implications of this:

and this:

Technorati Tags: building character, character, child-rearing, children, conflict, decision making, education, Emotional control, Genius, kids, Leadership, Learning, Learning community, learning social skills, Parenting, parenting skills, parents, responsibility, school, school reform, teachers, teaching

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How a Willful Child Can Become a Game Changing Leader (Hint: Have Fun Saying “No.”)

February 1, 2012

You can tell a good school from a bad one within minutes of walking in the door. All the humans are learning, and no one is making them. Everyone is taking responsibility.

Last June I walked through the gate in a chain-link fence that enclosed a mottled asphalt parking lot/playground and approached a steel door in a one-story brick building. A sign above the door read: Academy for Global Citizenship.

Buzzed in, I was immediately greeted by one of two busy people who escorted me down the hallway to the director’s office. I waited in the hallway so I could see what was going on. Read More…

Technorati Tags: Authority, building character, character, child-rearing, children, conflict, decision making, Discipline, education, Genius, kids, Leadership, Learning, Learning community, learning social skills, learning to read, Parenting, parenting skills, parents, respect, responsibility, school, school reform, teaching, teaching responsibility

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Building Strong Brains: The Real Reason Schools Need Environmental Education

January 25, 2012

One day second grader Miranda said: “I was in the garden looking at the tomatoes with Patrice and Josh, and we saw a wasp tackling a fly. Then it tore the fly’s head off and flew away with the body. An ant found the head and started eating it and the fly’s eyes separated from its head.”

The teacher asked, “What did you think about when you were watching this happen?”

She replied, “I thought, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I wouldn’t want to be that fly.”

Later that same afternoon Sasha and Kate joined in the insect hunt and Kate said, “The garden seems to be so calm when you first look at it but when you look closer it’s very alive.”

On another day first graders found the front half of a dead snake and immediately started generating hypotheses as to what happened: Read More…

Technorati Tags: Authority, building character, character, child-rearing, children, decision making, Discipline, education, Emotional control, Genius, kids, Leadership, Learning, Learning community, learning social skills, math, math teaching, Parenting, responsibility, school, school reform, teachers, teaching

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Treat Children As the Scientists They Are and Skip the Terrible Two’s

January 18, 2012

My one-year-old grandson, Musa, is fast. No, I mean very fast. He can be safe on the sofa and in the time it takes me to get up and take a book off the shelf, he can be waving a poker from the fireplace in all directions.

One can easily foresee the onset of the “terrible two’s,” where all his relationships are defined by a continual string of “No’s” and a battle of wills. But on my last visit with Musa before I returned to the Midwest, I got a clear picture of how it doesn’t have to be that way. Read More…

Technorati Tags: Authority, building character, character, child-rearing, children, conflict, decision making, Discipline, education, Emotional control, Genius, kids, Leadership, Learning, Learning community, learning social skills, overparenting, Parenting, parenting skills, parents, play, respect, responsibility, school reform, slow parenting, teacher, teachers, teaching, teaching responsibility, terrible two's

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