608. Sending Money

Parents are often in better shape financially than their grown sons and daughters, and they’re often asked to help their adult children with money, or they help without being asked. Parents give their offspring plenty of other kinds of help, … Continue reading

607. About Growth

When children are actually children, many of us adults start out getting to know as much as we can about them. We get used to knowing what they consider fun, what bothers them, what will make them laugh, and so … Continue reading

606. Gregory

Gregory is a boy in third grade who does not particularly want teachers to teach him. He doesn’t mind doing what he considers learning, but not if the way he has to do it is by having teachers teach him. … Continue reading

605. Community Buzzes

People talk to each other. One of the reasons they do so is that they like to trade ideas that work and warn each other about ideas that don’t. At its best, that’s one of the great tendencies communities have; … Continue reading

604. Feedback

Lately, I’ve been giving some feedback to student teachers. I casually observe them for a few minutes a day – just enough to think of one appreciation and one suggestion. I only do it for student teachers who ask me … Continue reading

603. Group Goals

If a teacher is lucky and skillful, sometimes a class can be a community of learners, all working together. Everyone in the class is motivated to learn what the teacher has planned to teach. They may have different reasons for … Continue reading

602. Around-To-It-Getters

I remember how hard it used to be, as a teacher, to find the time to do some tasks that I could temporarily get away with not doing. Those tasks often piled up and got more and more difficult to … Continue reading

601. Math Avoidance

Most people in our society learn some math in school. Some start out with, or quickly develop, a dislike for it. I did, at first. Not as intense as some people’s, but to me, math was a price I had … Continue reading

600. Precision and Obsession

In school and elsewhere, we learn. Some learning is thoroughly enjoyable, and some isn’t so enjoyable. Some is easy and some isn’t. Some of what we learn turns out to be quite useful later on, and some doesn’t. If we’ve … Continue reading

599. Sharing Expertise

A friend recently suggested that I ought to be teaching teachers how to write and produce musical plays with children. I was flattered by her suggestion, and yes, I do believe that the way I did musicals with children was … Continue reading