594. Norks and Noogly

One of the ideas adults like to think of as wisdom is the idea of the brevity of life, together with the importance of taking things slowly: “Time flies.” “This, too, shall pass.” “Look before you leap.” “All good things take time.” That’s easy for us to say. But I’m not sure it counts as…

There are children who tend to tease, and children who tend to get teased. Sometimes teasees are also teasers. Adults do both, too, but the word “tease” tends to mean something different among adults; adults aren’t usually hurt as conspicuously as children are by name-calling and similar put-downs. Among adults, teasing can be good-natured. It…

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’m in a fairly unique position in a school system, and I’m developing a conviction that it’s too bad it’s so unique. I stay with the children as they move from grade to grade, and so I really get to know them. If a child has a noteworthy experience or does something significant in first…

Teachers develop vast repertoires of strategies for helping children learn. They get those strategies from courses they’ve taken, books and articles they’ve read, teachers they’ve observed, their own thoughts, and countless other sources. Some of those strategies make their way into plan books, but you can’t plan everything; sometimes you just have to teach by…

I was never good at research. No teacher ever taught me how to do it. I have a sister who’s great at it. A brother who’s great at it. Daughters who are great at it (they got that from my ex-wife, not from me). Every year, I taught children a little bit about research, but…