609. Measuring

I feel as if I ought to write an article about little league. I really want to spend most of the article comparing little league to children’s musical theatre, but perhaps that would be a little self-indulgent; I’m more of a thesbian than a jock. I’ll start with a little league moment I’ll never forget….

There are teachers who always teach the same grades, and always do the same things with the children in their classes. It may be that these teachers are in a “groove,” and are doing what they do remarkably well. It may be that it would be a big mistake to move these teachers out of…

“Ecology” was not even one of the words we had to memorize when we were memorizing ologies in junior high. We memorized “cytology,” “hematology,” “psychology,” and more, but I don’t think we even heard of “ecology.” The word existed, but I guess it wasn’t considered important enough for us to memorize it. Then, around 1970,…

One of Caleb Gattegno’s favorite statements was, “Memory is weak.” Another was, “The only thing educable in human beings is awareness.” Teachers try hard to get pupils to understand things. We try to increase children’s awareness. But we also want them to memorize several things, and we have all sorts of ways to try to…

As our children go through school, they’re bound to meet up with situations, teachers and/or children who, to put it mildly, aren’t quite right for them. Adults, too, sometimes have to spend a lot of time working with people they’d rather avoid altogether, and/or doing things they’d rather not do. We have more power over…

Like the rest of us, children say things that shed light. They see things in new ways, and, lo and behold, they uncover bits of truth. Though I think this is true of everyone, when you hear profound words coming from your own child, you may think you are the parent of a reincarnated sage….