594. Norks and Noogly

When I was a young child, the parents in our neighborhood (mothers only, back then) organized a “story hour” – a time when most parents could shop, do housework, or take it easy while one parent read stories to the neighborhood children. It was a good idea. I looked forward to it, and I’m sure…

The last several years I taught, there was a computer in my classroom. I made good use of it myself, but I really didn’t have a clue how to use it with a class full of children who all wanted to use it. I know there are all kinds of ways to make the computer…

Sometimes a child has difficulty doing what’s supposed to be done in school. Ideally, the child, the child’s parent(s), and school personnel work together to figure out what the difficulty is and what can be done about it. Then the child is given timely and effective help, and what was difficult gets easier. This scenario…

If you’ve ever been to an elementary school band or orchestra concert, you may have heard a rendition of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” from his ninth symphony. There aren’t a lot of notes in it, and beginning instrumentalists often don’t know very many notes. And yet it was written by Beethoven, and Beethoven was a…

People who feel secure often like to try new things. That’s because even though security is great, it’s not all there is, and people do get bored doing what they’ve always done in the way they’ve always done it. Even if they do it very well, and even if they get lots of appreciation. We…

My friend Mara Sapon-Shevin does workshops around the world on inclusion and cooperation. She tells participants about the game “musical chairs,” which, in its traditional form, is competitive, and results in more and more exclusion. In a variation on this game, described by Mara, one chair is removed each time the music stops, but no…