To “listen with the ear of your heart” means to listen with a willingness to change.
–Tim Molak
Vibrato: The Secret of Getting it Right
Jonah, age two, stood at the block table in the Frick Museum in Nashville piling up blocks trying one combination after another. It looked like he was playing “Blockhead,” except that rather than piling them up one at a time, he held two blocks together, then tried to put them on top of the first stack of two. He tried all different combinations of shapes—two rectangles end to end, a square and a triangle, a flat and a cylinder, and so on.
What neural networks was he building? Read More…
Technorati Tags: children, decision making, Discipline, education, Genius, kids, Leadership, Learning, Learning community, Parenting, school, school reform, teacher, teachers, teaching
A Young Educator Finds Her Calling
A couple of years ago I wrote about how at the age of 18, Maggie Doyne launched herself off into the world with only what she could carry in her backpack, and how in the course of the next five years she discovered depths of human suffering and joy she didn’t know existed, built an orphanage and a school for 200 children, and “…got my passion back to live and to learn and to be human on this earth.”
Reading this story Louisa Pitt, then 28, wrote me a long email including the following: Read More…
Technorati Tags: building character, calling, character, children, decision making, education, Genius, kids, Leadership, Learning, Learning community, responsibility, school, school reform, teacher, teachers, teaching
Rewards of Being a Teacher
Remember when a high school teacher won the Lottery? He was back teaching the next day. A reporter asked why in God’s name would a person who’d just won many millions of dollars and no longer needed to work, not simply quit their job? Read More…
Technorati Tags: teacher, teachers, teaching
Ask Not What You Can Do for Kids, but What Kids Can Do for You
Eight-months pregnant, my daughter Lizzie is getting pretty tired, and having two rambunctious boys under the age of five is getting harder. Aunt Katie came over after work to take a little of the pressure off.
Katie asked Abdallah, who will turn five this month, “What are you looking forward to when the baby comes?”
“Finding all the ways I can help out.” Read More…
by Rick on April 29, 2013
At 5:07 pm one Tuesday in October of 1989, when I was in my second year as director of a school in Oakland, California, the ground began to shake. I was off campus, up on the third floor of our house, down with the flu and in bed. First, I heard a railroad train coming up the street. Then, looking out the window I saw the basketball hoops on the playground across the street swaying like trees in a wind. Then, our house turned into a kite. 15 seconds, later it went back to being a good house. Read More…
Technorati Tags: Anger, Authority, building character, character, child-rearing, children, conflict, decision making, Discipline, education, Emotional control, Genius, kids, Leadership, Learning, Learning community, learning social skills, parenting skills, respect, responsibility, school, school reform, teacher, teachers, teaching, teaching responsibility
by Rick on April 22, 2013
One spring day Alicia, teacher of 24 pre school three and four-year-olds noticed that Tjaard, who had just turned four, was starting to sound out the words on the message board, when he came in each morning. When she gave him a few Early Reader books to see what he could read, Tjaard became excited. When he read his very first book, he had to do it over and over, and Alicia let him take it home to read to his Mom and Dad.
Alicia encouraged Tjaard to read to his friends, and noticed that some of his older buddies who were going to kindergarten in the fall were a little surprised that Tjaard knew how to read before they did. Before long the five-year-olds were having Tjaard read them a book every morning. Tjaard read; they memorized. Then they “read” to other children. Before long there was a reading frenzy in the class! Read More…
Technorati Tags: children, education, Genius, kids, Learning, learning social skills, learning to read, Parenting, school, school reform, teacher, teachers, teaching
by Rick on April 18, 2013
Will acts of terrorism ever stop? A question born of wishful thinking, I’m afraid. Even though our world is actually becoming safer, hornets nests of anger and frustration will still erupt into violence from time to time. With 7 billion people struggling to keep their heads above water in a rising tide of change, what are the odds that there will be outbreaks of rage? A mathematical certainty. Read More…
Technorati Tags: Anger, children, conflict, kids, Parenting, parents, school, terrorism, violence
by Rick on April 12, 2013
Vicki Hoefle has posted a beauty (if you’ll pardon the expletive.)
Look how kids can make a difference in your home. Read More…
Technorati Tags: Authority, building character, character, child-rearing, children, decision making, Discipline, education, Genius, kids, Leadership, Learning, Learning community, learning social skills, Parenting, parenting skills, responsibility, teaching, teaching responsibility
by Rick on April 10, 2013
In her article, “Shame on Rutgers–Shame on Us,” which came out in Psychology Today today, Dr. Marilyn Price-Mitchel points to the evils of shaming in sports. She highlights the righteous indignation of Governor Chris Christie who asks, “What parent would let this animal back into their living room to try to recruit their son?” Read More…
Technorati Tags: Anger, Authority, building character, character, child-rearing, children, decision making, Discipline, education, Emotional control, Genius, kids, Leadership, overparenting, Parenting, parenting skills, parents, respect, responsibility, school, school reform, teachers, teaching, teaching responsibility
Build a relationship and create a collaborative family
When did “parent” become a verb? Somehow I missed the moment. Everyone seems to be telling parents how to parent as if it were an unnatural act. That might be okay, except that much of the advice insults children. Read More…
Technorati Tags: Authority, building character, character, child-rearing, children, decision making, Discipline, education, Genius, kids, Learning, learning social skills, overparenting, Parenting, parenting skills, parents, responsibility, school, teaching responsibility
Welcome to my blog about the delights, mysteries, and challenges of educating our children. These stories and reflections are based on my 40 years of experience working with students, teachers, and parents as a principal, father, and education consultant. Join me as we journey down the road of discovering how to bring out the best in our children!
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