Imagine if we acted on these insights?
My Most Inspiring and Connected Learning Community
I grew up in a middle class Catholic family. Even though both my parents worked in the field of public education me and my siblings attended various Catholic schools while growing up. I entered Holy Rosary in 3rd grade. My family had moved to the small town I grew up in when I was 5 years old. I did not … Read More
Sometimes when you fall, you fly.
I’ve always profited from taking risks with my education. Not to say that my most insightful papers were written in a batting cage, or that I had a moment of enlightenment whilst reading poetry on a 10 story ledge, but my experience has been that when you ignore that little doubtful voice in the back of your mind and jump … Read More
Blue (School) Skies Ahead
It was fifteen years ago, but I still remember the first time I saw Blue Man Group. Watching those bald blue aliens discover how to eat a Twinkie, or investigate the queasy vibrations of a giant Jello cake, or climb the walls of the theater to learn more about the people who were sitting there – well, anyone who’s seen … Read More
Fellow Parents — Time to Stop Playing Favorites With Our Children
The other night over dinner, hours after my mother-in-law had returned home to New York, I casually asked my son Leo: “What was your favorite part of the weekend?” As I watched him stare blankly back at me, struggling to find an answer, I found myself wishing I could have a parental do-over. Why do we ask children this question … Read More
Suzuki violin
I think I learned more about teaching and learning from my training as a Suzuki violin teacher than from anything else I have studied. I first encountered this method as a traditional teacher who took a pair of students who had just moved to town from a big established Suzuki program elsewhere. It astounded me that the mother came to … Read More
Are We Putting the (Knowledge) Cart Before the (Emotional) Horse?
What would you say if I told you that all of our current national efforts to improve public education were blind to the actual way people learned and interacted with the world? Depressing, right? But it’s true. To prove it, watch this short video — just 100 seconds long — and be prepared to describe to yourself what you see: … Read More
With a Song in my Heart
As a junior high school student I began to have a special interest in singing. I was encouraged by my music teacher and then in high school I participated in as many singing groups as I could. One of the groups was our high school select choir which sang some spectacularly wonderful and challenging music. There was such a sense … Read More
Your Goal
The map is the ideal analogy for goals.
Seventh Grade
One day I was sitting innocently in my 7th grade English classroom, doing my work, when a woman came into the room, dressed in such a manner that I was forced to deduce that she was clinically insane. She wore a wide green hat that resembled a pancake, a short white cape and voluminous dark green trousers. Tights and black … Read More
