It started innocently enough. An email from a friend suggesting that we do a super-short-distance all-women triathlon near where I live. Well, that’s easy! No, I didn’t know how to swim (not-drowning was about as far as I could go), I didn’t own a bike (other than the broken-down oversize man’s bike under the house that I’d rescued from a … Read More
What Kids Can Teach Us
My best learning experiences have been those of an informal nature. Learning from friends, family and colleagues in environments where I was motivated to learn to serve others and increase my knowledge and skills. Recently, our grandchildren visited for the weekend and our 4 year old grandson consistently taught me how to dress him and his sister; which type of … Read More
Knox Johnstone's Learning Story
Once I had brought an Outward Bound group to the summit of Mt. Kathadin in Maine, and we were starting to head down the mountain along a relatively flat, long and very exposed bare rock surface that we had to cross before we got back down to the tree line. I was concerned that in the summer afternoons on that … Read More
It had already been a long school year and it wasn't half over.
It had already been a long school year and it wasn’t half over. I was vice president of my daughter’s elementary school PTA and our school community was in its second year of a new principal. The start of the previous school year, we’d not only welcomed a new principal, but also a new assistant principal, new teachers, new students, … Read More
When did I fall in love with learning?
When did I fall in love with learning? Or, maybe, why was it that I never fell out of love with learning? For me, my most powerful learning experiences have always included people I admired, conversations that mattered, engaging writing, eye-opening films, and most importantly opportunities to put my learning into action. As a high school student, I had two … Read More
The Power of the Press
The press badges on two junior high reporters caught the president’s eye at the steps of Air Force One. “Oh, I see you’re starting early,” Richard Nixon told the students as he stepped forward to shake their hands. The two student reporters, wearing the same press credentials as the half dozen professional reporters also at the aircraft, were the only … Read More
'Enough stick! How about some carrots!'
I have considered patenting a T-shirt with a badly beaten bunny saying, ‘Enough stick! How about some carrots!’ I think of this when addressing my students about my schooling in ‘the day’, and their reaction – wishing for a time machine to return to those practices. First, I must offer a bit of biography. I grew up in a small … Read More
I want our children to be taught how to think!
I was educated in England and best remember my High School English teacher, a woman who inspired through enthusiasm. She was in love with language and literature, and her unfailing, bouncing enthusiasm and permanent grin enthused us all.There were no non-participants in that class – the boys at the back of the class sat up, listened, read the texts, and … Read More
