var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; "Teacher Tom, you always wear the same shirt."It wasn't entirely true, but I understood why a kid might say that. "I wear different shirts.""No, you always wear your purple shirt."Again, not entirely true, but I did always w … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; A couple nights ago over dinner, as part of getting to know one another, a new friend asked me about my typical day. In a matter of minutes I ticked off my ideal schedule. As I did, I noticed the feeling of control and safet … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; As a man in his 60's I've started going to the gym, not for my cardiovascular health, I get that riding my bike and hiking, but to try to stave off the steady decrease in muscle mass that tends to occur as we age. This means … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; We tell ourselves that we send our children to school so that they will be educated. We tell ourselves that children must be educated in order to thrive. We tell ourselves, out of habit, that this means providing all childre … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; Dale ChihulyWhen I was a boy, a fire ravaged our neighborhood, destroying dozens houses. Our own was saved by neighbors who protected it with garden hoses, but that fire completely devoured our yard, including our second car … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; We were taking the kids on one of our regular neighborhood rambles, a walking field trip around the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle where our school is located. This was the children's turf, so to speak, a place they all kne … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; After reading a story, then singing our final song together, the children came forward to hug me, not one at a time, but all together, and there we were, a massive scrum of bodies, wrapping one another up in our arms.Since m … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; When our daughter was little and frightening news of the world got to her, I would try to put things in perspective: "Most people, most of the time are having a fine day." That this has been true throughout all of history, e … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; The boy stood outside the door. I smiled at him from the inside as his mother tried to coax him forward. He smiled back at me, but didn't move.His mother asked him, "Don't you want to go to school?"He nodded that he did, sti … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; We teach our children that lying is morally wrong. At the same time, we also don't want them blurting out the less-than-generous things they've heard us saying about about Aunt Gladys behind her back, even if those things ar … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; I've been awaking to darkness for the last few weeks. I’d have to say that the short winter days are one of the most challenging aspects of life in the northern tier, but things are turning around. The Winter Solstice occurr … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; My mind often takes the form of internal dialog. Sometimes it's a conversation with myself, but often there is an imaginary "other," such as an imagined blog post reader or a family member. Sometimes it takes the form of mak … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; Long ago, I became acquainted a middle school teacher who came across as a smart, jolly guy. Talking with him in social circumstances, he gave me the impression that he was likely one of the more popular faculty members at h … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; On garbage day in my childhood neighborhood, after the trash had been collected, we would play with the galvanized steel cans that stood empty along the curb of our street. One game was to convert our red wagons into race ca … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; It seems that a lot of our neighbors have lately added pets to their lives. Everywhere I go, there are puppies straining at the ends of their leashes, impulsively lurching after an up close sniff of whatever has caught their … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; Several of the kids were taking turns boasting about how strong they were."I can pick up this whole table!""I can pick up this whole school!""I can pick up this whole world!"As their claims escalated ludicrously, some of the … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; William Golding's novel of schoolboys castaway on a deserted island, The Lord of the Flies, is by far the most common literary reference used to cast doubt on or disparage the kind of play-based learning for which I advocate … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; A couple days ago, I was tagged in a Facebook thread of teachers complaining about the behavior of their students. I only spent a few minutes scrolling through the comments, but most of them seemed to be coming from middle s … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; What other people say about me is none of my business.It's a rationale that pops up for me when I feel judged by others, when I suspect or know that someone is talking about me behind my back, or, and this is probably the mo … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; We call our's the Age of Information, but it would more accurately be called the Age of Attention because when information becomes abundant, attention becomes the scarce resource. But the truth is that human's have long felt … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; All learning starts as sensory learning. The world penetrates us through our senses, entering into our bodily systems through our eyes, ears, noses, mouths, and fingers. Our sense of proprioception is the one that helps our … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; Author and poet Diane Ackerman writes:"(I)t probably doesn't matter if we try too hard, are awkward sometimes, care for one another too deeply, are excessively curious about nature, are too open to experience, and enjoy nons … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; "Education, I fear, is learning to see one thing by going blind to another," wrote renowned wildlife conservationist and philosopher Aldo Leopold. He was bemoaning the fact that as science advanced, as we learned more and mo … | Continue reading

var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; "I'm ashamed to admit it, but I really can't stand children." It's a sentiment I've occasionally encountered upon informing a stranger of the work I do. It always rocks me back on my heels a bit, given that I'm most often su … | Continue reading