…there are books and stories we are not to teach to children and Cromwellian stories and dictates we are to teach. There are things teachers are not to talk about. A revised version of the old song is in order: Teaching in an America Turned Upside Down Continue reading
Lessons That Cause Learning Are Like Cookie Recipes That Must Be Perfected Over Time
If we do not analyze lesson effectiveness, we do not know if lessons really cause the learning desired. Analyzing a lesson is biting into it and chewing with student learning as the taste that matters. Without analysis for effectiveness any old lesson will do, and instead of causing learning teachers are daycare providers. Continue reading
Paying Attention Is Learned Not Innate
We really do get what we settle for. And children get what we settled for them. Attention span is a product of age and brain development. It also is a product of educational training. Educators have a child’s captive attendance through compulsory education, if not parental needs for childcare. As we have their physical presence, we can maximize their intellectual focus by explicitly teaching each child to be more intellectually attentive, to know and use deeper studying and learning techniques, and to own their personal learning. Continue reading
Educating Children Is the Essence of Paying Forward
We educate children of the next generations in the belief and hope that the knowledge and skills they learn will support their future success in times when our generation cannot. We pay now for rewards anticipated in their tomorrows. Continue reading
Teaching Critical Thinking Is Essential Education
“One scarcely needs to emphasize the importance of critical thinking as a desirable ingredient in human beings in a democratic society. No matter what views people hold of the chief function of education, they at least agree that people need to learn to think. In a society in which changes come fast, individuals cannot depend on routinized behavior or tradition to make decisions, whether on practical every day or professional matters, moral values, or political issues. In such a society, there is a natural concern that individuals be capable of intelligent and independent thought.” Hilda Taba Continue reading