The causation for the low status of the United States on PISA assessments is this – our children are transactional and they perceive no benefit for giving their best efforts on the PISA. What matters to our children gets their attention and PISA test results do not matter. Continue reading
Our PISA Scores Are Low Because PISA Is Meaningless to Our Students
Ethical or Transactional. Which Will Our Children Be?
Not to be too simplistic, we can teach children to be Crockett-like in considering the implications of and responsibilities for the decisions they make. This curriculum will not display on their transcript but will be noted in the proverbial book of life. We can teach them that a “True North” is either an ethical process for decision making or it is the endgame goal to be achieved regardless of process. It is their decision to make. Continue reading
Build Self-Reliance Not Conformity
Parents are correctly alarmed at the power of social media to influence, distort, and misdirect the thinking and behaviors of their children. While most influencers are driven by the monetary rewards and status of their follower count, we could substitute Emersonian ideals that would build the inner selves of children and prevent their blind conformity with others’ external subservience. Continue reading
The August Itch of Preparing to Teach
The predictions for the 2026-27 school year are that almost 400,000 classrooms in September will NOT have licensed teachers. Students in those classrooms will be taught by people on emergency licenses, long-term substitute status, or who are prepared to teach but not the subjects or the children in their new classroom. Continue reading
Ambivalence Instead of Ambition Defines Us Today
A harder truth is that American productivity and culture cannot stand another decade of our national ambivalence. Our ambivalence is greasing our slide down the backside of what America once was. Continue reading
Teachers Teach Doers
Every great invention and break-through event in our history stands on the shoulders of someone who taught an inventor or exploring person foundational knowledge and skills, who posed a “so, what” challenge, and stood aside to help the doing Continue reading
Polyglots, We Need You
Knowing what is meant inside the words that are spoken creates an understanding of what people think and feel and how they consider their world. Multilingualism breeds multicultural understanding and understanding allows people to know not just what someone is saying but also what they want you to know. How can we communicate if we do not invest in understanding the nuances of language? Continue reading
School Friendships and Life
I estimate that I have known 1,000+ teachers and 12,000+ school children. In quiet moments, they all come back to mind. So many and so varied. Pictures in yearbooks ignite memories and the events of years ago are as clear as my yesterday. Yet, there are two people who form my schoolhouse book ends. Completely different from each other, they touched and shaped my sense of friendships for all time. Continue reading
I Inquire. Therefore, I am.
Inquisitiveness opens a sensitivity to these phenomena that removes their surprise at unintended or expected consequences. Continue reading
Knowing Matters; Don’t Be Intellectually Passive
The world of information is growing by the second these days. As it expands, our next generation needs improved tools to know it, understand it, and deal with it. Continue reading