In our family, road trips mean exploring bookstores. So, naturally, our holiday travels meant time to discover new resources for children of all ages. I know many of the books I share with you are appropriate for elementary-age readers, but I long-ago learned that picture books are not just for children. In fact, I often … Continue reading
Because I live in Ann Arbor, where fairy doors are part of the local landscape—and because it was fun—I gave several fairy doors as gifts this Christmas. I bought some wooden fairy door kits and went to town painting, adding mosaic “porches,” and other embellishments. I had a grand time creating accessories for various holidays … Continue reading
One of the key contemporary teacher-questions for the first few months of school is, “What kinds of data should I be collecting?” A perhaps unexpected answer comes from Mark Barnes and Jennifer Gonzalez. In their book, Hacking Education: 10 Quick Fixes for Every School, Barnes and Gonzalez suggest a number of education “hacks” to solve school … Continue reading
Sometimes, Peter Pan is right. Remember his song, “I Won’t Grow Up?” When I think about some of the things going on in the name of early education. I’m about ready to start singing it. There is a time to grow up, of course, but there is also a time when kids should get to … Continue reading
In a recent conversation with a friend, we ended up talking about play. She mentioned that she was going to go home and play—by reading a work-related book. Now, I really do enjoy my work, but to me, reading work-related books is work. It is not play, even when I find the books fascinating. Stuart … Continue reading
Play is in the air. Maybe it is because the heaps of snow are, at long last, melting from my back yard, but thoughts about play and playfulness seem all around. I had just written the last blog post citing Hilary Conklin’s commentary on the value of play in middle school, when I ran across … Continue reading
Play is important. Why else would it be so consistent across the human and animal worlds? When we had kittens in our house, the two of them found the world a continual source of adventure. They stalked one another with delight, dove into our shoes just for the sake of popping back out, and chased … Continue reading
What does it take to be a creative physicist? A successful philosopher? A psychologist? Does it take a special ability, an aptitude that can’t be taught? Or do you believe many people could accomplish those things, given time and effort? Does it matter? A recent study reported in Science suggests it might. Researchers Leslie, Cimpian, … Continue reading
At a recent conference, I had the wonderful opportunity to hear Newbery Award-winning author Laura Amy Schlitz talk about her writing. She is a story-teller at heart, so just listening to her was a delight, but my favorite moment came during her account of how she came to write Good Masters, Sweet Ladies, the book … Continue reading
What messages is your classroom sending? Is it telling students they—and their creativity—are welcomed? Being creative often entails risk. The kinds of creative risks we want to encourage in schools don’t entail jumping from great heights or other physical risks (at least I hope not!), but they can still be frightening. As the commercial said … Continue reading
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