It’s that time of year again. School has started, and the drivers have set aside logical ideas. Every school zone is a little different. In twenty years, I’ve worked at many different schools, and I…

I just realized that I’ve entered my twenty-first year as a teacher. I should have known by the wrinkles around my new reading glasses (I finally had to get them), but I had not stopped…

As seems to be a theme in many of my posts, I want to pass along the importance of play.  I don’t mean video games (absolutely the opposite).  I mean creative, unstructured, social (or individual) play…

Due to the nature of social media, we sometimes see news stories float around for a couple years.  Certain articles are shared over and over again, and unfortunately, we have to check their validity all…

Occasionally, I find myself distracted by lists that pop up in my news or Facebook feed.  There’s always a catchy title like “Twenty Places to Visit Before You Die” or “Top Ten Foods That Everyone…

When I read this article about the problem of over-parenting, and saw this video with a former Stanford University dean, I felt compelled to share from conversations with students and parents over the years. Every…

Fifteen years ago when I started teaching, it was very rare to find a student struggling with an ineffective or “incorrect” pencil grip.  Lately, it seems that nearly every student is using an “incorrect” grip,…

Every year, I begin the school year with some simple tasks to get a “read” on my students.  I even give good and bad examples of how to hole punch a paper or an easy…