An old tale has it that a man visits a friend and wants to borrow his donkey for the day.  The friend tells him he’s sorry but he lent his donkey out.  The man leaves the house, but as he goes he hears the donkey braying in the back yard. He rushes back to the...Read More

“I’m not sitting there watching Twitter. I’m not on Facebook. If you’re speaking to me through Facebook or Twitter, I’m not listening. So let’s start there. ”I’m a fairly disconnected person who operates in a kind of old-fashioned way and I do that deliberately because drinking from this digital fire hose is too much for me....Read More

Education Week Teacher has a feature ”Classroom Q & A with Larry Ferlazzo,” which has a different education topic every week, to which guest writers post responses.  Last week it was:  ”’Learning Self-Regulation’ Is Needed on Path to Academic Success.”  I was one of the contributors, and this was my response: The issue of self-control...Read More

Researchers at Purdue have discovered that when adolescent rats are given alcoholic drinks that have high caffeine levels, the result is akin to taking cocaine, and the consequences in alterations to the brain may continue into adulthood. The authors write:  ”it is possible that repeated exposure to caffeine-mixed alcohol during adolescence could potentially alter or...Read More

This week I had a ”Commentary” piece in Education Week, American education’s weekly newspaper of record, based on my new book The Power of the Adolescent Brain: Strategies for Teaching Middle and High School Students (ASCD).  It also appeared in their online edition with a different title:  “Neuroscience Should Inform School Policies.’‘  Here is the complete...Read More