“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

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 is a presentation I made at the 16th Encuentro Internacional de Educacion Inicial y Preescolar in Monterrey, Mexico on October 15th, 2016, which focused this year on inclusion and diversity.  The event was sponsored by an exemplary early childhood education program in Monterrey called CENDI (Los Centros de Desarrollo Infantil del Frente Popular “Tierra...Read More

Catch my interview with educator and best-selling author Rae Pica, and middle school teacher Heather Wolpert-Gawron, on BAM! Radio’s show ”Studentcentricity.”’ ”Every middle school teacher knows that teaching adolescents is one of the most confounding aspects of teaching. Our guests join us to offer a helpful framework.” Here’s the link For more information about the adolescent mind,...Read More

Everyone knows that teens have a larger appetite for quick rewards than either adults or children.  But up until now scientists have been uncertain about whether this tendency had any beneficial impact. Some have argued, in fact, that this propensity is maladaptive insofar as adolescents’ engage in risky behavior (e.g. joyrides, drugs, sex) to get...Read More