The fact that music even exists is one of the marvelous things about being alive.  And Harvard professor Howard Gardner said that music is actually an intelligence.  However, in school, music is the first program to be cut out of the budget if there’s a financial crush, and many kids get to take music only two...Read More

William Shakespeare is generally regarded as the greatest writer of the English language.  All too often, though, he is taught at the secondary school level in a way that does not endear this brilliant man to high school students.  I remember being bored by Shakespeare when I was in school.  What can be done to...Read More

One of the most interesting ”learning styles” that I’ve encountered over the course of my teaching is the highly-spatial ”at risk” thinker (I’ll call them “Imagers”).   These kids are often ”at risk” for being diagnosed with learning disabilities, dyslexia, and even ADHD.  However, for the most part, they simply think in a way that is...Read More

I’ve been reading a lot of posts on Twitter from parents who are not happy campers. They didn’t plan on serving as ad hoc teachers for their out-of-school students during this pandemic.  Some are discouraged, others are exhausted, still others don’t know where to start.  For those parents who have these burn-out symptoms and can manage...Read More

Reading is such an important part of the educative process, and whether your child is engaged in a school-directed distance learning program, or you’re creating your own homeschooling or unschooling program, literacy activities (reading, writing, speaking, listening), are likely to be a major part of whatever form these programs happen to take. However, there are...Read More