You’re child is a genius.  No, I don’t mean that your child is an Einstein or a Picasso or a Martha Graham.  I’m using the word ”genius” in its original meaning which relates to ”giving birth” (e.g. genesis) and ”bringing pleasure” (e.g. genial).  Thus, being a genius means giving birth to joy, and I believe...Read More

When I was seven years old, I was at the local barbershop in my hometown of Fargo, North Dakota, when I picked up a Life Magazine that had Anne Frank on the cover (August 18, 1958 – see image on the left).  I remember looking through the magazine and seeing pictures of people with black...Read More

Evidence based teaching has dominated the field of education ever since the beginning of the 21st century, when the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) included it as part of its wide-ranging education law that applied to all schools receiving federal funding (e.g. most schools).  The term itself dates back to 1991 when a Canadian...Read More

Everybody is born with a love for learning.  Look at a baby. She wants to explore everything around her, tasting, touching, smelling, feeling, hearing – learning all about the environment (including her own body).  Nature set things up that way so that we’d always be learning, growing, and adapting to an ever-changing environment. Something, however,...Read More

Nothing has been more disconcerting to me in my forty-five years as an educator than to ask a parent or teacher:  ”What is your child’s (or teen’s) strengths?” and have them answer:  ”He hasn’t got any.”  I’ve actually heard this several times in my career.  It was such responses that motivated me to come up...Read More