It’s a well-known fact that many authentic Persian carpets have deliberate mistakes woven into them because of the Islamic belief that only Allah is perfect, and that a perfect carpet would be an insult to Him.  The belief makes it clear that humans are innately imperfect.  Unfortunately, in our American schools, teachers often expect students...Read More

Getting students’ attention in the classroom is one of the things that teachers have to do intermittently throughout the school day:  at the start of a class, at the end of an activity where students are working in groups, and at other times besides.  Some teachers are very good at this, commanding student attention through...Read More

When I was in school, a long long time ago (sounds like the start of a fairy tale!), we had these Science Research Associates (SRA) reading programs that came in a box.  The box contained scores of laminated pages (like the files in a filing cabinet), each of which had a story on it with...Read More

Let me start by telling a story based on actual classroom research.  A research psychologist gave 27 students in a high school classroom wireless pagers and told them that whenever they received a ”page” they were to write down on a form he’d given them whatever was going on in their minds at that moment. ...Read More

 This video presents a clear case for school reform based on how Albert Einstein might implement changes. It presents 12 school-based interventions using supporting quotations from Albert Einstein’s writings. The 12 ways include: focusing on imagination, opening children to a sense of wonder, promoting individuality over standardization, putting play back in preschool and kindergarten,...Read More