It's so easy. Just do it.

I was listening to a discussion between a journalist and a mother about the school experiences of her highly-autistic daughter. The takeaway from the mother's position is that the school was wrong, was doing bad things and was harming her daughter. They should accept the child and let her be. What was missing of course was any consideration of everyone else in the picture, particularly the teachers.

Children have been harmed by the covid pandemic

I was just sent this article from the Guardian which compels me to put pen to paper, as it were, before i have finished my coffee. The findings are troubling, while the source of the findings heat my blood to the point of ebullition. IQ is a dangerous term and the concept should have been discarded in 1904. 

Who's your daddy?

An odd situation at a former colleague's school, and the result of mixed-families and changing family definition. One of his students has four fathers. What is a school to do?

Judging children by their date of birth

I have written before, or if I haven't I should have, about the craziness of placing children in classes according to their birthdates. I have been known to call this practice "birthday-based apartheid". It is ludicrous. anti-educational and anti-child. 

Truth or dare (to tell a lie)

Reading and listening to this morning's news reminded me of a discussion in which I have participated several times. What is a "lie" and how should schools approach this definition? 

Play-based or experiential learning versus play

A few years ago I was at a meeting of the local NAEYC affiliate and listened to several of the attendees ramble on about "play" and play-based programs and play being a toddler's "work". All seemed smug and supercilious, and one sneered at what she called "academic" pre-schools. Needless to say, not one defined her terms.

Who is a school's client?

Schools exist between a rock and a hard place, a scylla and charybdis of serving two often conflicting clients. I do not mean politicians, national, state and local government or teacher unions. I mean parents and students.

Give that student a gold star

Teachers routinely use rewards and punishments in class to guide students to desired behaviors and even to recognize high scores in an assessment. Schools and teachers should stop. The basic premise is simple. If a student receives something desirable for an action, s/he will do it more and if that something is undesirable, s/he will do it less. The problem is the other things which happen.

This old chestnut

I was catching up with my friend Joe the other day and he told me of a problem they had in their school last year. Parents had been very energized, with petitions, storming meetings, trying to involve media and state politicians, and taking a great deal of time and energy from administrators and teachers. The reason? The school was reviewing its sex education program.

To be or to become

It's the old nature v nurture argument again. Are you "born this way" or are you shaped by circumstance or even self-made?

How young is too young?

Education based on birthdays is just bizarre and I suggest is anti-child. Children should learn, do activities, join classes based on their appropriateness and not on some calendar square.

Again, what is a school to do?

I was prompted to write earlier following news reports of a three year-old's repeated preschool suspensions. I was reminded of a situation where I was forced to expel a young student for his behaviors. He was only five.

What is a school to do?

There have been a number of shock / horror stories and reactions to a recent story about a three year-old who has been suspended from preschool five times. All have focused on his age and his color. None that I have seen have considered the position in which the teacher(s) and school have found themselves.

Choosing a school

We had a lively faculty lounge conversation today about the best way to choose a school for your child / family. The consensus was you should keep in mind you will never get everything you want. The best you can hope for is to get most of what you want most of the time. Shoot any higher and you are guaranteed to meet disappointment at best.

School Uniforms

School uniforms are important and I say uniform not "dress code" deliberately. Uniform means uniform - one form or one style. They make wearers recognizable as part of a group, and so create a sense of identity and of belonging. They build and maintain school spirit.

Uniforms increase safety and security as wearers are quickly and easily identifiable. It is easier to locate all your students on a field trip if they all wear the same uniform. Additionally, experience has shown they reduce crime such as shoplifting, loitering and graffiti because of this identifiability factor.