The evening news. Growing up in my house, watching it was part of the day’s rituals. Despite whatever was happening in the world—including Vietnam, Watergate, and long gas lines—watching Walter Cronkite was how my father spent his time digesting dinner. As someone who idolized his father, I watched and listened to Cronkite too. A few…
History
The Tipping Point
At some point in a teacher’s summer, one’s thoughts turn to the coming school year. Instead of hitting the snooze button 47 times in a row, you hit it 32 times one day, then 18 times soon after, until you’re finally down to just twice. You find yourself glancing longingly at your local teacher store…
Surefire Study Skills
People who have known me for more than a few years won’t be surprised to learn that my study skills prior to college were what experts call “atrocious.” And, as long as I am in a confessional spirit, I should probably extend an apology to my students. I don’t think I was at all good…
Ten Ideas for a Classroom That Fosters Thinking
I like to read people’s ideas. Sometimes, it doesn’t even matter what the topic is, except perhaps for such things as Internet marketing analytics and reality shows about people who don’t seem to ever actually work. Ever. Here are ten ideas about teaching from Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), the late British philosopher, mathematician, historian, and social…
Light Dawns on Marblehead
In college in the previous millennium, I had the pleasure of becoming good friends with a fellow New Englander out of Concord, Massachusetts. These days he’s a physical education teacher in Pennsylvania, but back then we were simply undergrads who liked robust, raucous, and challenging dialogue. We were once engrossed in a conversation with some…
This Is a Post About Food Allergies
Let us return once more to the time of burnt-orange and avocado-colored kitchen appliances. It was a time when you considered a friend extremely lucky if he got more than three channels on his family television—a 27-inch screen (with something called a picture tube) embedded in a piece of furniture the size of a small…
The Sky Is Not Falling Currently
The sky fell last week. Or didn’t you notice? Or maybe you realized exactly why the sky fell and you reacted appropriately—with either a “You go, democracy!” or a “Well, it’s time to find a work-around.” The sky to which I am referring is not the actual sky, that blue blanket across our heads that…
I Wash My Hands of Responsibility
By now you’ve no doubt received all of your National Hand Washing Awareness Week greeting cards from friends, relatives, and secret admirers. It happens this time every year, our mailboxes stuffed with sincere or humorous cards reminding us to wash our hands to fight off the never-ending assault of germs and bacteria. There’s always that…
A Lighter Load at Thanksgiving?
I’ve touched upon this subject before: students pulled out of school for family vacations. The last time I mentioned it, I was on the verge of actually doing it myself. This time, we are on the verge of the week when it seems to happen most, Thanksgiving week. Already, most teachers are looking at three…
Making Real-World Connections
My students sometimes accused me of torture. If you know me, you know how funny that is. Maybe I did torture my students, but it was justifiable in the war on classroom boredom. It served the greater good of learning! More than a few times, I have mentioned Jack London’s story “To Build a Fire”…