I just read about a recent study that says kindergarten is too easy. I took a moment to rub my eyes and then looked at the study again. Kindergarten back in days of yore used to involve loads of play, opportunities to work on social skills and motor skills, and basics on letters and numbers….
Education Reform
Butch, Sundance, the Internet, and You
Do you like ukulele music? No, you love it; that’s why you moved to Hawaii. I think my love for the ukulele is born out of the opening chords of “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” by Hal David and Burt Bacharach, sung by B. J. Thomas for the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance…
Time for Your Regular Checkup
“To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail.” ― Abraham Harold Maslow You may be familiar with Mr. Maslow. He has a Hierarchy of Needs named for him. However, this is not what I’m concerned with today. You have tests to administer and a curriculum to…
The Correct Answer According to You
Smaller class sizes. I can’t argue with that one. In answer to the question Which of the following ideas do you think would do the most to improve the quality of public education in America (or the nation in which you live)?, most of you chose smaller class sizes. Of course, your choices were somewhat…
Please Take the Quiz
More pay for public school teachers. Universal preschool. Increase the curriculum focus on STEM learning. Smaller class sizes. Longer school days. Or an option of your own description. Last week I assigned The Mailbox Blog readers a simple, one-question quiz. Which idea would do the most to improve the quality of public education in America…
Pop Quiz #1210
As you might guess, I am not employed solely to write a blog. That means that I don’t necessarily have all the time in the world to follow each development, large and small, in the great big world of education. Still, I try to keep my eye on things, write about what I know, and…
When I Grow Up
If everything had gone according to plan, today I’d be a firefighting fisherman with a large and amazing pickup truck for a primary vehicle and a Formula 1 car for getting things done on the weekend. Also, I’d have a helicopter pilot’s license and live in Australia. But the best-laid plans of our childhood are…
Throwback Thursday
It’s Thursday. In social media circles, a major trend is to devote Thursdays to revisiting past ideas, classic photos, and more. It’s called Throwback Thursday and is often accompanied by the hashtag #tbt. In the spirit of #tbt, here are five of my favorite blog posts from 2013 that you should revisit or read for…
Write? Right.
Writing. It’s what I do (besides pining for the 1970s, referencing esoteric pop culture moments, and occasionally stirring the pots of debate surrounding cursive writing or corporal punishment in schools). It’s something I believe everyone should be able to do easily, though I know it is so hard for so many people. And it’s what…
Happy Hand-written Halloween
It may be Halloween, but it’s time to no longer be scared of cursive. I know I have visited this topic several times before, and I know that some states have removed cursive handwriting requirements from their curricula altogether. But I come here to praise cursive handwriting, not to bury it. According to a recent…