A middle school teacher’s thoughts about teenagers and Banned Books Week
On top of using banned books as enticement to read, I find them an amazing conversation starter. In discussing why a book was banned, conversations about politics and societies and freedom of speech and value systems and personal freedom and religion and appropriateness spring up in classrooms where before there were only crickets. I always walk away from these conversations impressed by the thoughtfulness of adolescents.
Fashioning your own ABC book is easier than you might think
Have you seen most ABC books? Yawn. I wanted to create a book for my daughter Olive that would be tactile and interactive… and awesome. I wanted to show her things that mean something to her father and I. You know, important things like trademarked characters and ice cream. So I raided my stash of felt and set to work with scissors and a hot glue gun… and a gob of fake hair. (See page H.)
Using Harry Potter to teach your little wizards
My realistic dream job would be to edit a collection of “Teaching with Harry Potter” schoolbooks in France. The world created by J.K. Rowling can be used to teach almost every subject to almost any age.
Preschools and learning environments inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach
Jenny at Let the Children Play has been running a three-part series about Reggio-inspired preschools. This caught my eye for a few reasons: 1) I’d never heard of Reggio-inspired anything, 2) I’m always interested in different kinds of preschools, and 3) some of these are just really amazing to behold.
My education at a cooperative pre-school
Then I discovered my dream come true: a cooperative pre-school. A co-op cuts costs by hiring only the teachers; parents perform all other work and take turns as teacher aide. This innovative solution would give the boys the benefits of school and allow me to be involved in my children’s education while also having personal time.
Leaving motherhood out of conversations
Why do I hurl myself into a defensive monologue about why I don’t want to work with kids? Why does the defensive part of my brain override every other avenue the conversation might have taken? Why don’t I focus on what I DO want to do instead of focusing on what I don’t want?
Tips for helping your offbeat student navigate the waters at public school
No one wants their child to miss out on the opportunity to be themselves, and creativity and individuality can seem impossible in a large, standardized school environment. I have seen, though, that it can work.
How do we pick a preschool that’s right for us?
How did you find the preschool that was right for your family? Is there a super secret password that I need to know?