In this article, the author shares her experience in teaching students with passion. She recalls the time when she was then what most first-year teachers are today: filled with hope and promise, determination and good will, ready to work hard and yearning to soak up the art and craft of teaching and learning. And whenever she gets tired and…

Most character education-advocate organizations list traits that they identify as the central principles or "pillars" in character development. They usually include words like responsibility, fairness, pride, and citizenship. As so often happens in education, these words are presented as though they represented straightforward, commonly understood…

What does it mean that Oscar-winner Hilary Swank's growing up in a trailer park is a big deal, that the author's son's education taught him his "broken home" puts him at risk, and that her niece used derogatory terms that could just as easily have been applied to her as to her enemy? The author thinks it says something about people's…

In this article, the author discusses "Wiki-ality" and "truthiness"--notions that explain a lot about life in the 21st century. Both words were coined by Stephen Colbert, an American comedian and actor. Colbert coined the word "Wiki-ality" based on Wikipedia, a popular online encyclopedia which seems far more…

Two elementary school teachers puzzled over their students' fascination with using a paint spinner to make art, and feared that the "mindless" spinner was using valuable class time in which creative activities were intended to promote innovative thinking. Years later, a former student explained how the spinner accomplished the teachers' goal. (SV)

This author believes the NCLB is a masterpiece of language manipulation. She feels that she can almost live with NCLB's flawed funding and unrealistic expectations. What she can't live with is its blatant failure and the hubris of those who willingly trade personal and political gain for our children's futures, regardless of skin color, accent,…

Describes nontraditional, creative teaching methods that celebrate differences among students. Contrasts these classrooms with programs that force teachers and learners into mediocre sameness using teacher-proof approaches that have been proven wrong for both teachers and learners. Uses personal examples from kindergarten and first-grade…

Uses an analogy with a mother's cooking skills to illustrate how teachers spend years building their own "intuitive" style of teaching; how they need to constantly watch, think, and reflect, all the while dealing with multiple demands, juggling everyone's needs, seeking balance. (TD)