Category Archive:
Teaching and learning principles

Seven Factors of Enlightenment

7 factors of enlightenment

Zen Buddhist monks might be the last people you’d think would clown around. Laughing, though, is an expression of joy, and joy is one of the seven factors of enlightenment. Reading an article about a Zen Buddhist monk who teaches students to smile, laugh, and tell jokes made me curious about the other six factors […]


Curiosity: The Roots of Intelligence

curiosity the roots of intelligence

Reading an article in the July 2009 issue of Smithsonian called ”Birth of a Robot,” got me thinking about human intelligence versus artificial intelligence. Nicholas Butko, one of the researchers quoted in the article, said that they wanted to program their robots with curiosity, not knowledge. Giulio Sandini, an Italian bioengineer says, ”If you want […]


Slaying the Scary Green Monster

slaying the green scary monster

Green. Everything today is green. Cars are green. Food is green. Sports equipment is green. Kermit the Frog should be happy because he crooned that “it’s not easy being green.” Kermit was right, though. It isn’t easy being green, or even hearing about it, especially for our children. They are bombarded with images and advertising […]


What Teachers Wish Parents Knew

what teachers wish parents knew

At a teachers’ conference a couple of years ago we broke into groups to answer the following question: What are the most important ideas you’d like to communicate to parents of the children you teach? Here are the thoughts from over one hundred teachers and school administrators. Respect the work of your child. Children are […]


Beginning a Conversation

beginning a conversation

We were looking forward to spending the weekend with old friends and their eight- and ten-year-old sons, whom we had never met. As soon as quick introductions were made, the boys picked up their electronic game machines and headed toward the den. At dinner the boys made plates of food and sat at the coffee […]


Four Keys to Raising a Self-Disciplined Child

four keys to raising a self disciplined child

Do you dream of having a child who is self-composed, articulate and respectful of others, young or old? In our children’s pre-verbal days it seems like those attributes may be impossible, but there are some teaching tools you can use to help your child have the self-discipline to live a peaceful life as a toddler […]


Do The Hokey Pokey

hokey pokey

In the gardening shop I looked up to discover a sign over my head. ”What If The Hokey Pokey Is What It’s All About?” For whatever reasons, I started to laugh. Uncontrollably. My husband came from across the store to see what could be so funny. For weeks afterwards Mark and I had a running […]


Teaching Forgiveness

teaching forgiveness

“Forgive and forget” is a phrase that is given as advice. As a child, I remember being upset over a transgression and yelling, “I don’t want to forgive her, and I won’t forget it!” Forgive and forget seemed to mean that I should pardon the misdeed and pretend it never happened. That, in my mind, […]


Accentuate The Positive

accentuate the positive

“If I tell Ginny not to do something, she just looks me in the eye, and does it.  She seems defiant.” Sam, Ginny’s dad, told me at a company picnic. Ginny, an almost four-year-old curly headed brunette, ran over from the swings at the park.  “Ginny, how about playing a little game with me?  I’m […]


A Secret Of Good Teaching

A secret of good teaching

Between the ages of birth to four-and-a-half, children are in a sensitive period for refining their senses.  Children at this age are capable of learning to discern hundreds of qualities of the things around them.  Perfect pitch is acquired before the age of six.  Too often adults stop giving information after certain basics are mastered. […]