Tag: learning

No Crying in Debate

The young men and women arrived for their debate dressed in jackets, slacks, and skirts. They wanted to look the part, as a strategy for winning. This was to be their very first debate in their weekly homeschool co-op class day. The subject was a sobering one: The federal government should discontinue capital punishment. Jane,…


‘Exceptional’ Orange County Teacher Named Finalist for Presidential Award

An Irvine, Calif. math teacher is in the running for the “highest level of recognition” for STEM educators. Woodbridge High School teacher Kristie Donavan is among three California math teachers named finalists for the 2021 Presidential Awards for excellence in mathematics and science teaching. “Kristie Donavan is an exceptional mathematics teacher who is beloved by her…


Recognizing 3 Elements of True Learning

A smile came to my face as I drove past a school this morning. No longer was it a desolate ghost town; instead, I had to navigate a long line of cars and buses waiting to turn into the parking lot to drop children off. While it’s good to see kids going back to school,…


Learning and Belonging: Tradition and the Individual

Commentary We belong to each other, and we learn everything worthwhile by submitting to the authority of a tradition we didn’t invent. We don’t make it up from scratch according to our feelings of the moment. In an essay celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s death, David Goldman traces the line of piano teachers descending…


Let Kids Make Mistakes (and Learn From Them)

Dear Dave, We just started teaching our seven-year-old about money. He’s very eager to learn, and he seems to be grasping the basic ideas quickly. He’s young, though, and of course he makes mistakes from time to time. Should we step in and fix things when a mistake he made means he can’t do something…


Never Stop Learning and Growing

Each one of us needs someone we can look up to, learn from, and lean on for support. You’re never too successful, or too old, to benefit from a mentor. In fact, the moment you stop learning from others is the moment you stop growing. You might be thinking, Okay, Ken, I’m all in. But how do…