The Educator's Notebook

featured articles

Playing Music Causes (Not Correlates With) Cognitive Improvement
NPR - 11/20/14

“Playing a musical instrument engages practically every area of the brain at once, especially the visual, auditory, and motor cortices… Several randomized studies of participants, who showed the same levels of cognitive function and neural processing at the start, found that those who were exposed to a period of music learning showed enhancement in multiple brain areas, compared to the others.”
Several Principles from Pixar for Nurturing Good Work
Farnam Street - 11/17/14

“When someone hatches an original idea, it may be ungainly and poorly defined, but it is also the opposite of established and entrenched—and that is precisely what is most exciting about it. If, while in this vulnerable state, it is exposed to naysayers who fail to see its potential or lack the patience to see it evolve, it could be destroyed. Part of our job is to protect the new from people who don’t understand that in order for greatness to emerge, there must be phases of not-so-greatness."
What is Unschooling? And What Can We Learn From It?
Films for Action - 8/18/14

“The moment we stopped compelling Fin to sit and draw or paint or write was the moment he began doing these things on his own. It was the moment he began carving staves of wood into beautiful bows and constructing complex toys from materials on hand... In other words, the moment we quit trying to teach our son anything was the moment he started really learning.”

View remaining articles (1)

Ways To Teach Kids About Ferguson [From The Jordan Davis Case]
Practical Theory - 2/17/14

“The issues raised by the Jordan Davis murder trial touch deeply on issues of race, law, social justice, and any and all of these issues could be a course of study… What follows is an attempt to organize what was a 15-hour brainstorming session into a few organizing concepts – 1) things to consider as a teacher when tackling this subject, 2) ideas and resources around teaching about / toward the Jordan Davis murder verdict, and 3) some concrete lesson plans that teachers could use that examine the verdict from several different lenses."