Nearly 30 years ago I visited Egypt as part of a Middle Eastern tour/trip. I loved the warmth of the people and the sense of old and deep culture. I don’t mean the pyramids, although those were amazing in their own way. I mean the markets, the rhythm of conversation, and an accepting, curious, connected …
When my stepdaughter started high school, we asked her about her first day when she got back home. There were the usual jitters and hiccups, but the sad part is that she ate lunch by herself. The kids she knew had lunch at a different time. Although she shrugged off any hurt feelings, we felt …
This article from CEREBRUM, a publication of the Dana Foundation, explores recent research into how the brain works creatively. It is fascinating. While the process retains mystery and many unknowns, there are a couple of take aways. In particular, priming our brains before we begin a creative task seems to make a difference, as such …
Nancy Magaud is a friend of mine and a retired educator living outside of Paris. Two years ago she suggested an idea for a parody song based on the old post WW1 song “How You Gonna Keep ’em Down on the Farm.” The parody would be essentially “How You Gonna’ Keep Their Nose in a …
I recently keynoted an early childhood conference in Greenville, NC. The topic was literacy and young children. I think it’s fairly common knowledge among those who work with young kids that there are those who mistakenly want to push explicit literacy instruction into earlier and earlier ages. The problem is that many or most children’s …
Three years ago Melanie DeMore was the keynote speaker at the CMN annual conference. Her work is amazing to me: the songs, her voice, and her ongoing cultural work in a number of venues. The talk was inspiring, and I learned a lot. I was reviewing my notes from the keynote, and came across this …
When we were in Scotland over the summer I ran across this organization. It’s called Playlist for Life. It helps people to compile playlists for older folks with dementia. They do other support around music and memory, but I really liked the idea of being systematic about it. Imagine the comfort that would come from …