I liked Daniel Willingham as preparation for trying to teach in school. Before that I read John Holt (but I don’t remember which books) a homeschooling guru. He believed children should learn by seeing and doing. He believed in showing children a lot of tools and processes. My favorite John Holt story was about his [...]
Holiness — every day
Years ago, when I was working on a book about Catholic scientists, I read about Pope Sylvester II, (1000 A.D.) who introduced Arabic numerals to the West. Then I read about Leonardo Bonaci, aka Fibonacci (~1200 A.D.) who introduced Arabic numerals to the West. Then I read about Leonardo Da Vinci (~ 1500 A.D.) who [...]
May is Mary’s month
I was called into my old school to do substitute teaching last Friday, and by Sunday I was down with a bug. For reasons I won’t go into, I am absolutely certain that’s where I got sick. And sick is where I remain. So this is a short post! The Vatican is supposed to put [...]
A day late …
Last week I wrote about Daniel Willingham’s book, Why Don’t Students Like School. I’ve been rereading it, and it’s fascinating all over again. It’s also a very odd experience, because he wrote a lot about memory and how it relates to thinking. One of his most important points in the beginning is this. A mind [...]
Reading weirdness
After some intense days last week, I wanted words to flow past my eyes. That often means Project Gutenberg, because if I’m going to be undiscriminating about what I read, it’s best if I don’t also pay money for it. One category on the Project Gutenberg website is the latest uploads. In January, 2024, that [...]
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