Category: common core

Wonder, Not Pressure, Supports Learning 

  Five-year-old children need play, not pressure. Then, at six and seven, they need learning infused with joy, wonder, movement, colors, music, and satisfying work that makes real things. Adults who learned this way thrive. They are in no way behind those who faced pressure. So, why? Why do governments (this is not the teachers’ idea) pressure little children to…

You Don’t Have to Look to Finland to See How Freedom in Teaching Leads to Engagement in Learning

A Gift of Wonder, my book  about my six year journey as a new teacher with my first class at The Waldorf School of Cape Cod is now available. The book is centered in classroom experience in a school where teachers stay with the same group of children for up to eight years. A Gift of Wonder reveals a secret…

Five Reasons to Think Twice Before Praising Your Child and Five Ideas for What to Do Instead

(photo:You want your child to be free, to be led by his or her own inner self) A mom at the playground this morning called excitedly to her child. “Good job!” I couldn’t see her because I was working inside a greenhouse next to the twisty orange plastic slide. Thirty seconds later, I heard it again, “Good job!” and again…