“There are several words that sang above the rest in my high school science classes. From botany, photosynthesis is the one. From marine biology, Echinodermata and Coelenterata. From chemistry, stoichiometry. And, from cellular biology, mitochondria captured my imagination.” So begins…

It's that time of year again: Standardized Test Season. I've had students want to crumple, rip, burn, chew, even fold and fly their standardized testing bubble answer sheets. But this year Taylor takes the prize, "I am going to turn…

Writing begins with words. Enacting poetry is a great way to get excited about words. Rainy days were bittersweet when I was in elementary school. While the playground was sorely missed, watching the rain run like a waterfall down the…

There simply is not enough time. I panic and move faster through another day, tackling the stacks set before me. This time every year I get the itch to plant a garden, but, “…there are children to care for, grades to…

If we dig deep enough into the heart of a story, dig to its very core, I believe we will always spark curiosity. And when we press into that curiosity, we often discover a treasure to inform our own life.…

If you really stop to think about it, it's more than miraculous that a humble, hard-shelled little thing called a seed, once buried in dirt, watered, and warmed by the sun, transforms into something beautifully alive, growing, and life-giving.

Evelyn is a high school graduate. I closed the book on her transcript over a year ago. Recently she taught me how to connect the dots: Ever since my mom introduced me to pysanky egg making many years ago, I…

When my youngest son, Søren, and his literature circle buddies began reading Perloo the Bold, by AVI his imagination was captured. Perloo, the protagonist, is a peaceful, fairly introverted scholar much like my son. I think they hit it off…

We teach our children that letters have sounds, that sounds combine to form words, that words combine to form sentences, that sentences grouped in just the right way form the stories we all know and love. We teach our children…

This time in the school year can be particularly difficult—a sort of doldrums. Everyone has been working hard for many months and summer still feels quite a ways off. You’re starting to feel the pressure of all that you haven’t…