Learning to live with your biology

“Learning to live with your biology?” you may ask. “What could that possibly mean?”

Don't be a goldfish!
Don’t be a goldfish!

Before I had kids of my own, I didn’t know much about the brain, learning, and education. But then having my kids led me down this path to learning more about those subjects, and I learned something surprising:

The way your physical body is made has a lot to do with how your brain works.

Maybe that just sounds obvious to you, … Read the rest!

What is an essay and why should you care?

The first time I taught an essay writing class, one of my students raised her hand as I was talking.

“Excuse me,” she said. “But what does S. A. stand for?”

EssayLike I always tell my students, there is no stupid question. But that question was surprising to me at the time!

Now I realize why people haven’t heard of essays: because they don’t see a need for them in their daily lives.

In reality, though, essays are not only … Read the rest!

Take charge of your learning!

Are you in charge of your own learning?

Well, to start with, you might say that you can’t be in charge of your own learning because the adults in your life tell you what you have to learn.

If you go to school, perhaps your teachers tell you what to learn.

If you’re homeschooled, maybe your parents tell you what to learn.

But there is something you can do to take charge, here’s what it is:

Don’t be a sea Read the rest!

Why do we write?

I will be that you’ve heard this before: it’s really important that you learn how to write well.

But why? What’s the point of writing when we have so many other ways of communicating in modern times?

History
First, I’m going to give you a little history. Human beings tramped around the Earth for many years before they learned to write. They figured out how to make stone tools, hunt animals, and even farm before they learned how to write.… Read the rest!