History is made every day. The challenge is getting everyone to pay attention to it.
Any good teacher knows how important it is to connect with students and understand our culture.
The first thing anyone can do, about any issue, is get informed.
We need to reward the 'thankless job' of substitute teaching with better pay and chances for permanent positions. I look forward to the day when no student comes home saying, 'I didn't learn much today... we had a sub.'
The traits the word 'childish' addresses are seen so often in adults that we should abolish this age-discriminatory word when it comes to criticizing behavior associated with irresponsibility and irrational thinking.
By bringing current events into the classroom, everyday discussion, and social media, maybe we don't need to wait for our grandchildren's questions to remind us we should have paid more attention to current events.
If we all understood we can learn from both older and younger people, then we'd have a better world.
My parents homeschooled my sister and me for many years. Why? Because the local school insisted that I, being three, should go to preschool, and my sister, being five, should go to kindergarten. The problem? You learn your alphabet in preschool, and I was already reading chapter books.
We're used to the characteristics of social media - participation, connection, instant gratification - and when school doesn't offer the same, it's easy to tune out.
Ineffective substitute teaching is a problem that means thousands of hours of lost learning for America's students. It cannot be dismissed with a sigh and 'Just wait for the teacher to come back on Monday.'
We always reference kids but very rarely ask their opinion. Our inexperience might be what gives us the ability to teach our elders something, due to the fact that we are not jaded or cynical.
To try to teach ignoring technology is to ignore the progress that we have made over the last century. If school is preparation for the real world - a real world that is increasingly technology-driven - then to ignore technology is to become obsolete.
My family joke that I'm really a very senior person who accidentally happens to be 11.
It seems we're not only uninformed about our present, we're ignorant of our past.
I think one of the keys to better writing is releasing all of your ideas and to not be afraid. Dream big. This could be the greatest novel in the world you know.
There are lots of different interpretations of the word 'prodigy.' My own is of someone who is talented and tries to help other children. So in that respect I could be called one, although I don't think I'll go off the rails.
If I had my way, I'd end all wars and poverty. We should all be more aware of what's going on in the world around us and less ignorant.
I think women should be more independent. In society, we're portrayed as people who simply wear make-up and sit around. We need a Princess Charming - a woman who rescues her man and slays the dragon instead of the other way round.
I would say that kids are great in many ways, because I think that we are less hampered when it comes to 'this costs too much' or 'that's impossible'.
Make sure that your kids or the kids in your life have an opportunity to share their ideas, and to teach you something about what we know.
