+++ title = “05” date = 2019 +++ A classic feature of Facebook these days is the endless and circular arguments people get into. I’m a proponent of conversation, of debate, of thoughtfulness. But I rarely see arguments on Facebook or Twitter achieve anything useful. Persuasion doesn’t have to be a zero sum game. If I have a belief and you challenge my belief, I might counter-challenge and we might both emerge with a better sense of the issue due to being exposed to two varying perspectives.

For the first four months of my son’s life, we let him sleep whenever he felt like it. It didn’t matter whether it was noon after lunch or 3am, if he was up, he was up, and if he was going to sleep, then there was absolutely nothing we could do stop him. This was developmentally appropriate for a newborn. After four months, we’ve become much more cognizant of his naps.

During teacher training six summers ago, we were tasked with analyzing what we were bringing to our teaching practice. Specifically, what baggage we were carrying from our experience as students. We were asked about our favorite teachers, and what made them our favorites. Lots of responses seemed to indicate that a good teacher had a little bit to do with teaching skill, and a lot to do with personal connection. The truth is you can’t have one without the other.

I started reading the Harry Potter novels when I was about 14. The movies came out soon after and I vowed to wait until I’d finished the books before watching the movies. Trouble is, those images of the actors from the movies were everywhere. And due to priorities, there were years that went by between the book and movie releases and when I actually read and watched them. So when I picked up Book 4 at age 24, the movie in my mind was hugely influenced by the movie images that I’d seen on trailers and online.

+++ title = “05” date = 2019 +++ A recent trend on YouTube are kids filming themselves punishing their children. In one of these videos, a father filmed his daughter walking to school from his car. He explains, at the start of the video, that she had been bullying other kids on the school bus and therefore had been kicked off the bus, for the second time in one week.