I love summer time and everything about it, especially summer camp. Summer camp provides children with a fun, safe environment to learn new activities, experience new friends, and reinforce academic skills. Growing up as a child living with sickle cell disease, summer camp was one of the few activities that made me feel normal. I […]
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Let’s get serious about play
Monday, April 19, 2010Here’s my audacious idea: let’s show children just how seriously we take their education by making sure that every school has a least one adult whose job it is to make play happen. Let’s take play seriously. I don’t mean make it boring and regimented. Play is some of children’s most important work. The motivation […]
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Investing in education
Monday, April 12, 2010A lion’s share of the best and the brightest minds devote their energy into designing programs to capture students’ attention in order to improve their performances. The value of teaching facts and history, concepts and theory is understood; the challenge is weaving those elements into a format that imprints on the students, encourages retention, and […]
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Every child should have a mentor
Monday, February 22, 2010I attend a program called Higher Achievement where I meet with a different mentor each night. I have three mentors. Ms. Amanda teaches me Math, Ms. Sarah teaches me Literature and Mr. Joe teaches me Seminar. Ms. Amanda allows us to talk to her about anything. Ms. Sarah is really kind and she is a […]
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Informal science education enhances classroom learning
Monday, January 25, 2010The chorus of proponents for increasing math and science education is getting larger and louder—and with good reason. Study after study indicates that as science and engineering (as well as almost every other part of our professional and personal lives) becomes more global, our students must have the education and skills to compete and to […]
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Project Hope
Monday, January 11, 2010A few years ago I mentored a young man who was 14 years old. He was in an alternative school, reading at a 2nd grade level, and performing math at a 4th grade level. The previous school year he had missed somewhere around 100 days of school for various reasons. He had a loose affiliation […]
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Fostering greatness by honoring beginnings
Monday, November 16, 2009We seldom miss the opportunity to celebrate an achievement, whether it is a good report card, an acceptance into a competitive school, or a school graduation. However, with less than 15 percent of Baltimore City School students graduating from college, too often these important milestones simply never happen. My audacious idea is that we celebrate […]
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Open schools/lifelong learning
Monday, November 02, 2009America has two kinds of schools: the first are well-equipped private and suburban public institutions or magnet/charter schools with inviting facilities where kids feel at home, feel known, and can grow in a nurturing environment. Having invested in their infrastructure, these “beacon” schools have a vested interest in staying open long after the school day […]
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More Services and More Accountability
Monday, August 17, 2009Last month, 17-year-old Lamont Davis, was arrested and charged in the shooting of 5-year-old Raven Wyatt, who was hit by an errant bullet in a fight between two teens. Davis was wearing a home monitoring device when he was arrested and charged with the shooting. The July 2nd shooting of Raven Wyatt is a tragedy. […]
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Biking to school
Monday, August 10, 2009We all know that getting around without a car in Baltimore can be a frustrating experience. It’s especially difficult for many students, who rely on an often-late bus system to get to school. This problem is exacerbated by the occasional actions of a few students, who have tainted the image of students riding public transit, […]
