Going Places
Phoning home for directions – getting lost in roundabouts in France.
Education
From http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2012/1026/Good-reads-Growth-we-missed-Berlin-s-awkward-fit-and-where-kids-know-best : “With stunning consistency, it turns out that students as young as 5 can answer questions about their teachers that assess the effectiveness of teachers more reliably than any other measure.
The right questions matter. This is not a popularity contest like the rate-the-professor websites at colleges. The questions that track successful teachers ask whether students in class behave, respect the teacher, stay busy and don’t waste time, learn a lot almost every day, and learn to correct their mistakes. Some school districts are trying out such surveys. What matters, in the end, is what they do with that information.”
2012 November 13: In an interview on the KQED radio program City Arts & Lectures, British writer Nick Hornby commented that as a kid he read to avoid boredom but that kids today use electronic devices (but not as e-readers) to avoid boredom. He feels that those devices are a lot more of a threat to books than e-books.
Sociopolitical
From http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2012/1026/Good-reads-Growth-we-missed-Berlin-s-awkward-fit-and-where-kids-know-best : “The problem may be that Berlin is pleasant, prosperous, and feels worlds away from the struggles of Greece and Spain, he explains. “That detachment from the rest of the eurozone – rather than any ‘will to power’ – is why Berlin remains a peculiar capital for Europe.””.
Brains
2012 Nov 18: Interview on TTBOOKS with Psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist about his new book. Interesting points revisiting the differences between the left and right brain balance – and the need in Western culture for more right brain. About midway through he addresses autism and says that autism is generally left-brain weighted. The right is precise and rational; the left is fuzzier – “reasonable”.
Parenting
2012 Nov 12: Hassles of baking for the contemporary classroom party.