KidsLearn with Prof. Suki

You are growing in a thumbs-up/thumbs-down world. Everywhere you look, someone is telling you whether something is “good” or not. And it’s not just movies and books—people have opinions about socks! cat breeds! earlobe shapes! pineapple on pizza! haircuts! superpowers!OK, you get the idea. The thing is, the world wasn’t always like this. Before the Internet, people spent more time talking face-to-face, and conversations would have been pretty darn short if people just

Maybe your parent or a teacher has said this to you: “You need to have a positive attitude!”And maybe that seemed wrong to you. If it did, here’s some food for thought: Yes, life can be difficult. I agree with you that there are lots of things to be negative about. This may be a small comfort, but there have always been a lot of things you could be negative about! Imagine being a kid during medieval times when … Read the rest! The post Why is ‘stay positive’ good advice

I teach writing classes to kids, so it’s not surprising that I like kids’ writing. But what do I like about it? Why should you compose your own writing when an AI tool can do it in seconds? What makes kid writing beautiful? Here are my thoughts:Your writing expresses your youness Yup, “youness” is not a word. Ask me if I care….. I don’t! I don’t care because when people say that people express themselves in writing, they really … Read the rest

Recently I read a Young Adult novel that one of my students recommended. There were many good aspects of the story, but one thing bothered me: The end of the story led me to feel like the future was hopeless.In the far past, kids’ books could sometimes be too happy, so happy that they seem ridiculous to us now. But for many years, although kids’ books took on challenging problems, they were almost required by publishers to have a … Read the rest! The post Are your books bumming

In our world, there’s a lot of emphasis on the end goal:We have to take tests We have to turn in projects and present them We have to show that we’ve read a certain number of pages, written a certain number of words, or memorized a certain amount of information All of these are examples of “products” of our learning, and they can be important. But even more important is your learning “process.” Process is the actual experience … Read the rest! The post

Have you ever heard the phrase “snake oil salesman”? Maybe not—no one has sold “snake oil” since before your grandparents’ time. But snake oil is sold in many forms on the Internet, and it’s your job to recognize it and reject it. What?? I hope I don’t get oil on my keyboard! A “snake oil salesman” is someone who is selling you a fake product. These days, that product could be a thing… cure your acne in 24 hours with this