• @Lucas

    Ask Mr. Blogger Dad to expand your wardrobe! (Would be interesting to see what he comes up with..!)
  • Trina: Well said. I've spent more time in the hall than I can count!

    Chase: Hi, Mr. March. You sound like a really great teacher. I like the project you had your kids do with the popsicle sticks. It looked really cool.

    Hi Chase, I agree that there are many components that still have relevance in today's world, but I do believe the structure needs to change. We are facing declining results in exponential times. Ignoring the truth, will only make it harder to catch up later.

    Mimi: Thanks Mrs. Mindful. I have a friend that really likes to draw but she can't do it in class. The teacher keeps telling her to stop drawing and start listening, even though she is a straight A student! Can you believe it?

    Lori: Thank you, Lori. That was my favorite thing I read all weekend!

    Laurie: That is exactly right!

    Celebicepop: I think you want to talk to Writer Dad, and you should probably use email instead of comments if you want a response.

    Timray: That is the point, Mr. Ray. The right questions preceding answers.

    Friar: I'm not a dork, Mr. Blogger Dad just drew me that way!
  • You know, if Lucas got rid of the the private-school uniform, and put on a baseball cap, some baggy pants and a Pokémon T-shirt, the Cool Kids would stop beating him up! :-D
  • Timray
    Lucas.....keep at it.....because you ain't got it. I suggest an education in the humanities....stay away from science....we question everything to come to answers.....we conquer diseases....you would make a great poet
  • I'd like to invite you (you are a talented writer) to be a columnist blogger over at http://www.icepop.com.
    IcePop is a Community Blog where you can be a columnist and write about the latest Celebrity News and Film Reviews. You get Front page exposure, Your own bio, URL to your website, Profile picture and more! Please pass by and register and you too can be on front page! You even get a columnist banner for your website/blog! Thanks Leah
  • Laurie
    As a science teacher you know I understand the value of good questions. What would ever be explored without wonder and curiosity? Without questions, there would be no learning.
  • Lori
    Lucas,
    Check out this: http://tinyurl.com/bkvovt. It's a post about designers, developers, and bloggers all under age 18. Looks like they know how to ask and answer.
  • Lucas,
    I am soooo with you on this one. I think our education system sucks (and I am from a tiny country in Luxembourg). Creativity is the most important and unique thing every kid has, Yet it is drilled out of them after a few years of school. Everyone has to succeed, yet fit into a mold. When you ask a 'stupid' question, people sneer at you. Well, there are no stupid questions. And it is the people who ask the so-called stupid questions that made it big. Like Newton asking WHY the apple falls.
    So be creative, paint, sing, write limericks and poems. Draw an your walls like my son did :-) don't copy, don't try to fit in. BE YOU.
  • Hey Lucas,

    I challenge my students to be creative and not just memorize things.

    Of course, that being said, memory is an important tool. I mean, you can use as a calculator but by the time you get it out and punch in the numbers, I can do the calculations in my head because I know my timetables and number facts.

    Memorization is good in music and art as well.

    Hi Sean,

    I think the old system and way of doing things is still relevant. But we as teachers can't be stale. There is a balance that we can strive for that doesn't turn education into entertainment but still engages the child.
  • Trina
    Children say the greatest things, I wish more teachers/adults would appreciate the spirit rather than find it more hassle.
  • NOTE: LUCAS IS ANSWERING COMMENTS TODAY

    Shanel: Thanks, Mr. Giesel has always written in some of my favorite pentameter.

    Angela: Thank you, Mrs. Maiers. I wish I had teachers like you. I think you're terrific.

    Mike: It stinks. Sometimes I just have to stare out the window and I get really really bored, but my teachers don't care at all! I sure hope things change.

    Hayden: I know!

    Janice: That's great that you stuck up for your kids! My parents stick up for me too. They always say, "Ask as many questions as you want to Lucas, there are always answers ready to be found."

    Dave: I do not like busy work. It bores me even more than baseball. Hey, thanks for taking my picture by the way. You made me look great!

    Kool Aid: You're welcome, don't let school bore your monkey! Make them find ways to keep her busy in the right way.

    Randi: Aw, shucks. Thanks for the support but my first adventure went off the market. I'll send it out to you later today. Binary language is easy, as long as you ask the right questions!
  • I'm so happy to meet Lucas! I tried to buy Lucas Bright: I Know I'm Special from your site once, but it kept leading me to dead ends and wouldn't let me proceed. Now I KNOW why Lucas is special.

    I had a teacher once who told me, "Education isn't about knowing all the answers. It's about knowing where to FIND the answers when you have a question."

    Yesterday I came across a website that supports the Socratic method of teaching---teaching by asking questions instead of giving answers. The author said he taught binary language (by asking questions only) to a group of third graders and by the time he was done that day, all the kids understood it. Before he started, two teachers said that only a couple of the kids were capable of understanding. So keep asking those questions, Lucas! (And kudos to the teacher for rewarding him for asking the question instead of shutting him down.)

    One of my son's teachers once told me that my son was irritating to have in class because he asked too many questions. I love it when my students ask questions! If they can stump the teacher, I tell them that I don't know the answer, but that if they can get on the internet that night and find the answer to present to the class next day, they get extra credit. They learn so much better than if I looked up the answer and spit it back to them the next day. I've yet to have a child who fails to get excited about the challenge.
  • This very struggle I'm facing with Monkey and what curriculum to teach her from in the fall. I don't want to fill her head with useless facts that she'll forget after she's taken the test. I want her to experience her education and be challenged by it, and not just wade through it. It's one of the hardest things I'm trying to do right now.

    Thank you, Lucas, for sharing your insight!
  • Thought provoking post! Encouraging questions encourages discussion, thought and ownership of ideas. Whereas, the "old way" just seems like busy work quickly plowed through and more quickly forgotten.
  • Janice
    What a treat - never met Lucas before!Do you ever doze off at your desk and wake up wondering who of your many yous you are?

    When I was teaching kids and teenagers, the ones who asked the 'best' questions always did better in all subject areas in the long run than those who just waited to get everything poured into their heads. Sadly, my kids stopped asking their teachers as many curious, challenging questions at school after one or two awful teachers told them they ought to know better than to question a teacher. And, yes...the school did get a visit the next day!!
  • This is so true.
  • Rote memorization has been a bad learning model for far longer than the internet has been around. Unfortunately, it's easier for the average teacher than being innovative and it's hard to get past, "That's the way that it's always been done."
  • Lucas - this is brilliant! You are so smart, and I your message needs to go to every teacher and educational leaders. (I am excited to share!). You embody the Habitude of curiosity! Bravo!
  • Bravo! Dr. Seuss would be pleased! : )
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