Are babies linguistic geniuses? Why as adults we lose the mysterious gift of language acquisition that children seem to possess?… Read more The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker: Part 2

The most fascinating beach read I am in Florida, and every time I reach for my phone or my laptop,… Read more The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker: Part 1

We rely on acronyms and other mnemonic devices to rote-memorize a sequence that otherwise makes no sense. Why is East… Read more Acronyms: when a crutch is too much.

You know you are in Texas if you end up with Astros and tacos examples over expository text structures! In… Read more Expository Text Structures with Astros and Tacos.

We parent the best we can. I had lived in the US for exactly 5 years by the time my… Read more What This Russian Mom Did Not Know about the US Schools.

Does your district allow the use of electronic dictionaries during the end-of-course assessments? Right now is a good time to… Read more The First Weeks of School: Bilingual Dictionaries

  When it comes to reading, I am a huge proponent of students’ choice, but students also benefit from reading… Read more Collective Effervescence and Whole Class Texts

“If we don’t have engaged kids, what do we have?” ~ Carol Salva  Last week, I was Carol Salva’s guest… Read more Joy of Learning: Engaging Students in Every Classroom

Houston, we have a problem!  During the summer break before my son’s freshman year, we were visiting family back in… Read more Building Fundamental Skills