This week California Governor Jerry Brown showed political grit. He announced plans to tackle the intractable problem of unequal public school funding caused by local property tax traditions. Will citizens in affluent neighborhoods allow funds from their schools to be redirected to improve school quality for other people’s children? The Governor promised opponents “the battle of their lives.” ● For parents with kids graduating from high school, read the eloquent article on parents’ love, by Adam Gopnik, writer at The New Yorker and brother of Alison Gopnik, renowned expert on babies’ cognitive development. ● Find out about Angela Duckworth, the scientist whose work started the “grit” movement. ● Other topics here to gain cortical mass: autism, sportscasting, praising girls, and Randi Weingarten’s proposal for testing common core standards. ● The QR-code-inspired pajamas cracked me up.
Parenting
On Parental Love: When Children Fly the Nest - Adam Gopnik, BBC News Magazine
Preschooler 'Sharing' Debate: 'Hot' and 'Cold' Cognition in Kids - R. Rende, Red Hot Parenting
Western Parents Love Face-to-Face Interaction, But There Are Other Ways - Nicholas Day, Slate
Grandparent Stories: 7 Things I’d Do Differently the 2nd Time Around - L. Morgan, ParentMap
Toddlers and Touchscreens: The Case in Favor - Anya Kamenetz, Hechinger Report
Why Every Parent Should Be Aware Of Autism - Richard Rende, Red Hot Parenting
5 Benefits of Sportscasting Your Child’s Struggles - Janet Lansbury
Learning
Learning from Mistakes is Harder than We Think - Annie Murphy Paul, Time Ideas
Giving Good Praise to Girls: What Messages Stick - Katrina Schwartz, KQED, Mind/Shift
Reading Wordless Storybooks to Toddlers May Expose Them to Richer Language - Sci Daily
Can Technology Teach Grit? - Anya Kamenetz, Hechinger Report
In Defense of Working Memory Training - Scott Barry Kaufman, The Creativity Post
Want to Help Your Memory? Tighten Your Fist - Science Daily
Education
Gov. Brown Pledges Foes 'Battle of their Lives' over Edu Funding - D. Siders, Sacramento Bee
The Coming Revolution in Public Education - John Tierney, The Atlantic
The Illusion of the ‘Gifted’ Child - Andrew J. Rotherham, Time
This 5-Year-Old Boy Genius May Be Smarter Than You - Dominique Mosbergen, Huffington Post
3 Ways to Make Our Schools Emotionally Addicitive - David Brooks, Big Think
Postpone Use of New Test Scores, Says Randi Weingarten - Javier C. Hernández, New York Times
Here's How Little Math Americans Actually Use at Work - Jordan Weissmann, The Atlantic
Don't Blame the Kids for Not Learning Math -- Part 2 - Marc F. Bernstein, Huffington Post
How to Inspire a New Generation of Scientists - Anna Kuchment, Scientific American
Bulletproof Clothing for America's Schoolkids? Seriously? - Josh Harkinson, Mother Jones
Resources
Adventurous Math For the Playground Set - Anna Kuchment, Scientific American
How to Make A DNA Model Out Of Licorice And Jellybabies - Cory Doctorow, boing boing
Super-Awesome Sylvia Selections - New York Times
Monsters & Legends: Kids' Ref Book on the Origin of Monsters - Cory Doctorow, boing boing
QR-Code-Inspired Kids' PJs? For Real? - Colin Lecher, Popsci
Education Leaders Deliver First TED Talks on PBS - TED Talks Education, PBS
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