Teach Kids Attitude 1st Blog

The Teach Kids Attitude 1st Blog is my mini-journal about the field of education and schooling.

Request An Adventure

Request An Adventure for 6-14 year olds who are intrepid explorers of the natural and cultural resources in their community.

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Portland Nanny

Part-time Portland nanny with many years experience available to care for your kids.

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The Instant Expert Trope- Education Movie Reviews

The instant expert trope from science fiction movies is guiding public policy for schools. Battle for Terra, The Fifth Element, and The Matrix illustrate policy maker's thinking about learning.

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My daughter hates learning anything. Please help me !!

My daughter hates learning anything. She sits all day on the computer on MSN and she can't even write properly. She is 15 years old and she gets

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In Portland

I have successfully landed in Portland according to plan as I mentioned on this blog about a month ago. I am volunteering at the Village Free School, sharing a house with Mia, Larry, their daughter, and several other roommates, and putting out the word about my Attitutor Services Attitude Adjustment Program.

Most recently I have also begun attending a Laughter Yoga Club that meets on Tuesday mornings. Andrea Crisp is the organizer and she is enthusiastically pursuing the growth of Laughter Yoga here in Portland.

Enjoy,

Don

Attitutor on Leading Edge Parenting Show

I was interviewed on Leading Edge Parenting Radio show by host Sandi Schwartz on Wednesday, February 11th.

The topic was the Myths of Education and I laid out several major myths that distract parents from what really matters.

Leading Edge Parenting on the Myths of Education

Enjoy,

Don

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Attitutor Services in Portland

I have made a commitment to move to Portland, Oregon, by my birthday, Jan 21st. I am going to get back to working with children directly by offering Attitutor Services in Portland. I have already secured a great living situation in S.E. Portland, near 32nd and Clinton, if you know the area.

This is a leap of faith for me. Delivering pizzas for the last 2 1/2 years or so did not make me rich, though it did get me out of monthly debt obligations. I have some leads for part-time work to bridge the gap but there is obviously a large amount of uncertainty given our times. But the truth is that I have a calling to do this kind of work, so I will use the credit cards again if I have to because this is what I am meant to do. If you are committed to making a difference in the education of our children I ask for your support. Obviously, direct financial support is welcomed (you can use PayPal via my donate page or contact me for other options) but I can also use your help in spreading the word about Teach-Kids-Attitude-1st.com and my services.

The people who have supported me in the past have been parents, foster parents, or grand parents who own their own homes and have a very strong sense of service to kids. Does that describe someone you know? If so, tell them about my work and if they have the interest and ability to assist in the development of an innovative pilot program that teaches kids the 3R's of respect, responsibility and resourcefulness, then have them contact me.

It's Sharing Time!

I have just begun the process of enabling you, my visitors to add your voice to this web site. So far I have added invitations to join the conversation on these pages:

Attitude Science

School

Learning Theory

Now you can join the fun!

New Look & Book plus pdf's

If you have been on the site within the last week you may have noticed some cosmetic changes. I have created a new look for the site in conjunction with the completion of several big projects.

There are now two e-books available, the Illustrated Attitutor Manifesto, which is a gift to donors, and The Attitutor Essay Collection, which is a collection of over 30 essays from the site (including the plain Manifesto.)

I have also made pdf versions of the long essays on the site to assist visitors with reading them.

Enjoy,

Don Berg

Monetization Is In Progress

I have been working on this site for almost a year and there is a good flow of traffic. Now it's time to take the step towards the site becoming a self-sufficient project through Google's Adsense Program. I will be adding what they call a skyscraper to the right side of all my pages. For now that will be all.

As time goes by I am sure I will tweek the size, shape and other stuff to ensure that everyone is getting what they need out of the site. Users like you should get good information with a minimum of diversion by ads and I should get enough ad revenue to pay for the site.

I know that when I am browsing I find too much advertising annoying and try to avoid pointing my readers to ad monster sites. I don't mind some, but not when it gets in the way of getting the information I want.

In Loco Parentis Revisited

Here is a very moving story that illustrates the moral intent of a school's obligation to act In Loco Parentis:

On February 5, a tornado carved a deep gash across the aorta of our campus: the dormitory complex. Along with the university's president, David Dockery, and another dean, I was among the first administrators to arrive at the disaster, a mere two minutes following the direct hit.

We stopped first at the men's dorms. Nothing could have prepared us for the devastation that we saw in the dim glow of the lightning flashes. Several of our students were trapped under a collapsed commons area. To the side of our view, we could see the rubble of the women's complex.

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The Hidden Curriculum from Deborah Meier

Here is a 13 minute talk given by Deborah Meier at an educational conference in Chicago. She talks very briefly about what John Gatto has referred to as the hidden curriculum of public schooling. Link:Deborah Meier

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Little Did She Know... Real Learning Insight

Nicolas Negoponte is the founder of the One Laptop Per Child Project and in this TED Talk from 1984 he tells a couple stories about kids learning (the good stuff is about 16 minutes into the program in a section called Before One Laptop Per Child):

Set Back

Alas, my computer was stolen recently.

An unfortunate set back, but I have already ordered a replacement due to the generous support of people like you. If you would like to contribute you can make a donation using the link below.

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