A History of Education: Ancient Egypt

[Editor’s Note: This is the 5th in a series of blogs that examine how education developed throughout history until the present. Links to previous blogs are included at the bottom of the post.] As we’ve seen, writing developed independently in Egypt at about the same time as in Mesopotamia, about 3300 BCE. It was composed of … Continue reading “A History of Education: Ancient Egypt”


A History of Education: Mesopotamia and the Sumerians

[Editor’s Note: This is the 4th in a series of blogs that examine how education developed throughout history until the present. Links to previous blogs are included at the bottom of the post.] School as a concept of education correlates closely with the development of true writing, which arose independently around the world at least three … Continue reading “A History of Education: Mesopotamia and the Sumerians”


A History of Education: Prehistory to Pre-Industrial

[Editor’s Note: This is the 3rd in a series of blogs that examine how education developed throughout history until the present. Links to previous blogs are included at the bottom of the post.] In terms of biological history, schools are a very recent human invention. For hundreds of thousands of years, people lived in hunter-gatherer societies, … Continue reading “A History of Education: Prehistory to Pre-Industrial”


A History of Education: The Purpose of Education

[Editor’s Note: This is the 2nd in a series of blogs that examine how education developed throughout history until the present. Links to previous blogs are included at the bottom of the post.] Education is a means of shaping an individual’s life, whether in the classroom or outside of it. It imparts historical, societal, and … Continue reading “A History of Education: The Purpose of Education”


A History of Education: An Introduction

[Editor’s Note: This is the first in a year-long series of blogs that examines how education developed throughout history until the present.] In its broadest sense, education is the imparting of information from one generation to the generation that follows it. It can be accomplished by modeling actions, sharing oral knowledge, or through reading and … Continue reading “A History of Education: An Introduction”


Effective Writing Instruction

Reading and writing are complementary skills; you read text that’s written, and you create text to be read. Both skills need to be explicitly taught and rigorously practiced since the human brain isn’t hard-wired for either one [see our blog post here]. We’ve talked on this blog about many different approaches to reading instruction. Now, … Continue reading “Effective Writing Instruction”


Addressing Unfinished Learning

Among many other educational problems raised by the COVID-19 pandemic is unfinished learning, learning gaps for students who didn’t fully cover all the material necessary to advance in grade but who find themselves at the higher level, nonetheless. How to address these gaps is, perhaps, a more complicated issue than one would expect, since barriers … Continue reading “Addressing Unfinished Learning”


Teaching Poetry in the Classroom

Poetry has a place in education, even among the elementary grades. It can be included as part of reading, writing, and language lessons, and adds additional value to classroom themes, projects, celebrations, and other important events. Here are five good reasons to include poetry in the classroom. Builds reading, speaking, and listening skills Children who … Continue reading “Teaching Poetry in the Classroom”


Guest Blog: How Learning to Code Helps Students Develop Essential Skills

Since the rise and proliferation of the internet in the late 1990s, coding has become an increasingly vital skill in the workplace. While coding may not be the most obvious choice for young learners, it is, in fact, a great subject to study, even for students as young as 5-10 years old. Beyond the obvious … Continue reading “Guest Blog: How Learning to Code Helps Students Develop Essential Skills”