10th Anniversary of StoryCorps

Dave Isay, creator of StoryCorps, has a new book out in celebration of the 50,000 stories recorded throughout the Country. Ties That Bind: Stories of Love and Gratitude From the First Ten Years of StoryCorps tells of the origins, history, and some of the most memorable stories captured.

Listen to Wil Smith's story — one of the many tender, memorable stories that brings new meaning to parenthood and the pursuit of education.

World's Shortest Intelligence Test

It's called the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT). Here are the questions:

1) A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

2) If it takes 5 machines 5 min to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?

3) In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?

Don't look until you come up with your answers, but the answer to #1 and #2 are on the ball in the picture to the right.

Check out the link above for more information on this interesting test . . . and the answer to question #3.

Welcome to Holland

In my ongoing reading of Andrew Solomon's book Far From the Tree, I was introduced to the beautiful fable, "Welcome to Holland" written by Emily Perl Kingsley in 1987. A writer for Sesame Street, Kingsley was inspired to write the piece by her own son, Jason, who has Down syndrome. The words are a tribute to families with exceptional children.

Quintessential Gladwell

Not unexpectedly, I was enthralled by Malcolm Gladwell's newest book David and Goliath. What will be most interesting to parents and educators is Chapter 2 "Teresa DeBrito 'My largest class was 29. Oh, it was fun.'"

But, for now, watch this TED Talk where Gladwell presents his book's introduction. You will love hearing the story of "David and Goliath" a la Gladwell style.