A Very Special Children Museum

I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art that is located at 125 West Bay Road in Amherst, Massachusetts. It goes way beyond the beautiful work and 70 fabulous books of author Eric Carle, which are outstanding in and of themselves. The Museum shows other authors' books and art work. With the amazing staff; programs, work areas for children, auditorium, and book store are so well incorporated and presented. 

You have to give yourself a couple of hours to fully enjoy all of the Museum's areas. Here is a link to the website that presents the Museum so well. For now, you can view this short video to capture much of what the Museum offers.

What Matters in Life

Mattering by Jennifer Breheny Wallace is such a good read on "The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose." What I appreciated the most about the book was how it weaves in emotional intelligence throughout the chapters. Also, as it says up front — "Mattering is both a call to action and a blueprint for living a meaningful and purposeful life." It uses many interviews and research to carry its message on what matters in life. "One study found that regular volunteering was linked to higher levels of energy and well being." (pg. 39) As a dedicated volunteer in my life, I can readily verify this statement.

So much of the book focuses on how helping others helps us in our own lives. This matters so much to me.

Here is her powerful TED Talk . . . 

A Special Eric Carle Book . . . and Others

If you are not familiar with author Eric Carle, this is a perfect book for getting to know him. I am reading it to the preschool children I read to each week. This book has 11 one-page Aesop fable stories retold and illustrated by Carle that children love. His illustrations are of the best in the business of children books.  

Along the way, I discovered this YouTube video that is a reading of many of his books. It is amazing! Oh, and by the way, here is a link to his museum, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. 

A MUST READ FOR KIDS & PARENTS

As a follow-up to his fantastic bestseller, The Anxious Generation, author Jonathan Haidt has a graphic book that beautifully appeals to kids and adults — especially parents and educators. This is a must-read book for preteens, teens, young adults, and parents. 

The book mentions that AI and technology goals are pitching social media apps no matter what the human damage results are, so long as financial profits are high priority. The book and this video below have Jonathan's two simple student rules for going forward with today's technology: "Use technology as a tool. Don't let it use you. And, second, fill your life with real freedom, friends, and fun."

Take five minutes to view this YouTube interview with Jonathan Haidt.

DD Reads Boffo to Many Children

I—also known as DD—love to read books to children. I have been reading to them since 1980 — first to my children, then to children ages preschool through middle school.

The characters come to life with the different voices I use, which I do now every Tuesday and Thursday at two different schools. Boffo - The Great Motorcycle Race by Frank Dickens is a classic and a favorite for 3- to 8-year old children. This — and many others — YouTube below was made so I could share with children because of COVID restrictions. If I get lots of views, I will periodically share other readings.

A Next Step of Artificial Intelligence - ROBOTICS

 If you thought AI was the next technology takeover, you must check out the CBS 60 Minutes TV program that aired Sunday, January 4. Here is the 13-minute segment with reporter Bill Whitaker leading "Progress made on AI-powered humanoid robots | 60 Minutes." It is amazing  to say the least.

Janitor at a Middle School Makes People Cry

Here is a very special video from 2025 America's Got Talent. The singer presents himself in a very humble way and changes all expectations once he begins singing a song. See what you think . . .

A Joy — Reading To Children

It is so good to have libraries all around. Our local Greenland, NH library has such beautiful and well stocked books for children and teens. AND it's all FREE! 

As I have mentioned earlier, I read to preschoolers at two different schools, and many of my books-to-read come from their school and town libraries AND my own books that have accumulated over the years. Here is a children's favorite, Boffo The Great Motorcycle Race.

What a joy it is to be with them watching their faces as I read stories, especially when I change voices of characters in the readings. Here is a Boffo read I implemented during COVID when I could not be with the children . . . 

Nexus - Stone Age to AI - A Lesson for all to Learn

Nexus is a special book for educators and parents and the children they serve. They will all get a clear, outstanding picture of the evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Yuval Noah Harari is one of my favorite authors. He is so thoughtful and brilliant in how he takes the reader from the beginning of humanity to AI, making sure he explains democracy, wars, evolution of communication via newspapers, radio, television, phones, computers, and the many aspects of algorithms. 

If you don't have the time to read the book, go to the BIG THINK website to listen to Harari's Nexus 75-minute interview; he is such a good speaker.

The Power of Words

The power of words can make a huge difference in our lives — especially when children are learning how to use words well. 

This video is amazing the way it helps one understand the power words have when used correctly . . . particularly when we are in the midst of elections.

Journey With a School Janitor

Fifty-five year old Richard Goodall has been serving as a janitor at a local school for 23 years. He loves to sing and make people happy. He had the opportunity to be on stage at America's Got Talent TV show on May 28. As of June 14, his YouTube performance below has over 13.4M views! His story, wrapped around a popular song, moves everyone when he sings. 

When Should You Reach Out to an Old Friend or Colleague?

Here is a 96-second podcast by author Daniel Pink. Short as they always are, Daniel gives excellent advice. Watch and listen to what he has to say about reaching out to an old friend or colleague. 

Can Children Appreciate Classical Music?

Of course they can. Here are some fabulous resources.

The book, The Carnival of the Animals is a beautiful rendition of the classical piece with the same name as the book. The book I received from Amazon is precious and is accompanied by a CD with a reading of the story and the classical piece by composer Camille Saint-Saens.

The book, Wild Symphony written by the popular author, Dan Brown, is beautifully illustrated and comes with an app that plays classical-like music that is composed by Dan Brown. It is spectacular.

Benjamin Zander helps us appreciate classical music, AND what makes his talk so inviting is how he weaves in classical music and children.

The Importance of Libraries

"It checks out — libraries are an 'investment that's well worth it" a 5-minute podcast from David Brancaccio of MarketPlace is spot on regarding the importance of libraries. Having spent many months working on the Building Committee of our local library and recently celebrating the completion of the library renovation have been such important work over the past year and a half.  The picture above gives you a quick view of the library transformation, but visit the Weeks Public Library website, and you can watch the beautiful 6-minute slide show to get a full view of what I am talking about. 

Town, school, and at-home libraries are so important!!

School Boards & Parents and Some Great Guidance

 

Here are two of the best experts in the field of education, Dr. Robert Evans and Dr. Michael Thompson. You may have read one of their many books. Raising Cain by Dr. Thompson and Seven Secrets of the Savvy School Leader by Dr. Evans are two of my favorites.

They have co-authored Hopes and Fears Working with Today's Independent School Parents that goes nicely with their podcast.

Here is a link to their podcast on SOUNDCLOUD. It is a must-listen-to resource, especially for school Boards of Trustees/Directors.

Make Schools More Human

 "Make Schools More Human" by Jal Mehta appeared in the NYTimes Sunday Review section on December 27, 2020. It cites Casco Bay High School in Maine, a school where students had the idea of writing a song that would celebrate community and social isolation. Well, look at what these students came up with for a virtual orchestra . . . 

When I viewed it on the morning of Dec. 27th it had 8,300 views. As of this posting there are now 24,000! Enjoy.

Using the NAIS Trustee Table Podcast with COVID-19

 

The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) has a podcast The Trustee Table that is perfect for nonprofit board growth and development. It can be used for onboarding of new trustees/directors and ongoing board professional development work. Podcasts usually run 15 to 25 minutes in length.

Here is an excellent, timely podcast sample: "COVID-19 Generative Governance - Board Guidelines from Dr. Richard Chait," Dr. Chait, by the way, is my favorite guru on nonprofit governance. I look at his book Governance as Leadership as the governance bible. New York City heads of school collaborated to have him as a keynote speaker when I was the head at Brooklyn Heights Montessori School in Brooklyn, NY.

A Look at the Pandemic

I find myself asking what are we learning from this historic pandemic?

Some thoughts and resources . . .

Humanity is far better off when everyone is working together, rather than forming tribes and forcing people to care for their tribe rather than caring for humanity, especially when we look at the world population. In America, we experienced this humanity/tribe effect before, during, and after the Civil War and World War II.

Tribes and the evolution of humanity are so well explained in the popular book Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari—see my June 9, 2019 blog post, and in Sebastian Junger's book Tribe—see my July 8, 2016 blog post. Both books can be helpful in understanding where we are as a global society in the midst of this pandemic.

One last resource is equally powerful: the podcast "Making Sense" with Sam Harris and his May 1 conversation with Yuval Noah Harari. It has so much good pandemic perspective information on what is going on around us during these difficult time.

History - A Special Glance Into the Past

If you want to give your children/students—and yourself—a sample of what radio used to be like, click over to Heirloom Radio.  John Lovering has captured over 50,000 radio plays. Personally, I am always impressed at the evolution of audio and video production over the years.

Perspective on Leadership

Just when you think you have gone as far as you can go as a leader, you have to read Pulitzer Prize winner Doris Kearns Goodwin's masterful book Leadership in Turbulent Times. What makes this book so special is that it not only is jam packed with amazing leadership advice and perspective, but I found that it read like a novel.

The leaders and turbulent times are as follows:

• Abraham Lincoln - Emancipation Proclamation & Civil War
• Teddy Roosevelt - 1902 Coal Miners' Strike
• Franklin Roosevelt - The Great Depression
• Lyndon Johnson - Post Kennedy Assassination & Civil Rights

Here is a Goodwin interview with PBS News Hour's Judy Woodruff: