#education

The Evolving Writer, Part VI–Write for the Intended Audience

Jun 1, 2018
1 min

The Evolving Writer, Part VI–Write for the Intended Audience

If a writer wants his or her message to be understood, one must keep the readers in mind and write to them on their level. Failure to do so results in misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and possibly the total loss of the readers as they, in either frustration or boredom, quit reading. Many writers make one of two mistakes regarding their audience. They write either above their audience members or down to them. Neither extreme is acceptable. Okay, it’s confession time: One

Dennis L. Peterson

May 29, 2018
2 min

The Evolving Writer, Part V–Be Precise

Precision in writing is as important to good writing as brevity. In fact, precision, and it’s cousin clarity, inevitably produce brevity. The evolving writer will strive to develop all three qualities. Failure to do so will result in confusion and misunderstanding. In writing, precision means using the best word for your intended meaning. This usually will not be the first word that pops into your head. It will be the word that you discover on your second, third, or an even l

Dennis L. Peterson

May 15, 2018
2 min

The Evolving Writer, Part I

If one is making progress in his or her writing, that writing is constantly changing in many ways. It will be changing in content and subject matter, in form or media, and in quality (and perhaps even in quantity). I had had minimal formal education in writing–the required college composition courses and the one journalism class offered by the college at the time. And a lot of papers that I had had to write for my other classes. That was a solid starting point, but it was wha

Dennis L. Peterson

May 11, 2018
3 min

So Much to Read!

At times, I get frustrated by the amount of reading material that pours in through both my postal mail and my e-mail, every item demanding my attention. There is so much that I can’t keep up with it. And I find myself piling up reams of material in a “To Be Read” file, either as a pile of paper or overflowing electronic files or a crowded computer desktop. My day is prescheduled for me. If I allow it. Every so often, I force myself to stop everything else to plow through thos

Dennis L. Peterson

Mar 13, 2018
1 min

“New” Old Ways

“In their never-ending search for better ways to teach, educators are tempted to be enamored of anything new and to eschew what they perceive to be outdated or old-fashioned. Sometimes, however, some of the best ‘new’ teaching principles turn out to be long-forgotten or neglected old ways.” (from Teacher: Teaching and Being Taught, p. 267) I’ve often wondered what today’s teachers do when the power goes out in their classrooms and they can’t use their computers and smart boar

Dennis L. Peterson

Feb 20, 2018
2 min

The Beauty of Dirt

“Don’t touch that-!” a mother says to her little toddler son, who is playing with a stick that he found on the ground. “Now don’t play in the dirt,” a grandfather says to his little granddaughter as they step off the deck of their house and into the backyard. In both instances, the message being sent is well-meaning, clear, and unmistakable: Dirt is bad. Upon reflection, I now beg to differ. There are different kinds of dirt, and they can be either good or bad. Too often, how

Dennis L. Peterson

Feb 13, 2018
3 min

Nobodies

I have often felt like that. I’m not famous for anything. I’m not widely known. Even when I go “back home” to the community where I grew up, no one knows me. When I left there to go to college in another state, no one, not even my closest friends or track teammates, kept up with me or what I was doing. Forty years later, when the hometown newspaper published an article about the release of my first book (along with my phone number and e-mail address, courtesy of the editor, w

Dennis L. Peterson

Feb 6, 2018
1 min

Put the Cookies on the Bottom Shelf!

An effective teacher teaches such that the lowest-achiever, the least capable student in the classroom, can understand. If the lowest student can understand a concept, certainly everyone else will be able to. . . . The best teachers take complex concepts and present them simply and meaningfully to their students when the time and subject matter are appropriate and the students are ready to learn them. This does not mean “dumbing it down” or being anti-intellectual. It does no

Dennis L. Peterson

Sep 12, 2017
2 min

Following the Crowd

“Just because ‘everyone else’ is doing it doesn’t mean that you must do it, too!” Mother used to tell me when I was trying to convince her to let me do something that my friends were doing. “If ‘everyone else’ goes and jumps off a cliff, are you going to do that, too?” Of course, I had no better comeback to that logic than a mere, “But Mother. . . .” And that didn’t carry any weight with her. Mother had spoken, and that was that! Today, we see a lot of people “jumping on the

Dennis L. Peterson

Sep 11, 2017
1 min

Good Teaching

“[E]ducation doesn’t depend on the latest technological gadgets or machinery or publications. Good teaching is not restricted by the availability or unavailability of ready-made materials. It depends on having students who want to learn and are ready to work hard to do so. It depends on having teachers who are dedicated to serving the Lord by teaching their subjects. . . .” http://www.amazon.com.) #Christianeducation #education #teachers #teaching

Dennis L. Peterson

Sep 7, 2017
1 min

True Education

Good teaching is not restricted by the availability or unavailability of ready-made materials. It depends on having students who want to learn and are ready to work hard to do so. It depends on having teachers who are dedicated to serving the Lord by teaching their subjects, which often include subjects that are out of their field because they are the only available warm body to meet the current need. –From the Preface of Teacher (available at http://www.amazon.com in both pa

Dennis L. Peterson

Sep 1, 2017
2 min

New Book Just Released: Teacher

Teaching is a noble calling. It is not easy. It is often underappreciated. Despite the wisecracks about teachers having a lot of paid vacation days and summers off, most teachers are nonetheless working (or thinking about job-related matters) almost all the time. Teaching doesn’t pay nearly as much as it should, considering the potential benefits it offers both individuals and society. We show by our dollars what we truly think of it and its value. We readily pay far more for

Dennis L. Peterson

Aug 11, 2017
2 min

Thoughts on Starting School Again

After having my wife at home all summer vacation, I’ve been going through withdrawal this week as she’s been attending teacher in-service training in preparation for starting another school year. While she’s been away, I’ve tried to busy myself with a writing project that deals with education. Those two facts have set my mind to thinking about school. I have mixed feelings. Having spent 19 years in the classroom myself and another 11 years as a textbook author, I sort of miss

Dennis L. Peterson

Mar 10, 2017
4 min

Best Lessons from Worst Teachers

Sometimes the best lessons one can learn come from the worst teachers. Sounds ironic, doesn’t it? As I recall the teachers I’ve had, from first grade through graduate school, however, I think that statement is absolutely correct. I’ve learned some of the most valuable lessons about how not to teach from teachers who taught incorrectly. (The bad teachers will go nameless in this blog!) But an effective teacher must also know what he or she does not know and admit as much. Many

Dennis L. Peterson

Dec 9, 2016
2 min

The Power of a Good Book Series

Never underestimate the power of a good book series, even if it’s not great literature, to spark an interest in reading. It might just develop into a reading habit that leads to great literature or even evolves into a career. When I was in fifth grade at Halls Elementary School, Mrs. George conducted a contest in our class to see who could read the most books. She gave each student a small envelope inside of which were several ruled 3 x 5 cards. We each wrote our name on the

Dennis L. Peterson

Jul 15, 2016
2 min

Teachers, Students, and Aging

It was just another group photo posted on Facebook. The group was so large and the figures so small that individuals were almost unrecognizable to anyone who had not been present when it was taken. But it got my attention and produced a flood of memories. It was a photo of the students in a school where I had taught junior high history. Suddenly, I felt old. I envisioned these people as I had last known them. Skinny, short, and gangly boys who had not yet finished their early

Comenius: Pastor, Philosopher, Pedagogue

Dennis L. Peterson

Jul 9, 2016
1 min

Comenius: Pastor, Philosopher, Pedagogue

#education #History #philosophy

Dennis L. Peterson

Sep 4, 2015
2 min

Change and Continuity Revisited

Today, I take a brief glance backward to August 28, 2015, when I posted this article, my first effort at blogging. Much has changed since that time. I’m older. My fingers are bent a little more from arthritis. I have more grandchildren. But many things also remain the same. I’m still living my dream of writing. I continue to learn from history. And I hope I’ve grown a little better as a person and as a writer. Sometimes it’s good to look back and evaluate where one is in rela