Author: leahnellis

Ever disagree with someone about whether a banana was ripe and ready to eat? Did you say, “How can you eat it that way? Yuck!” Why is it that individuals differ so much in what they think is good and ready? Lot’s of foods are labeled ready to eat, but not bananas. Once picked a… Continue reading Ripe Bananas

Can you imagine the thrill of competing at the first Olympics? You’ve entered the arena for a chariot race and you are standing on the starting line, ready to race, holding a book of everything you know about chariots. One of the other competitors asks why you think you are ready to race. You explain… Continue reading Olympic Racing

There is no mistaking the “Back-to-School” anticipation. Retailers see money signs.   Students see chances to be with friends. Teachers see new challenges. We all see potential. All school supplies have potential. What will transform them into something different than what they are? What is the unknown activity yet to be begun? Yet to be imagined? What… Continue reading Sharp Pencils

School’s out for summer… I’ve recently seen several posts from colleagues who included pictures of their classrooms all cleaned out and put away for the summer break.  I relived with them the feeling of relief that this task always had on me.  Depending on how much time I had to purge, I was able most… Continue reading Where did THAT come from?

The image of an hour glass in which the last grain of sand slips from the upper chamber into the lower is ubiquitous. But is it an accurate image of how we experience time? We can see the movement of physical material falling with gravity, then when there is no more to fall, all movement… Continue reading Is it ‘TOO LATE?’

Hot air rises. Milk is heavier than water. Oil rises to the top of dressing. Gravy weighs more than water. Is cream lighter than milk? You may be like many students who slept through molecular biology. At first our eyes confirmed that If one of two quantities of a material ‘looked’ bigger, it usually weighed more. Later comparisons however… Continue reading Why Does Cream Rise to the Top?

Being quarantined in place seems a bit like being in a glass bottle. I can see everything going on outside of me, but I can’t move ‘out there’. Limits are rigid and ideas seem to quickly go stale. Now we have taken the cork out of this bottle, but restraints on how we move and… Continue reading Time in a Bottle

Yes, Hamilton has had an impact on me, but the meaning Aaron Burr’s character gives to the words of this title is significantly different than the meaning I realize to be true.  Talk less is important, not to remain noncommittal, but because if most humans can stop using their words to be understood long enough to… Continue reading Talk Less, Smile More

As a new teacher I was instructed it was best to have a list of behaviors that were ‘No-No’s” and what the consequences of those would be. It was best if they  would be posted clearly in my classroom in ‘student’ language so there could be no argument or hedging if a student were caught breaking… Continue reading Uh, Oh, Rules!