responses to Tom's comment to 2articles and Aaron's BMT

To Tom:
I continue to think, intuitively, that effective teaching is about the content. It is almost always how we evaluate it. But, I teach and I read and I hear that it is first and foremost about engagement, trust and relationship, and then we can go about the business of teaching and learning. I'm getting nervy now about my class next Monday in Grand Rapids, where I haven't seen the materials (or office!) in 3 months. Maybe I'll have all these professionals use animal names!

To Aaron:
I agree about the challenge of us knowing which lifeskills a 5 year old does or doesn't have. And we aren't the parent or the full time teacher, which makes it even tougher. I think just being reminded that behavior results from a variety of causes, not always "naughtiness", is useful for me.