Great teachers come in many forms and can teach at different grade levels, but they all share one thing: a knack for building their classrooms specifically around their students’ needs. Since October 2014, NPR has been celebrating these excellent educators through their 50 Great Teachers multimedia series. Sarah Hagan of Drumright High School in Oklahoma is determined to make trigonometry and algebra fun; she has brightened [...]
As the internet becomes increasingly ubiquitous and digital overtakes physical reading material, the field of journalism has had to adapt to retain both readers and profits. In my 2015 spring semester at Tufts University, I served as a managing editor of my school’s newspaper, the Tufts Daily, and I can attest to the fact that we, like many other university and professional papers across [...]
Most people and events that gain a permanent spot among those we remember and honor are recalled because of the incredible accomplishments achieved, challenges overcome or substantial benefits made available to our country and world. Examples include Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics, Jonas Salk and the development of the polio vaccine, and the United States landing a man on the moon. Unfortunately, [...]
Most people and events that gain a permanent spot among those we remember and honor are recalled because of the incredible accomplishments achieved, challenges overcome or substantial benefits made available to our country and world. Examples include Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics, Jonas Salk and the development of the polio vaccine, and the United States landing a man on the moon. Unfortunately, [...]
As a kid, one of the scariest movies I ever saw was Jurassic Park. I remember lying awake in bed at night, listening to the sound of a giant T. rex stomping down trees in my backyard. Sure, it was just the sound of the new dishwasher, but I didn’t know that until I confessed to my parents what I’d heard. Before Jurassic Park, all I knew [...]
After a five-year excavation effort by Smithsonian Institute scientists, treasures buried under 20 feet of water and sand are home. Belonging to King Kamehameha II (a.k.a. Liholiho), the second ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the riches from the shipwrecked yacht had been scattered across the ocean floor by 191 years’ worth of stormy waters, hurricanes and erosion. The vessel, which sank off the coast [...]
For those who remain staunch devotees of print books, there are few things as disappointing as being at your favorite bookstore and unable to find the book you’re searching for. However, it is difficult for publishers and bookstores to forecast, print and stock books that they are unsure will sell—and doing so can lead to monetary losses and ultimately needing to destroy unsold [...]
When I was a kid, I had a lot of trouble going to sleep. And with two younger children, my mom didn’t have the time to read out loud to me until I drifted off. That’s why every night I listened to audio books. I drifted away to books like Holes and The Giver, and to authors like Ronald Dahl and Cornelia Funke. While I love [...]
I’ve got a question for those of you not involved in the art world: When was the last time you painted something? Maybe when you took that last mandatory art class about halfway through high school? Even though it’s been a while for many adults, those creative juices are still there just waiting to be tapped into—and now there is a booming industry [...]
My first cell phone was my mom’s old Nokia brick. I wasn’t able to do a whole lot more than make phone calls and play Snake—but then again, what else was a phone supposed to do? When I got my first iPhone, it changed my life. For the first time, I understood that one device could do many, many things. A phone was [...]