Childhood education
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Social Mobility and Liberal Education
*image credit: https://www.davidklassenfineart.com/about In 2020 and 2021, the cross-pressures on undergraduate education were phenomenal, and they raised so many fears and anxieties that it seemed that we couldn’t be anything but in a CONSTANT state of fear. Individually, we have worn masks and washed hands because we have been afraid to catch and spread disease. Continue reading
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The Nitty-Gritty on Compare-and-Contrast Essays
The first in a series on essay writing and types! Continue reading
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Home Education in the Foreground
The crux of the problem of schooling outside the home is that it subjects children to each other’s arbitrary rule, instilling lifelong habits of submission to prevailing opinion. Continue reading
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Mental Processing for Study and Life
We only have to remember that to be better is not necessarily connected to what we do or don’t do, to what we think or don’t think. Continue reading
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From Doing to Being: What Stories do we tell Ourselves?
Message preached at Fellowship Christian Reformed Church, Edmonton, AB, Canada, October 14, 2018. (Please note that the biblical passages this is based on come after the text of the sermon.) In the Gospel of Mark, we find recorded a story about a rich man, who by his own account, is law-abiding. Surely, measured by every Continue reading
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Professional Learning Communities
A Professional Learning Community is an orientation of large organizations toward constant improvement. It tries to balance individual development within an institutional structure. This is a remarkable development in educational theory and practice that could be implemented outside educational contexts as well. Creating a Mission Statement The first step in developing a professional learning community Continue reading
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Books or Screens?
When a generation of people grow up surrounded by technology like smartphones, tablets, and e-readers, they are called “digital natives.” Teachers, parents, and policymakers certainly acknowledge the growing influence of technology and have responded. Students are now equipped with school-issued iPads and access to e-textbooks. Patricia Anderson and Lauren Singer of the University of Maryland Continue reading
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“How I Became a Teacher”
This is a true story (the names have been changed) many years ago of an elementary teacher. Her name was Mrs. Simpson. And as she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children a lie. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and Continue reading
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Additional Language Learning
*A Version of this article will be published in the Leduc Representative and The Beaumont News in November of 2017. For many families in Canada, approximately 10% (according to the 2016 census), children are learning in a language that is substantially not the one spoken at home. Studies show that students learning additional languages score Continue reading
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The Coffee Shop
The Coffee Shop in Bangkok Teaching conversational English, or any subject for that matter, requires great peace of mind. In the case of conversational English, I feel like I am in a unique position to be a teacher. I live in Bangkok, a city in a land with people who are phenomenally skilled in the Continue reading
About me: I am a career educator and traveler at heart. My written work includes academic writing in philosophy and linguistics, English acquisition, and most intently in the areas of spiritual engagement with reality and what that means for our public lives.
My education is a mixture of formal study in philosophy, political theory, Biblical studies, and history, along with professional teaching certification in TESOL and in cognitive testing, and international teaching.
My travel experiences include a range of countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. I have lived in Canada, the United States, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand. From those places I have traveled to many others besides.
I am a child of the 70’s and a “family man.” That means I have two wonderful kids who have been round the world with me.
Lastly, I am married to a wonderful woman since 2004. She is my partner, my friend, and my muse.
Thanks again for stopping by,
Raymond Klassen - Ideals and Identities 