Departing the Text

Take a Break ... and Bark!

2012-01-23T04:22:00.000-08:00

Breaks are important!

They help all of us refocus and regroup. They can motivate and replenish. They help hone attention, relieve stress and reinvigorate relationships and perspectives. They allow our brains to take in, reshuffle, organize and expand.

Breaks are important for kids in and out of school. Between classes, breaks help kids consolidate and filter what was just taught in class, and breaks at home help them focus better on homework. Breaks are also important at work, home, and school as they help alleviate hand and finger stress (from keyboarding and writing), eye stress (from reading and computer work), and back and neck stress (from prolonged sitting). Breaks are also great for promoting creativity and helping overcome creative or writer's block.

To bring this home, here's a wonderful distraction, compliments of Volkswagen. - their "Bark Side: 2012 Volkswagen Game Day Commercial Teaser"

... It picked me up considerably and will make you all INFINITELY happy!

What is worth barking about in your life?

Average Kids?

2012-01-16T17:10:00.000-08:00

Why is it that (except in athletics or the arts) teens work so hard to be 'average' and fit in, and we as parents want them to stand out or at the very least, excel?

What is 'average' anyway? When I 'googled' "average" this is what I got:

av·er·age/ˈav(ə)rij/
Noun:
The result obtained by adding several quantities together and then dividing this total by the number of quantities; the mean.

Adjective:
Constituting the result obtained by adding together several quantities and then dividing this total by the number of quantities.

Verb:
Amount to or achieve as an average rate or amount over a period of time: "annual inflation averaged 2.4 percent".

Synonyms:
noun. mean - medium - mediocrity

I personally don't like the term, "average student" and based on Google's synonyms ("mediocrity") I may not be wrong. Being "average" seems to limit a teacher's, student's, and parent's vision and expectations. Every student has strengths and weaknesses that together create who he or she is. They may 'average' out to be a kid who functions somewhere in the middle of his or her peers on various tests and measures of achievement, but to say they are 'average' defeats their accomplishments and potential. Furthermore, I think every kid needs to see him or herself excelling, creating, and contributing in whatever unique way works best for them.

Howard Gardner addresses this in his Multiple Intelligences (MI) Theory. Gardner identifies nine different kinds of intelligence, each reflecting different ways of interacting with the world. Each person has their own individual combination of these intelligences. His nine intelligences are:

Linguistic Intelligence - the capacity to understand, use, and manipulate language
Logical Mathematical Intelligence - the capacity to understand, manipulate and express numbers, quantities, and numerical operations
Musical Rhythmic Intelligence - the capacity to think in music, and to hear, recognize and manipulate music.
Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence - the capacity to use your body or body parts (hands, fingers, feet, etc.) to solve problems, to interact, and to express oneself (athletics, dance, performing arts are the most common examples of excellence in this)
Spatial Intelligence - the capcity to represent the spatial world internally - to learn and integrate visual stimuli. Spatial learners, for example, learn best by observing images, photos, graphs, charts (as opposed to listening to lectures or reading long passages).
Naturalist Intelligence - refers to the capacity to discriminate among living things (plants, animals) and recognize patterns and features of the natural world (clouds, rock configurations).
Intrapersonal Intelligence - the capacity to understand yourself- who you are, how and why you react to various things the way you do, understanding your strengths and weaknesses, how to avoid pitfalls, etc.
Interpersonal Intelligence - the capacity to understand other peoples' speech, body/facial language, postures, motivations, etc.
Existential Intelligence - the capacity and proclivity to contemplate philosophical questions of life, death, reality, etc.

Additional resources: Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory explains these areas in more detail. Concepts to Classroom: Tapping into Multiple Intelligences offers a free self-paced workshop (via PBS) detailing MI (Multiple Intelligence) and how it can be integrated into classrooms. Finally, howardgardner.com has more updated work including Multimedia and Multiple Intelligences and Technology and Multiple Intelligences. .

Schools Attuned and All Kinds of Minds train parents and teachers to look at students along eight different "neurodevelopmental constructs." Much like Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences, we all have our own unique combination of skills which embody our own unique learning profiles. These profiles vary along eight different areas:

Attention
Memory
Langauge
Social cognition- understanding how dress, posture, tone, facial expressions, and verbal/nonverbal communication all help us better understand people and social situations around us
Temporal and Spatial sequential processing - understanding time, recognizing how long things take, recognizing and being able to follow schedules and sequences (be this following directions, following time, or telling jokes or stories);
Graphomotor skills - handwriting skills
Fine and Gross motor skills - coordinating large and small muscle groups (for example, throwing a catching a ball involves large muscle groups while knitting involves smaller muscle groups)
Higher order cognition - understanding abstract concepts, brainstorming, creating, analyzing, evaluating, comparing all involve higher order cognition. It also involves 'metacognition' much like Gardner's Intrapersonal Intelligence - an ability to understand oneself - one's actions, thoughts and motivations.

Using either one of these approaches - be it recognizing and teaching to multiple intelligences or to recognizing your students learning profiles along various neurodevelopmental constructs has multiple benefits:

It validates each of your students, allowing them to excel in their areas of strength while strengthening areas of weakness
It helps teachers and students better understand each other, gaining greater self esteem and an ability and desire to take risks and reach for higher goals and expectations
It enables students to advocate more effectively for themselves. Once one has a better understanding of learning strengths and weaknesses, one can seek more specific help in areas of weakness
It helps parents, teachers, and students to more realistically evaluate and approach school (and life) related problems.

I would like to think that each and every one of us has special gifts and skills that should be promoted. Maybe "average" should be used to help describe performance, but not kids. What do you think?

Teachers' Worth: The Real Zinger...

2012-01-09T10:47:00.000-08:00

From: teacherweb.puyallup.k12.wa.us

This past Friday, January 6, 2012 the New York Times ran a front page article "Big Study Links Good Teachers to Lasting Gain" in which Annie Lowrey reported findings of a recent study by Chetty, Friedman (Harvard) and Rockoff (Columbia). As I approached the paper and saw the article, I thought sarcastically to myself, "...and this is new?" But, the first zinger for me was that the this study was not conducted by educators - it was conducted by economists, and I took a closer look.

These economists examined 2.5 million children (the largest pool of students ever studied) from a large urban school district from 3rd -8th grade and then to adulthood (the longest period one particular subject pool has been studied) looking at a teacher's "value added" score and its impact upon these students over time. This score was defined as the average test-score gain (in reading and math) for their students, statistically "adjusted for differences across classrooms in student characteristics." These data covered the 2.5 million students and 18 million math and reading tests spanning 1989-2009.

Here are some of the ZINGERS as reported in the study:

When a high value added teacher joins a school, test scores rise immediately in the grade/subject taught by that teacher (and only in what is taught by that teacher), and falls if/when that teacher leaves.
On average, having a high value-added teacher for one years raises a child's total lifetime income by $9,000.
All else equal, a student with one excellent teacher for one year between fourth and eighth grade would gain $4,600 in lifetime income, compared to a student of similar demographics who has an average teacher.
The student with the excellent teacher would also be 0.5 percent more likely to attend college.
Replacing a poor teacher (whose value added score is in the bottom 5%) with a teacher of average quality would generate lifetime earnings gains worth over $250,00 for the average classroom.
Controlling for numerous factors including students' backgrounds, the researchers found that the value-added scores consistently identified some teachers as better than others, even if individual teachers' value-added scores varied from year to year.
Students with top teachers are less likely to become pregnant as teenagers, are more likely to enroll in college, and are more likely to earn more money as adults.

In short, this study details lifelong impacts that variations or differences between really good and really bad teachers have on children. And, while we can all point to pivotal teachers who opened our minds and various life-line doors - the fact that this is now backed by economists and with future income studies... is enormous - as are the ramifications for defining, evaluating and using value-added teacher data.

With all this in mind, I would like to thank the following teachers for having had such an impact on me and or on my kids. [Please leave your own acknowledgements in the comments.]

My very special thanks to:

Mr. Benami - my high school science teacher who saw through the quiet girl in class, encouraging me to think, grow, and participate. He set high but realistic goals for me to reach and as a result I have always loved science.
Mrs. Gross and Mrs. Pfiefer - my middle school social studies and science teachers who also saw and encouraged my potential WAY before I did.
Mr. Sandomir -for understanding my son, validating his feelings, comments and intellect, and for challenging him to write poems and prose that still touch our hearts. Mr. Sandomir, when teaching Phillip Pulman's His Dark Materials books told his 6th grade class that they were based on Milton's Paradise Lost. My son was so taken, he read Paradise Lost (NOT your average 6th grader independent reading) and still talks about it.
Mrs. Teig - THE BEST math ... ever. She was tough, demanding and relatively unflexible in her demands. A bit like Mary Poppins, she would bake and bring wonderful candies and patries to school and nurture each of her students reinforcing their accomplishments and risk-taking while restructuring their mistakes and steps backward. ALL her students felt her love. Her 5-8 grade math classes put my daughters at the top of their high school math classes to the point that their school had to set up special accelerated math groups for them. One daughter is now a middle school teacher, the other, having majored in math and physics in college is a materials engineer.

And, for all those aspiring to be these 'value-added teachers', here's some sound advice:

Thanks again to you all - please don't forget to tell us about your value-added teachers in the comments!

"Y" is for Yale: How Important is it for Your Child to Attend a "Brand" College?

2012-01-02T18:04:00.000-08:00

In Moby Dick, Ishmael explains that, "A whale-ship was my Yale College and my Harvard." Nick Carraway in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby boasts his Yale roots and in Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, the protagonist's boyfriend Buddy Willard is described as being a Yale man.

Yale alums of television and film include: Rory Gilmore (The Gilmore Girls), Simon Stiles (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), Sideshow Bob (The Simpsons), and Niles (Frasier), Walter (Tom Hanks) and from The Money Pit, Kat (Mystic Pizza).

What is it about the 'brand' colleges that so compel and attract us? Is it the education?

My husband and I are both products of Ivy League colleges. Our kids are not (though they had the option), and I am NOT convinced that these institutions are the 'ultimate' college destinations - nor are they necessarily THE top educational institutions. In my experience, the 'college experience' is all about what is taken out of available opportunities: classes, information, work opportunities, arts and leisure, exploration of self, and yes... the social connections... all of this.

In deciding what colleges your child might attend, there are two 'first' questions you need to ask:

What does "college education" mean?
What are your personal expectations of the college experience?

What does "college education" mean?

The Free Dictionary defines college as "an institution of higher learning offering courses and granting degrees in a particular field"
The Radom House Dictionary of the English Language (Second Edition) and Dictinary.com define college as "an institution of higher learning, especially one providing a general or liberal arts education rather than technical or professional training"
On the lighter side, one visitor to Urban Dictionary.com defines college as, "the place where you enter inexorbitant (their spelling) amounts of debt to 'learn' things you never apply once to your actual occupation..."

While these are all reflect levels of 'truth' and accuracy, I don't find them particularly helpful. So, I have come up with my own definition (and would love to hear yours in the comments):

A college education is one which provides opportunities for personal, educational, and social growth. These opportunities are in part provided via college courses, required readings and through various resource centers on campus, but mostly come from opportunities (jobs, internships, personal interactions with professors and mentors, school and professional clubs) sought after and actively participated in by students.

The questions one needs to ask though are: Is college necessary for these experiences, and if so, what type of college. For many (see my post on the Uncollege) college may not be necessary as the skills and connections they need for the career paths they've chosen are actually better served out of college. For others who are aware of themselves and their paths and prefer more attention and smaller classes of students, a small college may be best as they have many more opportunities to connect with professors who can provide research opportunities that in larger universities are given to graduate students. Larger colleges also have pros in that there are often more social opportunities and greater varieties of classes offered.

Do the 'brand' colleges offer more exclusive opportunities? For some students, maybe, but for most the answer is definitively, "no."

For many who aspire to Yale, there is WAY TOO MUCH pressure to get into these 'brand' schools while there are truly exceptional opportunities for all kids outside of these institutions. Furthermore, there really is "that Yale thing..."

In my opinion, what you get out of college depends to a large part on your goals and expectations, and the maturity the student has for meeting and sustaining them. And, each of these aspects are highly personal.

Once, however, you answer all these questions, talk to your child about various options, check them out online, discuss them with a guidance counselor, talk to alum you may know, and visit the schools. Each school, be it a 'brand' school, a college, university, or tech school, has its distinct culture. See if you and your child are comfortable with it. And, when you need a break and a laugh, The Onion has some excellent advice for "Choosing A College" (although be warned, this is The Onion and it's content is for 'mature' audiences).

Here are just a few of The Onion's suggestions, although it is worth clicking on the link above:

"You can never go wrong choosing a college you saw advertised on public transportation"
"Schools that boast about their outstanding academic reputation are probably insecure about their inadequacies in other areas"
"Be wary of colleges where the chair of the history department keeps using the phrase 'olden times'"
"If you are having a hard time deciding between Princeton and Yale, cry me a ******* river, Fauntleroy"

If college decisions are looming in your home, I wish you much luck and as little angst as is humanly possible and know that it usually works out in the end...

... And to all of my readers, I wish you all a wonderfully happy, healthy, and successful 2012. May this be a year of record-breaking peace and prosperity for all.

Facilitating EXCHANGES and Challenging EXPECTATIONS

2011-12-26T18:22:00.000-08:00

Typically we think of the classroom experience as the teacher relaying information to students, and, for better and for worse, that is often the case. And, while teachers must relay new information, in my experience the best learning comes from exchanges: exchanges between student and teacher, between student and student, and between student and given materials. These exchanges can and should occur in the classroom, at home, and in the world around us, and are particularly effective when they challenge or extend existing expectations.

The essentials for successful exchanges:

listening - listening for opportunities to take learning further, listening for questions regarding levels of understanding, listening for comments of challenge [challenging existing levels of understanding is often a very good thing], listening for nuances;
motivating
encouraging self-confidence in the ability challenge existing states of knowledge and understanding
encouraging risk taking in your child's thinking and problems solving
promoting respectful dialogue :

Pose open-ended questions
Allow your child to respond to your questions, pausing before responding yourself or, if you're a teacher, before calling on a student. This allows them to process the question and retrieve and formulate meaningful responses.
Encourage different perspectives to questions and comments, accepting divergent opinions (without having to necessarily agree with them). When you hear divergent opinions, try to help direct, guide, and facilitate discussions.

Let me share some examples of positive (and negative) exchanges:

This Looney Toon is all about listening, risk taking, and encouraging Bugs (and Daffy) to think out of the box - something Bugs does regularly but Daffy does not....
There is a wonderful exchange in the book Frindle by Andrew Clements. It is the beginning of fifth grade for Nick Allen, who is convinced that he can distract his Language Arts teacher (a fanatic about dictionaries and dictionary usage) from assigning homework. So, just as she is about to relay that night's assignment, Nick raises his hand and asks her, "What makes a word a word?" The problem (initially at least) for Nick is that sahe throws the question right back at him, saying that is a wonderful question and in addition to the class assignment, he must 'research' his question further. He does the research and realizes exactly what makes aword a word, and proceeds to coin his own. He learns ALOT more about words and language than he ever expected from this simple exchange, from listening to various literary sources, and from challenging existing expectations.

Another exchange happened to me in the airport. I was waiting at the gate for my flight (which was delayed) and just watching the people around me. There was a little boy "Daniel" who must have been about five years old, who had gone through his mom's stash of chips, her box of apple juice, and her patience as well. The planes out the window were no longer a novelty and he and his mom were 'losing it.' And, there was still the flight to take. At some point the mom looked at me and I suggested a game to play, "I SPY." She had never heard of it and so I explained the game: One person privately selects an object within sight and generally describes it, "I spy with my little eye, something ...red (or big, or smelly or any other adjective you care to give it)" and the other person has to guess what it is you spy by asking questions or just by guessing. When the item is guessed, the players switch roles.

The problem, once I explained the game was that mom kept picking small items or items Daniel could not see well. Through their exchanges, though, she learned adjust her selections so Daniel could easily guess them. The other problem, was when it was Daniel's turn to spy an object. He, being a five year old, and very excited about the game would say, "I spy with my little eye something blue" and then immediately share what that object was with his mom -without her having the opportunity to play or guess.

What was so special about this exchange was that aside from distracting and entertaining Daniel, both mother and child learned how to adjust their choices and responses to the game. Furthermore, Mom was happy Daniel was occupied, Daniel was thrilled with his new game, he was learning and practicing adjectives and vocabulary, and what was about to turn into a shouting match, turned into a productive exchange between parent and child.

I observed another exchange between mother and child that did not work out well when riding on a train. It was a summer Sunday afternoon and mother and son were returning from a day at the beach. They were tired, the train was crowded, and mom had to navigate one large suitcase, a large overstuffed tote bag, and a cranky child. She propped the suitcases against the window (a mistake) and sat her son between her and the suitcases. He cried and fussed and she would not allow him to climb over (or simply move) the suitcase to look out the window, or allow him to walk up and down the aisle, or even read a book to him. Instead she screamed at him to "shut up" and if others tried to help with advice she shouted "he's a two year old, they scream and cry - that's what they do...." This woman had one expectation - her two year old cried and screamed - and she did not care or try to adjust that expectation. She also did not care to exchange, motivate, or distract her child - she just let him scream.

With 2012 approaching, let's raise our expectations, renew and enhance exchanges and become better listeners and motivators!

Here's to a great 2012!!!!

Wishes

2011-12-19T16:50:00.000-08:00

In this 2011 holiday season, I know we all have our wish lists, our kids' wish lists, our friends' and spouse wish lists to consider and attempt to meet.

I actually think meeting and granting wishes (in moderation) is one of the perks of parenthood and this holiday season, but will be a challenge for many of us, given the economic situation we find ourselves in today. That is why it is so important to help our kids learn to distinguish between realistic wishes that can be met and those that involve reaching, aspiring, and hoping (knowing in reality they may not be met - at least not immediately).

To help kids learn to make (smaller) realistic wishes and (larger) hopeful wishes - talk to them about wishes, wish making, and expectations. Read books about how how different characters make wishes and deal with making those wishes come true. Talk to them about the characters and books where the wishes do not come true and how those characters deal with the frustration, disappointment, and realities they face.

Here are some of my favorite books about wishes:

A Wish for Wings That Work: An Opus Christmas Story by Berkely Breathed
Many Moons by James Thurber - about a princess who wants the moon, and how the king's jester finds a solution, where his advisors and wise men could not.
Ruby's Wish by Shirin Yim
Ava Tree and Wishes Three by Jeanne Betancourt
Dealing with Dragons - the first in a series of chapter books by Patricia Wrede - about a princess who wishes she could learn math, science, and magic instead of etiquette and manners.
Robot Dreams and Bake Sale both written and illustrated by Sara Varon are both wonderful books about wishes, dreams, and how hard it is sometimes to make them come true. In Robot Dreams, the dreams come don't come true the way they were initially intended; and in Bake Sale, the wishes do come true after hard work and sacrifice. Both are graphic novels geared for young and old kids alike.
When Wishes Come True by Per-Henrik Gurth. This is a story about a polar bear who is sad because his wishes never seem to come true, and how his mother shows him how some of them do come true (like getting his favorite meal or wishing for snow to fall). This is a great book that shows kids the difference between big and small wishes.

Here is a read-aloud YouTube clip for When Wishes Come True:

Here are some questions you can discuss with them after, or when reading the books:

What wishes do they think can be met and what may not be met?
What might characters do to help make their wishes come true?
How does it feel when wishes don't come true?
How do different people/ characters deal with the frustration when their wishes aren't met?
Talk about how we can help make certain wishes come true (in their lives and in others')
What are different ways people make wishes and why (i.e., wish bones, fountains, praying)

Sometimes providing perspective will help when kids are frustrated or sad. Here are links and charity suggestions that may help them feel better about themselves while helping other, less fortunate kids have their wishes met. The charities below take monetary and/or 'gently used' donations:

Make A Wish Foundation
Kids Wish Network
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Operation Smile
Children's Charities of America
Boys and Girls Clubs of America
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
Project Night Night - providing sweeter dreams for homeless kids
KaBOOM! Buidling playgrounds, parks, athletic fields in low-income areas
Locks of Love
Save the Children Fund
Ronald McDonald House Charities
New Eyes for the Needy
Sports 4 All Foundation
Toys For Tots
An index of local charities that accept clothing donations

[PLEASE feel free to add some of your favorite charities (not listed) in your comments.]

Wishes are SO important they set goals, raise expectations, and help us cope with life around us. How do you help your kids make and deal with wishes? Please let me know in the comments.

Here is a lovely video clip of third graders responding to a unit around the book, Ava Tree and the Wishes Three by Jeanne Betancourt, and "what kids wish for":

In closing, I would like to wish all of my cyber friends and followers a very joyous holiday season, with wishes for a happy, healthy, successful 2012.

2011 was a good year for me professionally - with my book contract and so many new and wonderful friends and followers. I thank you all for your warm, insightful, friendly comments.

May 2012 be a year of peace, prosperity and wonderful family time for us all!!

I just couldn't pick one version - I love them both.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS and HAPPY WISHES!!!!

The Very Best of 2011 Kids' Graphic Novels with Links and Excerpts!

2011-12-08T16:32:00.000-08:00

As 2011 draws to a close, it's time to share my list of 2011's "Very Best" graphic novels for kids (although I LOVED them and last time I checked, I was considered - by most- to be an adult). I am only a recent avid fan, and I rationalize my newly found passion by the fact that in the last few years this industry has exploded with diverse, quality, works that MUST be included in homes, schools, and libraries. I have included books with intelligent content, and quality art and prose.

So here are my recommendations (note that I have also included accessible web sites that either deal with important issues or have online previews and excerpts):

FOR KIDS 4-8

Bake Sale by Sara Varon weaves a salivating tale of friendship, chemistry, and baking, and marching bands. It is about friends using creative ideas to help each other with life's dreams and unavoidable obstacles. Life's solutions (at least in this book) revolve around baking. There are seven recipes from classic cupcakes and cookies to sugared flower petals to marzipan. It is wonderfully heart-warming and creative. Please see this YouTube clip for more about the book.

Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell is a series of books about Antimony Carver, a girl with special talents attending a strange school called Gunnerkrigg Court. It is a fictional school in a fictional world and the story weaves political intrigue, science, fantasy and mythology into a beautifully (verbally and visually) told story. The books are published by Arehaia Studios Press but the stories are updated online three days a week at Gunnerkrkigg Court.

Nursery Rhyme Comics edited by Chris Duffy is a compilation of nursery rhymes classics retold by 50 of today's most talented cartoonists and illustrators. Each rhyme is one to three pages long, simply paneled and lettered for an easy read for all ages, and each one isa feast for the eyes and mind.

Squish: Super Amoeba by Jennifer and Matthew Holm is about the world of single-celled friends (Squish, Peggy and Pod) and as they navigate school, bullies and life. It is wonderfully creative and these ameoba and paramecium move and interact with their environment in a very creative (and relatively true to life) way. It is a great introduction to pond life and the single-celled world and a great way to discuss fact, fiction, and an author's use of both to tell a story. I just loved this book and recommend it for home and school use. They have a second book out already (Squish: Brave New Pond) with a third one coming out soon "Squish: The Power of the Parasite"

Zita Space Girl by Ben Hatke - invites the reader from the first panel. Art and story are incredibly engaging for kids of all ages. This is a great book to read aloud or have your child read on their own. It is about Zita who knows she shouldn't touch an unidentified object while walking with her friend Joseph, but she just can't resist. (Sound like any child you know?). Even with Jacob's warning, she touches it and sending Jacob to another universe. She knows she must go to rescue him and embarks on the adventure of her life. For more details see my previous post which has a YouTube video clip excerpting this book.

FOR KIDS 8-12
Amelia Rules by Jimmy Gownley is a funny, witty, intelligent series of books that follow Amelia as she adjusts to life in a new town after her parents' divorce. These books deal with issues of friendship, loyalty, school, various family life issues, and social ' belonging' issues. Gownley shows (not tells) kids how they can navigate life's lessons in a wonderfully fun, supportive and empowering way, while dealing with very real issues. It is one of the best kid's book I've read in a long time. In 2011 alone, four different Amelia books have been published - the are ALL SUPERB and well worth the read. Here is a YouTube video excerpt from one of the Amelia books.

Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol is a story about how a ghost (named Emily) who is 'rescued' by Anya when she falls down a well, helps Anya deal with the awkward teen years. She helps Anya address her self consciousness about her looks, her friends and being popular, with Anya's embarrassment of her family (they are very ethnic), and with her rebellious, confused emotions. It is a lovely coming of age book. Here are the first 17 pages of the book, courtesy of First Second Books.

City of Spies by Susan Kim and Laurence Klaven depicts life in the summer of 1942. Evelyn's dad is getting remarried and he sends her to her aunt's house in New York City. Evelyn discovers herself and with the help of Tony, the super's son, they uncover a German spy ring after seeing newsreels asking citizens to help in the war effort. It is exciting, empowering, and a lovely coming of age story. Here are 8 pages from the book, courtesy of First Second Books.

Resistance (2010) and Resistance Book 2: Defiance (2011) by Carla Jablonski & Leland Purvis is a story about World War II from the perspective of a boy, Paul Tessier and his family. In Book 1 the Tessiers have to decide how to live under German occupation as they weigh their options of joining the French Resistance, remaining 'neutral', or sympathizing with the Germans (in the hope of more and better rations and privileges). They also must decide whether to help Paul's best friend, a Jew. In book 2 Defiance the story continues. Paul is now 14 and he still wrestles with helping his beloved torn France. Please view some excerpt pages.

Rust: Visitor in the Field by Royden Lepp is a gripping story of Roman Taylor who struggles in a world similar to ours (which looks a lot like dust-bowl Oklahoma) to save his family's small farm which was devastated by a war. One day a boy with a jet pack lands in the field and Romam begins to discover the secrets of Jet's past as he develops greater hopes for the future. This is really a story for young teens, older teens and adults, which I reluctantly place here. 20th Century Fox has already picked up the rights to this awesome story. Please check out these preview pages.

The Olympians (Zeus, Athena, Hera) by George O'Connor are a collection of books on Greek mythology. The latest is Hera. The story is true to classic Greek myth, and the illustrations and panel /page arrangements are breathtaking. Greek myths truly come alive in this series and it is a GREAT bet for any kids interested in Greek mythology. Note that Hades is the fourth book coming out in 2012. I saw a galley and it is spectacular as well. Also note that each book comes with suggested lesson plans, suggested supplemental reading lists, and a family tree of the Greek gods. Please view the first 12 pages, courtesy of First Second Books.

For 12+
Americus written by MK Reed and illustrated by Jonathan Hill is about a book-loving boy from Americus, a small town in Oklahoma who eagerly awaits the latest edition of his favorite fantasy series starring a young sorceress who hunts monsters and tyrants. Trouble arises with a movement to ban it from the library. This book deals head on with book-banning in a sensitive, honest manner. The book appeared first on the web (and while now only available in print, this is a very cool link that deals with book banning), and is now available in book form. Here is a 13-page preview for those interested (compliments of the publisher, First Second Books).

Feynman written by Jim Ottaviani and illustrated by Leland Myrick visually and verbally illustrates Richard Feynman's life from his childhood in Long Island NY to his college days at MIT to his work on the Manhattan Project, career at Cornell and CalTech, his dramatic exposure of the Challenger disaster, his work on quantum electrodynamics and his antics in art and music (bongo drums). This work is an adaptation of Feynman's books ("Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman" and "What Do You Care WHat Other People Think?" are two of my all-time favorite books) which are also well work a read. No science background is required for these books, although it may help with some sections. Here is a slide show excerpt of the book.

The Silence of Our Friends by Mark Long, Jim Demonakos and Nate Powell is a semi-autobiographical story (about one of the author's father) who was a "Race Reporter" in Texas, 1976. It is actually not out until January 17, 2012, but is available on Amazon for preorder. I was given a galley to read and it is powerfully honest, sensitive, and does a spectacular job relaying a very complicated, troubled time in our history. It is the story of prejudice, humiliation, degradation and a living testament of the growing civil rights movement in Houston Texas. It talks about families who try to do the right thing, raise their kids' "right", make mistakes, but mostly make an effort to find the right path in a questioning time. Here is a preview - 13 pages from the book. It is sensitive, smart, and honest. A must read!

Honorable mentions from previous years:

Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon. The authors infuse this authorized biography with relevant history and perspective as Anne's story is retold. It is an excellent read in which World War II and the Holocaust come alive, and lives lost all to early are remembered.

Drawing Words and Writing Pictures by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden is a GREAT gift/book idea. I recommend it for kids ages 12+. It is actually written as a course and has won multiple awards including: BCCB Recommended Title, Publisher's Weekly Comics Week Best Comic of the Year. I has chapters on lettering, story structure, and panel layout and comes with homework, extra credit activities and supplemental reading suggestions.

I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly - a superb book about fifth grader Barbara who kills giants - we just don't know if she really kills giants, thinks she kills giants but is living (or retreating) to a fantasy world, or if this is a metaphor for something greater. Please see previous blog post that illustrates how graphic novels like I Kill Giants are not only enteratining, but actually help shape inference skills and critical thinking (it has some excerpts from the book as well).

Laika by Nick Abadzis tells the story of Laika, the first sentient being sent into space by the Russians and of the political posturing of the 1950's space race. Please see a previous blog post of mine for more details.

Mouse Guard by David Petersen Please see a previous blog post of mine for more details on this and other great reads. It is the story of Medieval Mouse times. It is already a classic work, the art and story are spectacular and it is well worth your time.

The Sons of Liberty by Alexander and Joseph Lagos tells the story of Colonial America with a bit of a twist as two young run-away slaves are are left with superpowers as the result of an encounter with Ben Franklin's son who was experimenting with electricity. This is the first story of a series and is wonderfully engaging.

The United States Constitution Please my December 5, 2011 post for more details about this truly outstanding publication which seeming effortlessly describes the United States Constituion (Preamble and Amendments) as well as providing background and perspective to this work of genius.

Tribes: The Dog Years by Michael Geszel and Peter Spinetta, art by Inaki Miranda is an outstanding science fiction adventure that considers the effect of a medical research lab's experiment with nano virus' gone awry. While there is some violence (hence the older age guideline) the story and art are spectacular and worth the read (for older kids and ALL adults). Please see my previous blog post for details as well as this post dealing with Tribes and social cognition. Here is a great YouTube post trailer for Tribes: The Dog Years that is spectacular and shows you Inaki Miranda's spectacular art.

This is a long posting, but these are all spectacular books that I fell passionately about. Please leave some of your passionate suggestions as well - or questions.

Understanding The United States Constitution

2011-12-05T15:07:00.000-08:00

"We the people...."

So often we take these words opening the U.S. Constitution Preamble for granted. NEVER before had the right of rulers been questioned or the individual rights of the masses been so considered. Never before had people constructed and set up their own form of government.

How much do you know about the US Constitution? Take this quiz now or after reading this post. They're a lot of fun:

Ten question quiz

Take the advanced 50 question quiz

Which of the Founding Fathers Are You?

Real or Fake?

Whether you need refreshing or not (I did), there is an awesome book - and graphic novel to boot - that not only details our Constitution - it explains it and puts the rationale behind many of its measures into an enlightening perspective.

The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation (written by Jonathan Hennessey, art byAaron McConnell) is one of THE BEST books detailing our Constituion - by far - for kids and adults. IF you haven't read it - get a copy it is truly outstanding. This graphic novel describes the precipitating factors and events that led to our Nation's birth and clearly and succinctly details the Preamble and the Twenty-seven Amendments of our Constitution. It is a vivid, accurate adaptation that totally blew me away. This comic adaptation portrays the story of our history with incredible power, depth, and insight.

Hennessey and McConnel use metapthor, art, and prose as they explain why the Constitution was - and still is - so special and how it set up the three branches of government trying to check and balance our inherent greed for power. Here are some of their most striking points:

For the first time in history, a resistance movement, "dared to break the colonies away from the richest and most powerful nation on earth.. A nation where most Americans' ancestors had been born... Few even questioned that the right of rulers to rule came from on high (pp. 8-9)."
Many, many factors led to the American Revolution. This book, rife with metaphor, details how Britain and the Colonies "wrestled" bitterly with the growing rebellion and the question of the rights of man as John Locke argued that "all men are created equal with the natural born rights to life, liberty and property..."
Hennessey and McConnell argue that the U.S. Constitution was"the greatest compromise of all time. " They explain the thinking and compromises made in order for the very different colonies to form a union and our current form of government. They also explain the elastic and basket clauses the framers put in to help this work adapt to changing times and needs.
This book visually and verbally explains the Preamble and each Article of the Constitution detailing not just the laws but the rationale behind them, and the checks and balances put into place to help keep one branch of the government from overpowering the others.

It really is amazing to read this and realize how much thought went into setting up our system of government.

As we face so many internal and external threats today, I find myself in awe of our founding leaders and the compromises they were willing to make NOT for their parties, but for the PEOPLE and the NATION. It feels today that because our two-party system is so entrenched, the party cogs -our senators and congressional representatives- vote more to maintain their party, their status, and the system. What must we do to return to that state of understanding compromise? Just look at the compromises that were made then:

Slavery was a huge issue that nearly broke the union. The founding framers could not immediately resolve this issue. So the right to bring in slaves was granted only until the year 1808; the South could not count their slaves as residents (thus limiting the slaves states' power in government); wording about slavery was very carefully controlled in the writing of our Constitution.
Possibly the greatest compromises, however, were over power - balancing the power of the people, the states, and the federal government ( a struggle which we grapple with even today).
Representation was a compromise - in the Senate each state has the same number of representatives (giving each state the same voting power and thus granting smaller states the same voice as larger states) and in the House of Representatives the number of congresspersons is based on its population (giving larger states more voting power because they represent more people).
Who counts as a resident? Free women (who wouldn't be allowed to vote for another 131 years) were included but native Americans were not. AND then there was that ever prickling issue of slaves. The South wanted slaves to be counted as the increased number would give them more voting power, but the North argued that would have given too much power to the South. Thus arose the three-fifths compromise: referring to the slaves as 'other persons' each slave would be counted as 3/5 a person when determining the number of residents per state the the number of representatives for the given states.
The electoral college was also developed to help balance the power of large and small states.
[One area of no compromise: the right to vote or hold office. That was given ONLY to free men and in many cases exclusively to those who owned land. None of the men had any argument with this.]

I usually post about learning, parenting, and education, not politics but I just couldn't help myself. And, I think there is so much we can learn from this - both politically and personalll. As Spock said to Kirk, "Sometimes the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one."

Let's hope in this next election we find those representatives who can turn from their parties and the needs of the 'one' (or few) and compromise effectively to meet the needs of the many!

Please let me know what you thought of the quizes and materials presented here.

It's About TIme: Temporal Sequential Processing and Telling Jokes

2011-11-28T19:36:00.000-08:00

Time is a concept that grabs our attention from birth and doesn't let go.

Time to be fed... time to be changed..."are we there YET?", " WHEN is my birthday?"... "is it Christmas already?... " Time seems to drag when we are kids and fly by as adults. And, for all our fascination with time - it is one of the most difficult concepts for us to grasp.

According to Jean Piaget, child psychologist, time is an abstract concept that kids don't truly grasp until approximately eight years of age. Words relating to time are also one of the most difficult for kids to grasp (soon, yet, when, almost).

Even as adults, we are constantly wrestling with time. We juggle time schedules in our daily lives and are fascinated with studies and stories of time and relativity, time travel, and time seen through space and multiple dimensions. Adults, be they scientists, physicians, psychologists, writers, musicians,or fashionistas all wrestle with how to turn back the effects of time.

Time is literally all around us and effects just about everything we do. Temporal sequential processing is all about how we recognize and follow time. It refers to the skills and steps we take to accomplish things in a given time, place, and order.

Telling a story or a joke, for example, is all about temporal sequential processing. We have to understand the order (in time) that events take place, twist the story so the punchline is unexpected, and deliver that punch line with the correct timing (pausing for listeners to think and then zing them).

Notice how Ray pauses before the punchline and moves from topic to topic - they all relate but you don't quite know where he's going until he zings you.

For joke telling tips here are some links:

http://youtu.be/mNazT3GY7z0

Toastmasters International: How to Tell a Joke
Please leave your own tips on how to tell jokes (or just leave your favorite joke) in the comments below.

BUT Temporal sequential processing is involved in a whole lot more than just telling jokes and stories. You need solid temporal sequential processing to function in just about everything you do:

Knowing when to wake up to get to work/school on time - (knowing how long it takes to dress, eat breakfast, commute, etc.)
Knowing how long various chores/tasks/activities will take as the day's schedule (and required tasks) evolves and knowing how much to schedule (or not schedule) given the day's agenda.
Setting aside enough travel time to get to appointments/classes on time.
Cooking is ALL about temporal sequential processing - from following the directions in the right order, to knowing how the oven heats and how long to mix, stir, bake and fry.
In school there are even more demands:

Social studies: kids must sequences of events over time that shaped a particular individual or enabled a specific event /plan to succeed;
Math: students must understand WHEN to apply different solutions and different sequences of solutions
Science: experiments in science are all about timing and following sequences of actions
Writing: students must keep track of the sequence of the story or content while keeping track of spelling, and grammar (past, present, future).

How to help strengthen temporal sequential skills:

Keep a calendar handy and fill in your daily /weekly / monthly responsibilities
Checklists for chores, assignments, etc.
Install good word processing programs on computers to help check for grammar and spelling
Consider software programs that help plan out writing sequences, organize notes, even map quests that will give you estimates of how long it will take to get somewhere
Play games that require sequencing and timing (tennis. for example, is great because timing is important in vollying)
Cooking and baking are great ways to reinforce sequences of steps and time
Comics and graphic novels are GREAT ways to work on sense of time, sequence and order of events (just following the panels reinforces following sequence and time).
For social studies in school, make timelines to help visually reinforce the sequence of events as well as how closely they played out within a given time frame.

Me? I am not a good joke-teller and I have had to add a lot of structure to my day and my life to handle time efficiently - get to where I need to be on time, meet deadlines, and juggle home, parenting, and work responsibilities. I keep calendars, set my clocks a few minutes fast (even though I know they are fast, it still helps me) and I leave the joke telling to others.

How do you deal with time?

Saucy Slams

2011-11-22T05:18:00.000-08:00

From: resources-teachers.info

When in need of a sharp jab and putting in one's place, how can you go wrong with a Shakespearean spar and jab? I really do try to be considerate and (relatively) well-mannered, but there are moments when a good insult just eases the stress. Besides, it's a great way to exercise the mind and tongue while introducing wonderfully creative wordplay. There certainly are fewer 'teachers' more capable than Shakespeare. What better way to insult someone than to use such sophisticated, newly fabricated, or defunct words - that it takes so long for them to process - you're long gone and score on the cool, creative intellectual side!

So I thought we could all do this together, take a break, and have some fun:

Please create your an insult following the chart directions below and leave the insult in the comments. Feel free to add an optional note why you constructed this particular jab.
Read the deposited insults aloud with gusto and verve (and spittle out those "s's" and "p's" when appropriate)!!!!!
But most of all, sling some silly slights and smears so we can smirk and smile the rest of the day.
Optional: Leave some creative teaching ideas for all my homeschooling, teaching, parenting followers to share and savor.

Shakespeare Insult Kit

Combine one word from each of the three columns below, prefaced with "You" or "Thou":

Column 1                     Column 2                Column 3 

artless                   base-court              apple-john
bawdy                     bat-fowling             baggage (encumberer)
beslubbering              beef-witted             barnacle (tenacious)
bootless(useless)            beetle-headed           bladder (filled with air)
churlish(rude )             boil-brained            boar-pig
cockered(pampered)            clapper-clawed          bum-bailey
craven(cowardly)             common-kissing          canker-blossom
currish(contemptible )         crook-pated              clack-dish
dankish(damp,soggy)           dismal-dreaming         clotpole(oafish)
dissembling(hypocrite)        dizzy-eyed              coxcomb(conceited dandy)
droning(dull,monotone)         doghearted              codpiece(pant's crotch piece)
errant(deviant)              dread-bolted            death-token
fawning                    earth-vexing            dewberry(fruit)
fobbing(deceiving)            elf-skinned             flap-dragon
froward(contrary)             fat-kidneyed            flax-wench
frothy(mad)                 fen-sucked              flirt-gill(girl of light behavior)
gleeking(tricking)            flap-mouthed            foot-licker
goatish                    fly-bitten               fustilarian(scoundrel)
gorbellied(tasteless)         folly-fallen              giglet(frivolous)
impertinent                fool-born                 gudgeon(slimey)
infectious                 full-gorged              haggard
jarring                    guts-griping            harpy(fierce-tempered woman from Greek myth)
loggerheaded               half-faced              hedge-pig
lumpish(boring)              hasty-witted            horn-beast
mammering(hesitating)          hedge-born              hugger-mugger
mangled                    hell-hated              joithead(dunce)
mewling(whimpering)           idle-headed              lewdster
paunchy                   ill-breeding             lout
pribbling(vain chatter)        ill-nurtured             maggot-pie
puking                     knotty-pated            malt-worm
puny                       milk-livered             mammet(idiot, puppet)
qualling(cowering)            motley-minded           measle
rank                       onion-eyed              minnow
reeky                      plume-plucked           miscreant
roguish                    pottle-deep             moldwarp(mole)
ruttish(lascivious)           pox-marked              mumble-news
saucy                      reeling-ripe            nut-hook
spleeny                    rough-hewn              pigeon-egg
spongy                     rude-growing            pignut
surly(bad-tempered)            rump-fed                puttock(buzzard)
tottering                  shard-borne              pumpion
unmuzzled                  sheep-biting            ratsbane
vain                       spur-galled             scut
venomed                    swag-bellied             skainsmate(messmate)
villainous                 tardy-gaited              strumpet
warped                     tickle-brained           varlot
wayward                    toad-spotted             vassal
weedy                       unchin-snouted          whey-face
yeasty                      weather-bitten          wagtail

For some more fun, the Shakespearean Insult Generator will 'technomagically'create one for you.

Here are some more super Shakespeare sources:

My insult: You spongy, clapper-clawed, hugger-mugger!

Why: I like some spittle, I love alliteration, and hugger-mugger just feels good getting out!

And, if you have time, here is a brief glimpse at some wonderfully saucy slings slung in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing by two of my favorite actors:

So now it's your turn. Don't forget to leave a spicy slam in the comments.

For teachers here is a lesson suggestion for introducing Shakespeare's gifted wordplay:

Divide your classroom into three groups and assign them one of the insult columns to each group.
Have students from each group select their favorite curse word from their assigned column. Ask students to write and define their chosen word neatly on a large sheet of paper. Illustrating the word is encouraged.
Set up the room with chairs rows of three chairs. Play Shakespeare's musical chairs (I suggest beating a drum as they randomly move up and down their row). See what whimsical insults fate deals you.
Talk about what worked and what did not - what were your students' favorites/ least favorite insults. Talk about how Shakespeare played with language to 'coin' some of these terms.
Read a selected snippets from the Bard and discuss his use of insults in the selected scenes.

 

R is for "Remodeling" and for "Rethinking Education"

2011-11-14T15:57:00.000-08:00

I tend to like change... when it's on my terms (which is not always easy to navigate). I like shaking things up just a bit as I get bored of the same routine easily. Hence the changes you see here.

From: remodel.net

I wanted to remodel this blog for some time and, while I had hoped for more significant changes, I could not figure out (yet) how to do what I wanted and so have resolved to keep the change cosmetic (at least for now).

That said, I think remodeling is important. After all, it's about 'improvement' (or the hope of improvement). It feeds creativity and helps us see our worlds differently. It adds perspective. It also, in some way teaches us how to negotiate change.

With my personal remodeling out of the way, I came across an article about a more drastic remodeling - in The Wall Street Journal's Review section (Saturday/Sunday, November 12-13, 2011) "My Teacher is an App: More kids than ever before are attending school from their living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens. The result: A radical rethinking of how education works" (by S. Banchero & S. Simon).

According to Banchero and Simon:

From: unplggd.com
"In a radical rethinking of what it means to go to school, states and districts nationwide are launching online public schools that let students from kindergarten to 12th grade take some or all of their classes [online]... Thirty states now let students take all of their courses online...

Advocates say that online schooling can save states money, offer curricula customized to each student and give parents more choice in education. A few states, however, have found that students enrolled full-time in virtual schools score significantly lower on standardized tests, and make less academic progress from year to year than their peers. Critics worry that kids in online classes don't learn how to get along with others or participate in group discussions.

The amount of teacher interaction varies. At online-only schools, instructors answer questions by email, phone or the occasional video conference...Teachers give short lectures and offer one-on-one help, but most learning is self-directed and online."

From: gadgetrivia.com

Note that the authors reported primarily about two companies, K12 and Connections Academy which currently dominate the public cyberschool market. They note that some schools offer part classroom-part cyberschool options as well, although the article focuses on cyberschool alone. They further detail that while reading scores of online students match traditionally taught peer scores in reading, they fall short in math and writing.

I was disappointed that this 'radical rethinking' of education merely addressed funding and and did not adequately discuss education per se. And, while not to diminish the importance of financial issues, I believe there are larger concerns such as providing meaningful and effective education for all. Making learning meaningful requires a personal element, as does addressing diverse student needs and skills.

Furthermore (from what I understood from the article), it is the delivery that has changed but not the content, the curriculum, the goals or the philosophy. As our culture and times change, so too must education. And, meeting and addressing diverse student needs should not only deal with allowing vertical movement in reading and math levels - it must address learning skills (such as attention, memory, visual and verbal literacy, sequencing skills, critical thinking) while incorporating various learning profiles and affinities of diverse student bodies and cultures.

Radical rethinking of education should address issues of our multi-media world and promote classrooms that:

From: martyrobertsblog.com

Incorporate real life issues (making the curriculum meaningful) - this demands knowing your students and tweaking discussions and projects to embrace their affinities, diverse skills, and cultures.
Demand original critical thinking - also requiring a personal touch - one where teachers help push comparisons, expose gaps in reasoning, and encourage creative perspectives.
Present materials via multi-modal methods involving visual and verbal literacies - so that various student strengths and weaknesses are met in lessons.
Focus on writing and communication skills through essays, letters, poetry, creative writing, critical analyses involving peer and educator feedback.
Motivates students - with online courses motivation must come from the students. The programs rarely inject enthusiasm. And, while many classrooms also fail to inject enthusiasm, dynamic teacher - class discussions frequently spark the'fire'.
We must stop teaching to the 'average' student. Who is that student, anyway? Educators must push students to reach lofty goals, and goals must vary according to skills and affinities. Sometimes this means smaller homogeneous groups (when teaching specific content that is dependent on previous knowledge and abilities), and sometimes larger heterogeneous groups (when discussing broad issues where divergent opinions help develop critical thinking).

The critics' worries that "kids in online classes don't learn how to get along with others" - is a bogus criticism (especially when there are so many better ones). Having worked as a teacher and a consultant in private and city schools, I know that there are many students attending traditional classrooms who do not get along well with others. The reverse is also true - most homeschooled students do not have social issues. I taught a summer course for Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth summer program, and before the course began I was informed that I had a homeschooled student in my class and I should look out for social issues that may arise. That homeschooled student turned out to be one of the best socially adjusted students in my class - a true leader socially and academically, and was one of the most popular kids on campus.

Sitting in a classroom with other students does require greater social skills, but that does not mean these skills aren't also learned through church groups, sports teams, book clubs (to name a few) that require both working and at times competing with others. These options can provide similar 'socialization' process that classrooms serve.

From: sghealthyliving.wordpress.com

While I am not familiar with K12 or Connections Academy, I do teach a critical reading course for Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth Online Division (for 4th-6th graders). I have 8-12 students per ten-week session. There is a set curriculum requiring students read three books and respond weekly with a creative writing piece and two discussion essays related to that week's reading. I give detailed feedback of their writing mechanics, critical thinking and creative content, and am available via email or phone.This is a program that is both in schools and available on an individual basis.

There are good online learning programs. The trick is finding them and, at this point, integrating them with other forms of learning. Teacher input and feedback must be personal. Like all other educational programs and fads, it must be balanced.

What do you think? Especially my homeschooling followers/readers. I'd love to hear from you.

[And please comment on my 'remodeling' along with suggestions if you have any.]

QUIET Time: The Power of Daydreaming

2011-11-08T05:44:00.000-08:00

From: radio.studio92.com

Quiet time has many connotations for me, but mostly, it is a time to NOT pay attention to the things around me. It is a time to spend thinking, watching, or doing, whatever it is I need to do FOR ME at that particular point in time.

Quiet time is a good thing, and it is something that I think is more and more difficult to find in our hectic multimedia and often over-stimulated lives. In today's world, with instant messaging, texting, tweeting, and emailing, all of which can be done at home, work, or anywhere our 'smart' phones get reception, there is no down or quiet time.

Last week (http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/11/paying-attention.html), I blogged about the importance of paying attention and focusing on tasks at hand. I briefly discussed an article by neuroscientist / columnist Jonah Lehrer relating attention to executive functioning skills and then listed activities you could do to help boost attention span, energy, focusing and executive function skills.

Jonah Lehrer, while discussing the importance of attention, focus, and executive functioning, presents an alternate argument in another essay "Against Attention" (which can be found in The Wall Street Journal February 21, 2011 or at http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/against-attention/). Here he argues for the need to NOT PAY ATTENTION, to 'boot down' to a "quiet" time and place, letting the mind rest and wander.

In Against Attention, Lehrer notes that:

From: hypnotherapyfife.co.uk
We live in a time that worships attention... In fact, the ability to pay attention is considered such an essential life skill that the lack of it has become a widespread medical problem. Nearly 10% of American children are now diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

In recent years, however, scientists have begun to outline the surprising benefits of not paying attention. Sometimes, too much focus can backfire...

Lehrer then relates research indicating that:

There is a surprising link between daydreaming and creativity—people who daydream more are also better at generating new ideas.
Employees are more productive when they’re allowed to engage in “internet leisure browsing”.

Lehrer notes that lapses in attention turn out to be a crucial creative skill. He writes that:

When we’re faced with a difficult problem, the most obvious solution—that first idea we focus on—is probably wrong. At such moments, it often helps to consider far-fetched possibilities, to approach the task from an unconventional perspective. And this is why distraction is helpful: People unable to focus are more likely to consider information that might seem irrelevant but will later inspire the breakthrough. When we don’t know where to look, we need to look everywhere.

However, before we all go running for our "quiet" daydreaming time, and start shorting stock in Red Bull and Starbucks, Lehrer also notes that:

This doesn’t mean, of course, that attention isn’t an important mental skill, or that attention-deficit disorders aren’t a serious problem. There’s clearly nothing advantageous about struggling in the classroom, or not being able to follow instructions. (It’s also worth pointing out that these studies all involve college students, which doesn’t tell us anything about those kids with ADHD who fail to graduate from high school. Distraction might be a cognitive luxury that not everyone can afford.)

His point:

"Sometimes, the most productive thing we can do when trying to solve large problems is to meditate, take a long shower, or a long walk ... The takeaway is that we need to broaden our definition of “productive” thinking."

The key as I see it is finding a balance (as with most things). We need to be able to focus on work and in school, but breaks are equally essential, and no-doze, caffeine boosts, and Red Bull may not be the best solutions. The solution, instead, may be an occasional mind trip, walks, yoga, and recess in school balanced and sandwiched between more focused work sessions.

Finding balances:

When making schedules. leave some quiet, meditative, "relax" time so that there is less hectic rushing and so that there is some time to use just for yourself - to think, daydream, read or walk in a park or woods.
As a parent, this means encouraging focusing time for homework, with short breaks in between. It may mean spending half an hour or 45 minutes doing math homework, taking a 20 minute break, and then returning to do more homework. Schedule dinner as a break and outside/play time as well.
When developing family or school projects, talk about your goals and options with others. Make notes but put those notes down, go for a walk, and come back to the project. See if other ideas have surfaced and pursue those as well.
Discuss current events or family decisions together at the table, in the car, or when together. Brainstorm solutions and options. Allow for whacky suggestions that you pursue further - whether in jest or not.
Model open-mindedness and the value of off-beat ideas, places, and people.

Living in NYC, going for walks is actually more stimulating than relaxing as you navigate texters, dog walkers, joggers, and families walking in your path. For me, quiet time is sitting in the bath or shower. I really do get most of my more creative ideas, or solve some of my 'issues' there. I can't think of a day without that time.

Do you easily find quiet time or is it getting more difficult in our mulit-media always-available world to 'boot down'? How do you find and make quiet time? What is it that you like doing in this quiet time and place? Please share your ideas and strategies in the comments.

Paying Attention

2011-11-01T06:53:00.000-07:00

From: yastal.ru

"A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention." Herbert Simon, psychologist.

My son always said he paid attention in school. It wasn't always to what the teacher was doing or saying, and it wasn't always to the work he had in front of him, but he was paying attention... attention to whatever it was that crossed his mind, or sparked some creative energy.

Personally, I think 'paying attention' is a misnomer. When paying attention, be it in school, work, or driving, we need to make sure we 'focus' on what we should be focusing on (teacher, books, screen, or the road around us). And, while this distinction may be simply splitting hairs, I think it is an important distinction.

When something is interesting, stimulating, or important, it is much easier to pay attention. But there are so many times that things are not stimulating or there are other thoughts, images, or issues vying for the same attention, or we simply lack the energy to maintain attention.

Here are some things we can do for ourselves and our kids to help us all pay attention:

Don't underestimate the power of sleep. A good night's sleep and food for energy are powerful tools to help maintain focus.
Minimize distractions.

At home, prepare proper work spaces where necessary materials are easily accessed (computer outlet, pens/pencils, paper, printer, books, etc.) See my post on setting up work spaces: http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/03/theme-thursday-sense-of-space-and.html
Make sure there are no outside noises, lights, entertainment systems near the workspace to woo or distract.
Note that music is not necessarily a distraction. Often music (background music, familiar music) can actually help focus attention. The problem is that while music helps some focus, it can distract others. This is something to work out for yourself and/or your child.
Squeezy toys or small hand manipulatives can also help individuals maintain and focus attention. Like music, though, it can help some and distract others. IF your child is having some issue focusing, you may want to try this.
In school, try to find ways to interact with the materials in class - even if in a lecture, try to think of questions to ask or ways to use the information. Play with it, tweak it.

Sometimes paying attention simply means slowing down and observing, interpreting, and incorporating details and resisting distracting and competing impulses.
Jonah Lehrer (Wall Street Journal, Sept. 3, 2011 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904716604576542593019231326.html ) relates focusing with strong executive function skills. Executive functions include focusing, organizing, prioritizing, sustaining and shifting focus, managing and regulating emotions, and self-monitoring. He notes that these skills can be developed and nurtured through difficult board games, computer memory and skill games, yoga, tae-kwon-do, and through interactive curricula in the classroom.

Establishing and maintaining schedules, helps set and model 'regulation' and may help children resist impulses and focus on the task at hand, knowing other needs will be met at other points in the schedule. Note, though, that there always needs to be some flexibility in establishing and maintaining schedules. Being too rigid creates all sorts of issues and conflicts.
In another article "Attention and Intelligence" http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2010/04/attention_and_intelligence.php Jonah Lehere notes that,

"...delayed gratification isn't really about gritting our teeth or exerting willpower: it's about controlling the spotlight of attention. Likewise, intelligence isn't just about remembering abstract facts - it's about controlling what thoughts we're thinking about in the first place."

"...So how can we bolster our selective attention abilities?...When we read a complex narrative - say, Proust or Woolf or DFW - we're forced to constantly exert our attentional muscles just to follow along. On a deeper level, however, we're also being asked to switch between different kinds of informational streams. We need to pay attention to the sentence, and to the subtleties of language and character and plot, but we need to also remain aware of the larger themes unfolding in the work."

Along this vein, go for walks, focus on different things. Focus on the noises around you, the colors around you, the life around you, the odors around you, and the quiet around you. Shift focus from one aspect to another, look for large details and small details in the objects around you. Do this with pictures and illustrations in books and magazines, with sentences and paragraphs, with clothes or items in a store. Intentionally shift focus, see what you notice!

In closing, while writing this post, this scene from Sister Act 2 (sorry, folks) kept popping into my stream of consciousness: "If you want to be somebody, if you want to go somewhere, you better wake up and pay attention..."

And while so true, my next post will present the opposite agrument... quiet time, letting your mind roam and NOT pay attention is also important...

So please leave comments and join me next week for the counter argument.

Off the Beaten Path

2011-10-25T06:33:00.000-07:00

From: bangalore.citizenmatters.in

When faced with choices to make or dilemmas on which way to go, or career options to follow, or even how to proceed or achieve a particular goal in my life, Robert Frost's The Path Not Taken inevitably comes to mind (usually with a smile) as it conjures such nice memories for me - both personal and professional.

The Road Not Taken (1916)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

As a teacher, I LOVE teaching this poem because it embodies decision making and critical thinking, particularly because of the challenge Frost gives us in his comment about the poem:

"It's a tricky poem - very tricky."

I will leave what is tricky for you to decide (and can add it in the comments - let me know). What I want to discuss is how to encourage occasional departures from the mainstream and the consideration of "paths less trodden" because as Frost notes, it can make "all the difference." And, teaching our kids to take these weighted risks CAN make all the difference for them - be it in school, with friends, or later in life when faced with even more complicated choices.

The trick is raising kids to critically evaluate choices, especially the less obvious ones, and to feel comfortable taking the occasional calculated risks. Being open to options is important for many reasons:

It helps us lose the negative effect of labels - the closer we look at other people, placed, things, and other options, the less meaning the superficial labels have.
Considering paths 'off the beaten track' trains a more flexible mind.
By looking for diverse options we can navigate less congested paths to similar outcomes - be they physical destinations, or professional goals.

I see so many applications here for this:

Daily life - in clothing choices, leisure choices, choices in friends, etc.
Travel - can be SO interesting and informative when you visit places off the beaten path. I have found gems doing this - no lines, no wait, super food, super products, or super cool interesting people. Try it!
School projects - diverging from the obvious makes learning for everyone (student, teacher, classmates) more interesting and meaningful. Sometimes that means brainstorming and creating projects, book reviews, writing assignments that are different or relate a more obscure topic. Go online and have fun researching, planning, and constructing unusual topics.
School choices - This might mean different schooling options (i.e. changing schools or homeschooling, or attending specialty schools instead of a liberal arts college). In one of the schools I worked at there was a really popular third grade teacher who'd been teaching there 30 years- all the parents knew of her and wanted their child to be in her class. But the thing is, her projects and curriculum were old and stale. The newer third grade teacher had exciting options in his lessons that for many proved the better class.
College - You may want to rethink HOW you're applying to college (i.e., essay topic selection or writing / presentation style), WHAT colleges to focus on, or IF college is even the best choice. For some of us, college means loans - loans often greater than the value of our homes. Is it worth it? (Go to the following website: http://www.collegedropoutshalloffame.com/h.htm for a fascinating list of famous achievers who never attended or did not finish college.)

NOTE I am NOT encouraging kids to drop out of school or not go to college. I went to college and graduate school, got A LOT out of them, and I am happy that my kids went to college as well. My two who finished (my last is still in school) learned a great deal in college and were lucky to find jobs in fields of their choice. I do, however, think too many of us feel an unnecessary need to go to college. In fact, research now shows that many college grads do not gain greater knowledge (although they may gain greater networking ability). My point is to think and explore less-trodden options to achieve long and short-term goals.]

How to facilitate the discovery of options that are off the beaten track:

Begin early. As toddlers, my kids only wanted us to read their favorite book, and one only wanted to wear green for a while, another always wanted to wear the cap of her 'Flash' pajamas because she would run around the house 'racing' time. Encouraging different choices even in the clothes they wear or the books you read is a nice start. [Granted rereading books is actually a good thing as kids learn to anticipate and 'read' familiar words and rhymes, but that is fodder for another post, and diversity is important as well.]
Talk, read, listen, smell, attend to new and different things all around you. Make it a point to do this with really new things every so often. When shopping try a new fruit, read a new book, check out new exhibits and museums, etc. Go hunting for books with unusual covers or the word "slime" in the title, for example. In short, explore the 'uncharted'.
Model by doing unusual things, visiting unusual places, driving to familiar places using different routes.
When going on vacations select one or two visits that are off the beaten path, or simply walk with no guide around a new city or neighborhood.
Go online, go to the library - search books, magazines, and newspapers for alternative ideas. Read different genres and formats of stories.
Talk about how fictional and real-life figures might approach an unusual topic or problem. Be creative in the figures and topics you decide to discuss. Have FUN with this. Laugh, be creative, be extreme. In the process you may uncover some pretty cool approaches. Below is YouTube video marrying Mr. Bean with hiphop. It's fun. Come up with your own wild combinations together.
Talk with people about anything/everything. You'd be surprised what type of ideas an unexpected conversation might yield.
Look at trends new and old. Compare and contrast what did and didn't work. See if one trend or part of a trend can be applied to something different (or tangential).
Brainstorm options (for large and small decisions) and really encourage kids to take alternative approaches.

How do you do this and encourage this for yourself or with your kids? Let us know in the comments.

Nature of Nerds and Neutralizing the Bullying

2011-10-18T07:57:00.000-07:00

I'm a nerd, my husband is a nerd, and our kids our nerds. We have lovingly joked about it with our kids for some time - even through middle and high school, when it was a bit painful. The humor and love seemed to help us relieve the pain and create a more cohesive unit.

A few weeks ago our family 'nerd-hood' was relived when my daughter's friend, Daniel, gave me an essay by Paul Graham, "Why Nerds are Unpopular" (http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html) which started me thinking.

Two weeks ago (http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/10/labels.html), inspired by Graham's essay, I addressed the effects of labeling in and out of school and in adult life. Today I return to discuss the essay more directly. It is a powerful, provocative essay I strongly recommend you read. In it, Graham ruminates why nerds are nerds, and why they are so often persecuted by their peers.

The Nature of "NERD":

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerd):

The stereotypical nerd is intellectual but socially and physically awkward...Stereotypical nerd qualities have evolved in recent years, going from awkwardness and social ostracism to an allegedly more widespread acceptance and sometimes even celebration...

Why Nerds are Unpopular - Graham sites several reasons for this:

"One argument...the smart kids are unpopular because the other kids envy them for being smart...[But] in the schools I went to, being smart just didn't matter much...Intelligence counted far less than, say, physical appearance, charisma, or athletic ability."

"Nerds serve two masters. They want to be popular...but they want even more to be smart. [But] popularity is not something you can do in your spare time... it takes work to be popular.

"The main reason nerds are unpopular is that they have other things to think about...books or the natural world, not fashions and parties... Few smart kids can spare the attention that popularity requires....

Graham then takes this issue and looks at it from a socio-anthropological lens:

"Around the age of eleven...[parents and family take a back seat] kids create a new world among themselves, and standing in this world is what matters... Kids persecute nerds to make themselves feel better...People unsure of their own positions will try to emphasize it by maltreating those they think rank below...

"But ...Popularity is only partially about individual attractiveness. It's much more about alliances...By singling out and persecuting a nerd, a group of kids...create a bond between themselves.

From: facebook.com

What We Can Do To Help:

This is where Graham's essay becomes really interesting. He blames schools for often turning a blind eye to abuses, and for creating vacuums of empty time and work - all of which leave kids to their own devices - in search of meaning and identity. He notes that,

"Bullying was only part of the problem...we never had anything real to work on. Humans like to work; in most of the world, your work is your identity. And all the work we did was pointless [his emphasis], or seemed so at the time... More often it was just an arbitrary series of hoops to jump through, words without content designed mainly for testability... And there was no way to opt out. The adults had agreed among themselves that this was to be the route to college..."

He then continues by comparing teens today to teens in the Middle Ages. There was no high school or college - just apprentices. They were not left relatively unsupervised to create their own societies - they were junior members to adult activities and societies.

"Teenagers seem to have respected adults more then, because the adults were the visible experts in the skills they were trying to learn...Now adults have no immediate use for teenagers...[And] the real problem is the emptiness of school life.

The truth, anger, and sadness in these words were quite moving for me and I think we need to take Graham's words further. For many kids there's often an emptiness in family life as well. We as adults often have so many hoops to jump through that as our kids become teenagers, we are there less for them. We are working two jobs, we're busy networking on our electronic devices, we can't find a common time to eat dinner and talk together, and we as parents often rationalize that our tweens and teens are fine on their own. And maybe we are, but the family unit is fragile and even though our teens need to become independent, they also need a family unity solidly with behind them, continuing to shape boundaries, rules, and identities.

Potential Solutions:

From: photobucket.com

Help all kids comfortably define who they are - what their strengths, weaknesses, and passions are, and what their pursuits might be. We have to accept their gifts and embrace their differences, and help kids think out of the box. Maybe we have to remove the box entirely. [That is what many are doing with homeschooling - quite successfully.]
Set aside family time - even though they need independence, they need the structure of family time and family rules. Eat meals together as often as possible, but at least once or twice a week with no television, no phones, and no outside distractions. Talk, laugh, support each other.
Create opportunities and diverse environments in and out of school with larger masses, where even the smallest minorities can achieve a critical mass.
Help bullied kids find and create 'safer' communities in and out of school.
Model tolerance, acceptance, and self worth.
Help schools become safer havens for our kids - maybe creating parent monitors walking outside the school at arrival and dismissal times; make sure there are teacher monitors during lunch and recess.
Teachers need to make learning more fun and meaningful. Reading texts and teacher generated lectures must be balanced with group and individual projects, and multi-sensory, multi-media presentations. Many teachers ARE doing this already. They are bringing graphic novels into their reading lists, generating meaningful project units that integrate leadership and social skills with learning about our past and present world. They are relating subject matter directly to their students lives, and are even having kids act out events in tableaus or tableaus vivant ("living pictures") where kids mime events by acting in 'frozen scenes' of history.
Help kids, teens in particular, find meaningful things to work on - in and out of school - be it through community service or meaningful, possibly community related school projects:

Visit sick in hospitals - create songs to sing or scripts to perform (can be school project where the songs and scripts are related to a particular subject unit)
Volunteer in community food shelters - or have the school offer (occasional) healthy, cost effective menus (through math, social studies and science projects)
Organize charity drives
Create and/or clean up parks and playgrounds
Have the school / class visit with a responsible city official - talk about critical issues facing kids in the city - brainstorm as a class and create community relief projects.

The point is to add meaning in and out of the classroom, to create large diverse communities in and out of school; help all kids find their voices, their identities, and their intrinsic value. Help kids realize that they're not losers - point to Steven Jobs, Bill Gates, President Obama and other major players and contributors to our society who were (and still are) nerds. And enjoy Pop Culture's answer to nerds with Revenge of the Nerds, Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Peter Parker and Spider Man.

And most of all, reassure them...It does work out.

And, for some lighter fun... check out: How nerdy are you? at:
http://www.nerdtests.com/ft_nq.php

As Graham puts it in his essay:

"Nerds aren't losers. They're just playing a different game, and a game much closer to the one played in the real world. Adults know this. It's hard to find successful adults now who don't claim to have been nerds in high school....It's important for nerds to realize, too, that school is not life. School is a strange, artificial thing, half sterile and half feral. It's all-encompassing, like life, but it isn't the real thing. It's only temporary, and if you look, you can see beyond it even while you're still in it."

Making Memory Work...Mnemonics

2011-10-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

When discussing memory, there are three types of memory psychologists look at:

Active-working memory is where our brains hold information while we work things out. Active working memory allows us to stream information as we decide whether we want to work with it immediately (to compare or contrast, to decode or encode, for example), whether we need more 'work space' and send it to short-term memory, or whether we want to ignore it.
Short-term memory is where we take incoming information (from active-working memory and /or from long-term memory) to actively manipulate chunks of data. It is our memory's work table. This is where we evaluate, compare, contrast, brainstorm, critique, create. Short term memory, however, has a limited capacity. Research has shown that on average we can hold 7 (plus or minus 2) bits of 'data' in our short-term memory. So IF there is more information than we can comfortably handle, we need tricks and means to effectively work and remember. Tricks include chunking, rehearsing, and mnemonics. IF the product of our effort is deemed 'valuable' it will be stored for longer periods (often with some more help from chunking or rehearsing) in our long-term memory.
Long -term memory is our brain's file cabinet. This is where we store information for long periods of time (such as important dates important facts we have to learn in school, important telephone numbers, procedures we must follow, where we put our keys last night when entering our homes). Long-term memory can store relatively large quantities of information for a potentially long time (for many we hope a life-time).

This past April, I posted a blog (http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/04/memory-what-memory.html) that illuminated how much a school day demands of memory and gave some (hopefully) helpful hints on how to help kids boost memory through:

Repetition and Rehearsal
Visualization
Rhyming
Building Associations

Today I want to focus on mnemonic devices we can use to help us chunk and store information.

From: facebook.com

Mnemonic devices refer to rhymes, images, and chunks of data that we 'creatively' put together to help us expand and sharpen our short and long term memory capacities. There are two basic issues in setting up mnemonics. They have to be meaningful and 'chatchy' enough for you to remember them! Furthermore, what works for some people does not work for others. It gets back to what is meaningful and catchy to you. As a result, there are tons of rhymes, images and songs for the taking!

Speaking personally, the long verbal chains and sentences were not much of a help to me, because I could not remember the sentences - especially if they didn't make sense. Everyone is different and part of the trick with mnemonics is finding what works best for you. Sometimes it helps singing songs others have created, and sometimes it means creating your own. You and your kids should experiment! I have included some of the more popoular/traditional mnemonics below, but would love to hear what your favorite mnemonics have been in the comments (why constantly have to re-invent the wheel).

Here's what I've collected:

Verbally Based Mnemonics: Many mnemonic devices are verbal and involve short poems, acronyms (a word or phrase with the first letter of things we are remembering) or songs to remember lists of related things:

"30 days has September, April, June and November; all the rest have 31 except for February"
Acronym: "Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain" or...ROY G. BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) = the colors of spectrum
Acronym for the Great Lakes: HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior)
Acronym for the nine planets (when you include Pluto): "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pancakes" or "My Very Elegant Mother Just Sat Upon Nine Porcupines" (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto). Here's what Stephen Colbert does to remember the planets (although he does have a Pluto dilemma):

To read music:

Visual Mnemonics:

Color codes (many of our internet boxes and TV's for example have color coded nodes to help us 'connect').
Charts, graphs, and diagrams;
Using your knuckles and the dips between them to remember which days of the month have 30 or 31 days:

Songs:

The ABC song
Pinky and the Brain with parts of the brain
Animaniacs with the US Presidents (they also have one for countries of the world but the links I found were poor quality).

There are so many mnemonic devices I cannot possibly list them all. I'm hoping you'll help. Please list your favorites in the comments and hopefully this can serve as a resource to us all ---old and young, who need the occasional memory boost! In the meantime, here is one of my kids' favorite mnemonic songs from Pinky and the Brain, for remembering parts of the brain:

Thanks for your visit... and...Don't forget to leave your favorites in your comments!

Labels

2011-10-03T12:29:00.000-07:00

Labels have their use. They help us store and sort information. Be they clothing labels or social labels, they help all of us in our fast-paced lives quickly sort through data and make "order" out options, possibilities, and stimuli that are constantly bombarding us.

They also have their limits. The problem is that labels also limit our horizons and skew expectations. They empower groups to make 'justified' decisions with little research or thought, they empower groups to often feel better about themselves. They limit growth or even exposure to growth options and possibilities, and they often hurt kids, teens in particular, who are struggling with 'identity' and critical thought.

This past weekend, my daughter's friend Daniel forwarded an article to me (about teenagers and nerds in particular) by Paul Graham he though I might like (and I did). I found it provocative, sad, and a MUST READ for parents and educators: http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html

Paul Graham is a programmer (he designed List, co-founded Viaweb, invented Bayesian span filters), a venture capitalist, essayist, author, and painter. One of the things that was so powerful in his essay was the pain he relays the "nerds...retards...and freaks" felt through middle and high school. His article "WHY NERDS ARE UNPOPULAR" was written December 2005, and while just short of six years old, still rings true.

Graham's essay focuses on the harsh brutality of the teen years of middle and high school: the cruel cliques, use of labels, the abuse of one group upon another, and his perception of the cause and effect these labels and groups have. He also discusses the nature of 'nerdhood' (which I will discuss in two more weeks - for the letter "N").

In this post I focus on the nature of the labels.

Labeling Theory and Why are our kids "LABELING" others:

From: clickformula.com

Emile Durkheim (visit http://www,emile-durkheim.com for more) suggested that labeling satisfies society's need to control behavior.

Our kids label because we as adults label others. We label ethnic groups, religious groups and political groups all the time. Granted one might ask, are we doing this as adults because we learned it as kids? This is a 'which came first the chicken or the egg' question and not of great consequence here (in my humble opinion). The fact is WE label and our kids see this. And, as I pointed out, we label to help sort and/or to control.

Graham posits other reasons.

He begins by noting that labeling is a way of making sense and creating their 'teen' world - separate from a kid's world and separate from the adult world:

Around the age of eleven, though, kids seem to start treating their family as a day job. They create a new world among themselves, and standing in this world is what matters...

The problem is, the world these kids create for themselves is at first a very crude one. If you leave a bunch of eleven-year-olds to their own devices, what you get is Lord of the Flies. Like a lot of American kids, I read this book in school. Presumably it was not a coincidence. Presumably someone wanted to point out to us that we were savages, and that we had made ourselves a cruel and stupid world. This was too subtle for me. While the book seemed entirely believable, I didn't get the additional message. I wish they had just told us outright that we were savages and our world was stupid.

He then notes that once labels are given, a hierarchy is developed to 'help bolster' self-esteem and 'assure the vitality' of the group:

Another reason kids persecute nerds is to make themselves feel better. When you tread water, you lift yourself up by pushing water down. Likewise, in any social hierarchy, people unsure of their own position will try to emphasize it by maltreating those they think rank below.

Like a politician who wants to distract voters from bad times at home, you can create an enemy if there isn't a real one. By singling out and persecuting a nerd, a group of kids from higher in the hierarchy create bonds between themselves. Attacking an outsider makes them all insiders. This is why the worst cases of bullying happen with groups. Ask any nerd: you get much worse treatment from a group of kids than from any individual bully, however sadistic.

Graham paints a particularly disturbing picture, and one that, unfortunately is accurate in many schools. He goes so far as to say that,

Public school teachers are in much the same position as prison wardens. Wardens' main concern is to keep the prisoners on the premises. They also need to keep them fed, and as far as possible prevent them from killing one another. Beyond that, they want to have as little to do with the prisoners as possible, so they leave them to create whatever social organization they want. From what I've read, the society that the prisoners create is warped, savage, and pervasive, and it is no fun to be at the bottom of it.

In outline, it was the same at the schools I went to. The most important thing was to stay on the premises. While there, the authorities fed you, prevented overt violence, and made some effort to teach you something. But beyond that they didn't want to have too much to do with the kids. Like prison wardens, the teachers mostly left us to ourselves. And, like prisoners, the culture we created was barbaric.

Graham hints at a solution, however:

Teenage kids used to have a more active role in society. In pre-industrial times, they were all apprentices of one sort or another, whether in shops or on farms or even on warships. They weren't left to create their own societies. They were junior members of adult societies.

I have been a strong proponent of mandatory community service between high school and college - but maybe I got it wrong. Maybe we need to create meaningful communities, opportunities, and activities for our teens - as individuals and in mixed groups as early as middle school.

The road to salvation - as I see it:

This was written in 2005 and I do think schools and adults have become more sensitive to labeling and bullying - in school. WE still need, however, to be more sensitive in how we use labeling in our lives, in front of our kids, on our televisions, in our movies, in literature and the media. I am not sure the media will comply - but this may be a wonderful discussion point to bring up.
Discuss reasons for labeling and consequences of labeling with your kids.
When labeling, make sure it is not derogatory. Make sure it is not a 'judgement' label. Make sure it is not done through a need to control or feel superior.
While "Zero Tolearnce" programs are problematic at best, their intent is not. We should not tolerate bullying or name calling.
When you notice yourself or your child labeling, or you notice labeling in the media or books you read - talk about it.
Schools should foster a strong sense of "community" outside of school teams and athletics. This has to be done in and out of the classrooms:

There should be community charity drives
Community service through the schools - visits to hospitals (reading, recitals, etc.), retirement homes, food kitchens, animal shelters - to name a few. Each grade or each class should have its own project. This builds community on many levels and everyone benefits.

Classroom work should be inclusive.

Classroom discussions should be 'safe' for everyone to participate in;
Group work should not be student picked - in cliques and groups, but should be teacher generated - mixing up different strengths, preferences and opinions in each group.

From: cartoonstock.com

Labeling DOES have its benefits, but we all have to aware of how and when we label others. Labeling DOES help us sort through a world chock-full of information, but it can limit and restrict horizons as well. What do you think? I'd love to know.

"Kids" or "Children"?

2011-09-27T05:56:00.000-07:00

From: mk-mk.facebook.com

When I first started talking to my parents about my book (Teaching Content Area Graphic Novels, 2012) my father stopped me and said, 'You can't keep using the word 'kids' - people will be insulted, because you use the work 'kid' a lot and a 'kid' is also a goat."

Fast forward a few months...My brother, who is visiting from overseas, said the other day that he was ready to go home because he missed "being away so long from his children."

And, while I have been thinking about my father's comment and choice of words for young offspring and learners in my book, my brother's comment sounded weird to me. Weird- not that he wanted to be with his children (which strangely doesn't sound weird now as I use it), but that he called them "Children." His oldest (of four) is twenty five, his youngest Eighteen - all are fairly independent adults. The way he used the word (or maybe it was just his tone and not the word itself) - made them sound young and they aren't.

So I asked myself are my nieces and nephew kids or children? What would they prefer being referred to as? Does it make a difference?

"Children" to me connote youngsters, and I will bet my bottom dollar that my nieces and nephews would prefer not being referred to as children. On the other hand, my dad would emphatically state that "kid" is a baby goat. So how should we refer to our offspring once they hit young-adulthood?

Bill Cosby in his comedy routines, always spoke about his "children" as you see here in this clip:

Robin Williams, on the other hand, used the word "kids" to describe very young prodigies in his Inside the Actor's Studio performance:

When I google-image "kids" and "children" - I literally get the same images. So at least to Google, these words are interchangeable.

According to The Random House Dictionary of the English Language (second edition, unabridged):

child (child), n. pl.chil-dren. 1. a young boy or girl. 2. a son or daughter. 3. a baby or infant. 4 a childish person. 5. a descendant.

kid n, 1. informal. a child or young person. 2. (used as a familiar form of address.) 3.. a young goat. 4. leather made gloves

Maybe my brother is simply too formal for my taste (at least when discussing his offspring)? Or, could it be a cultural thing? An age thing?

I recall in the book Frindle (which I've mentioned in previous blogs) by Andrew Clemens, the story focuses a lot on what makes a word a word. The bottom line is: you do. So.... while I realize that "children" may simply be a more formal word and "kids" informal, I can't help but wonder...how do OTHERS use and /or connote these two words?

In surfing the web, I found a blog by Drew Gardner (http://blog.aikidojournal.com/2010/07/06/of-kid-and-child-by-drew-gardner/) who tackles this issue from the mindset of an Aikidoka and apprears to disagree with my impression as he notes that:

The kid simply plays around in the dojo, as if it were recess from elementary school, even if he has learned how to keep the appearance that he is in-line... Others on the mat know his fool-around-mentality from day one, and the odds suggest he will never alter his foolishness... The child is much different from the kid. A child, especially one who finds the opportunity to train with fine sensei, accepts being a beginner. Even if for a glimpse he has a technique down pat, he immediately reminds himself that his senpai and sensei are there to erase such complacent thought for the better. He also realizes early on that he will not master a single technique before he passes away in the perhaps multiple decades to come, but he does know that by looking up to his skilled sensei and respectful senpai, he will become better at technique, and more importantly he will grow as a person.

While I may be totally blowing my brother's choice of words out of proportion, I do still wonder about word choice.

What does this all mean, and what am I sending you away with? I'm not sure, which bothers me. I have always tried to send you away with food for thought and/or helpful parenting/teaching tools. I think though there is an important message here: Not only do we make a word a word, we have to:

carefully chose the words we use;
recognize and monitor how we use them and the tone employed;
think and be aware of how others might interpret our word choices/usage (sometimes this matters, sometimes it does not - but being aware of this before using a word is helpful); and
understand that words always have an impact and reflect our conscious (and sometimes subconscious) thoughts and we therefore, again, must be careful and cognizant of our choices.

What do you think? Has the choice of "kid" and "child" every hit you? How do you (or might you) refer to your young-adult / adult offspring - 'kids', 'children', 'progeny' (wayyyyy tooo formal for my taste)?

Finally, before I go, I just want to give a shout-out to Heather at http://my-2-cents.blogspot.com who is featuring my blog post. Thanks, and please check her posts as well - there is ALWAYS cool stuff to be seen and learned about.

Juggling

2011-09-20T05:41:00.000-07:00

One follower, asked me to blog about the skills involved in juggling. And, while not many of us will ever need to juggle balls, pins, poi or fire, there is a lot we can learn from juggling.

I think the biggest caveats (aside from the obvious: greater eye-hand coordination) we can get from learning to juggle are:

sharpening attention skills
sharpening metacognition
gaining greater self concept/confidence

In other words, studying and practicing juggling teaches us to focus sharply and not be distracted, and to be keenly aware of what we are doing and how we are doing it. [Granted once we become proficient jugglers, we no longer have to think about what we are doing, but while learning the skill, it most definitely sharpens our metacognition.] It also helps us focus and gain greater confidence in ourselves, and is an after-school project to consider seriously for our kids.

From chumpysclipart.com

Skills Needed for - and Gained From - Juggling:

Attention - the juggler is always focusing on the ball or pin in the air and NOTHING else is interfering with that focus;
eye-hand coordination - the juggler knows at all times which ball or pin he has released and where he will catch it;
cognition - knowing HOW and WHERE to throw the object so that it WILL land where expected;
intrinsic awareness of weight and gravity - understanding the weight of the object about to be thrown, how hard to throw it and where to catch it - which can be learned with practice
sensory integration - learning how to hold, touch and catch the objects;
an awareness of timing, sequencing and patterns (patterns of throwing and catching, primarily) - which is learned and sharpened with practice
patience and practice

Juggling balls and pins can even teach you how to juggle life and its responsibilities. As the following video (by Jason Garfield professional juggler) demonstrates, there is more we can gain from learning to juggle than just throwing balls in the air:

Life Lessons Learned from Juggling:

"Break down learning to juggle into the most basic skills" - do this with other looming projects. Anything overwhelming can be broken into manageable parts.
"If you make a bad throw, don't continue. Stop, regroup, gain good form. " Isn't that true with leaning just about anything? Memory - muscle memory - any memory is important to gaining expertise. You don't want that memory to be bad form.
When leaning to juggle, "stop, think about what you did, and do it again." Another great learning technique. In educational terms this would be called "metacognition" being aware of your thinking and actions. Very important to learning - anything.
"Just do it already, don't let the third ball control you" Boy if I don't need that recorded in my head all the time. So often juggling (projects, chores, responsibilities) seems so overwhelming. The key, again is break it down into basic parts and don't let it control you!

While I have never really picked juggling up, one of my daughters did. Aside from sharpening her attention to detail, she gained greater poise (as she had to stand and throw straighter) and greater self confidence. She found a peace-of-mind as she juggled and every so often she still juggles as an adult.

I recommend juggling as a tool and hobby to help build all sorts of important life skills. What's your feeling/experience?

Invigorating Instruction: Finding Relevancy in English!

2011-09-13T04:46:00.000-07:00

From: wagner-gr.wikispace

In rereading "The Decline of the English Department"(http://www.theamericanscholar.org/the-decline-of-the-english-department/) (2009) by William M. Chace (Professor of English and President Emeritus of Emory University), its tone and relevancy jumped out at me. More and more schools and universities are dropping 'core' requirements and liberal arts influence and focusing on 'specialty' courses. I think it's a mistake. Our kids should be receiving well-rounded instruction and education. We need to make the liberal arts more relevant.

Chace begins with statistics:

...from 1970/71 to 2003/04 (the last academic year with available figures)... In one generation... the numbers of those majoring in the humanities dropped from a total of 30 percent to ...less than 16 percent...

...during that same generation, business majors climbed from 14 percent to 22 percent. Despite last year’s debacle on Wall Street... students are still wagering that business jobs will be there when the economy recovers.

The Problem: While many might argue that this is no big deal, students want more 'useful' majors. Chace laments that English is not perceived as useful, when in fact, critical reading enhances critical thinking, and English courses should be vehicles for writing instruction and improvement.

The Cause? He continues:

There are several, but at the root is the failure of departments of English... to champion, with passion, the books they teach and to make a strong case... that the knowledge of those books and the tradition in which they exist is a human good in and of itself. What departments have done instead is dismember the curriculum, drift away from the notion that historical chronology... and substitute for the books themselves a scattered array of secondary considerations... In so doing, they have distanced themselves from the young people interested in good books.

History of English instruction: Chase then describes the course of English study and the humanities:

...In this country and in England, the study of English literature began in the latter part of the 19th century as an exercise in the scientific pursuit of philological research, and... that literature was best understood as a product of language... a way of understanding the world...

...Studying English taught us how to write and think better, and to make articulate many of the inchoate impulses and confusions of our post-adolescent minds. We began to see, as we had not before, how such books could shape and refine our thinking.

Where is English instruction going? Chace concludes with a somewhat depressing view of the future of the study of literature:

...The study of literature will then take on the profile now held, with moderate dignity, by the study of the classics, Greek and Latin. For those of us who care about literature and teaching, this is a depressing prospect, but not everyone will share the sense of loss...

This 'down-grading' in the perceived value of English Lit education is both depressing and unfortunate. It reminds me of Leo Lionni's Frederick:

Frederick is about a field mouse who unlike the others, does not collect acorns in the fall as they prepare for winter. Instead, Frederick writes poetry as he observes and appreciates the beauty of the world around him. Come winter, as the community sits eating their store of acorns and nuts, Frederick turns their long, boring, gray days into days of sunshine, warmth and beauty.

We need to infuse this love and appreciation of words as 'art' and 'communication' in our kids.

The problem as I see it is that whether in college, high school, middle school, grade school, or even preschool:

English and language arts instruction must be meaningful while reinforcing communication skills. It should show where we come from and where we might and/or might not want to head with exposure to the classics and contemporary works - reflecting how time and culture have affected our thoughts.
As our current world is showing us, majoring in economics is no longer enough to insure economic stability after college. Whether you appreciate 'literature' or not, a liberal arts education insures students of a well-rounded education - one that can be used to jump start careers integrating affinities and interests. We need to teach kids how to communicate through print, through text, and maybe even how to program / navigate computers yet another form of communication.

For Lower, Middle and High School English Education - We have to show our kids WHY's of reading and writing:

to entertain;
to model different ways to effectively and efficiently express ideas;
to build vocabulary;
to teach and reinforce grammar;
reading and writing reflect cultural nuances and beliefs - reading books of different eras teaches us about those times and places;
different writing styles, formats, and genres emphasize different strengths, messages, and perspectives.

From: www.alumni.libraries.psu.edu

In addition to kids understanding these WHY's of reading and writing, teachers are instructed to achieve certain annual classroom goals. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International Reading Association (IRA) have generated 'standards' for the teaching of Enlgish (http://www.ncte.org/standards). These standards include:

Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world...
Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.
Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They [should] draw upon... prior experience... knowledge of word meaning and of other texts... word identification strategies, and ... understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language ... to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
There are just a few of the standards. Please visit the link above for more details.

The problem though, is that while these standards detail educational goals, they do not identify HOW the goals should be met. That is left to the individual teachers (which, as a teacher, I appreciate) but some do it better than others and there is often no continuity from one grade/year to another. This is one area where parents can easily get involved: supporting, enriching and reinforcing reading, writing, communicating - i.e. language use..and making sure kids GET WHAT'S IN IT FOR THEM!

HOW PARENTS AND TEACHERS CAN HELP:

Expose your kids to diverse types of literature.
Expose your kids to 'classics' from different time eras and authors from different cultures.
Visit libraries, book stores, surf TOGETHER to find video versions or spoofs on favorite books and poems. EXPLORE the wide world of story together. Communicate! Share!
Read books together. Talk about them:

Talk about what is relevant to your lives.

Talk about the author's choice of words, tone, and perspective.

Talk about how believable the characters/settings are (or are not).

Talk about what a sequel might look like.

Talk about the author's use of prose and/or illustration to communicate a point.

Compare and contrast one work to another of the same or different genre or time period.

Evaluate how current events may have shaped an author's story and use of language.

Write together:

Make lists for each other.

Leave notes on beds, refrigerators for each other.

Make cards for all occasions (from letters to the Santa and the Tooth Fairy, to birthday cards and invitations)

Write letters to magazine editors

Blog together - write reviews of current events or favorite books; write two-voice poems; write about creative projects.

Communicate with each other:

Try to have dinner together a few times a week (at least) where you talk about current events, how your days went.

Visit museums together - talk about the exhibits - what you liked and didn't like, it's design, how effectively (or ineffectively) it relayed information.

See movies together and evaluate them. Talk about how well the characters were (or were not) developed, talk about the plot and story line (was it believable/), talk about the use of image, color and dialogue. Compare and contrast movies of similar genres/ time periods. Talk!

Start or join book clubs (kid book clubs, parent-child book clubs)

What literacy promoting activities do you participate in with your child? What is available in your community? Let's keep this discussion going!

Here's to making literature come alive:

From http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2011/09/11

Homework!

2011-09-06T06:57:00.000-07:00

From writerg.wordpress.com

With school starting, so too begins homework. For many kids, homework is a series of chores, often meaningless, that just have to get done.

In my opinion, there are two reasons homework may be a chore:

Teachers assign 'rote' exercises that have little thought, creativity, or meaning to students; or
Homework is too difficult for a student's independent working level - or it is too easy and again becomes a meaningless chore.

The role of teachers (and often of parents) is to help kids find meaning and creative challenge in homework.

In Arthur's case (see the video clip), there is so much homework - it is overwhelming. No fun, no creativity - just seemingly endless work.

There's another wonderful tale of homework in Frindle by Andrew Clemens - a story about Nick Allen - the master teacher distractor...and if you haven't read it with your child it is a MUST! This story begins with Nick Allen as he prepares for fifth grade. He must buy a dictionary before school begins and on the first day of school is prepared to distract his teacher (who is notorious for her homework assignments). As she is about to give homework Nick attempts to distract her by asking her 'What makes a word a word?' She responds with, "you do!" The story is all about how she not only does not let Nick distract her from giving homework, she gives him additional homework figuring out exactly what makes a word a word. This assignment is so meaningful, Nick is determined to coin a new work, "FRINDLE." Read it. It's brilliant!

In the first instance (for Arthur), homework is a chore. In the second (for Nick) it's a challenge. Which scenario would YOU prefer?

The problem in assigning homework is that every student is different, and making assignments for each student is unrealistic. As a result, teachers and parents have to help their children find meaning in homework assignments. There are some other alternatives though. Here are some suggestions:

For Teachers:

Homework assignments can offer different types of questions and options for students of various skills and preferences to wrestle with on their own time.
Provide opportunities to mentally manipulate content material creatively, making it more meaningful and personal.
Instead of worksheets, have students construct vocabulary word games to play during recess and classroom breaks, or write a journal entry, screenplay, reflecting topics in social studies and science.
Have students create comic books expanding poetry or texts covered in classroom readings including selected vocabulary, and/or specific 'talking points' .
Include an option for more abstract opinion questions that some students love pursuing and others find too philosophical and unstructured.

For Parents:

Talk to kids about their homework (but don't do it for them)

Help your child find relevance to the homework assignments (especially if they don't immediately see it).
Talk about the Arthur clip above. Why is it so bad, what could make homework more palatable.
Jon Scieszka has some wonderful books on Math Curse and Science Verse which may help your child find relevance in math and science.
Design a special place/table/desk/corner for homework. Help them structure their time so that after homework is completed they can have fun. This is really important. [See http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/03/theme-thursday-sense-of-space-and.html for more details.]
Not only should kids have a desk/table to work at, they should have their materials readily available as well. This means pens, pencils, paper, dictionaries, etc., should be easily accessible as they're working.
IF an assignment is overwhelming, help kids break down assignments into manageable sequences.
Talk about project/paper options. Brainstorm together and help guide your child. Again, for projects you may need to help them structure their time.
Some kids find a slight music distraction helpful for concentration - other's don't. Talk about this with your (older) kids.
When in doubt, go check out Calvin & Hobbes:

Or, if you prefer music.... check out doing homework with Otis Rush:

The World's Gone Graphic! Gaining a Graphic IQ

2011-08-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

I realize that while my world of novels and books will always be there to entertain and enlighten, we are on riding the wave of a graphic revolution.

We have, we use, and we are bombarded with images everywhere. And we increasingly need these images to better communicate and convince.

We see and seek images everywhere. From product identification and safety directions, to illustrations / art in blogs and in books. When we communicate via email in short verbal bursts and often include icons to better express ourselves :-)

While this 'revolution' has been around for a while it has only recently hit me how extensive it is. I now LOVE graphic novels, instructions are graphic, and road signs use more and more images to convey information.

GRAPHICS AND LITERACY:

Since reading my first graphic novel last year (Joe Kelly's I Kill Giants), I have read numerous outstanding educational graphic novels for kids - chalk full of extensive vocabulary, well-written dialogue, exquisitely inviting art, and exciting stories of fiction and nonfiction, science and technology, history, social conflict and the search of identities.

I have also learned that graphic novels are the fastest selling format of kids' books, and find myself the author of a book on how to integrate graphic novels into middle school curriculum. Major publishers have now set up graphic novel divisions and while Barnes & Nobles don't quite know how to shelve them yet, they're out there!

Furthermore, librarians have realized that graphic novels bring kids and young adults back into libraries, and that graphic novels are bringing kids back to books and reading! Graphic novels literally illustrate the art of story-telling.

GRAPHICS IN THE REAL WORLD:

We use graphic images in everything thing we do. We have visual icons that relay safety messages and product information. We use them to cross the street. We use them to advertise. We use them in presentations. We use them to convince.

When was the last time you went to a presentation or workshop and just sat and listened? To sell an idea or product we use Power Point, we teach with handouts, advertisers agonize over the most striking and memorable images. We sell everything with images.

Look at your favorite blogs. I don't know about you, but I favor some visual support when reading them. The images are inviting, they help break up the screen, and they add a dimension to the message.

AS PRODUCTS GO GLOBAL - INSTRUCTIONS GO GRAPHIC:

Because so many of our products come from other countries or are sold world wide, instructions must be universally understood. While some companies will provide written instructions / warnings in multiple languages, many are instead simply going graphic!

It's this last point that really got me to this graphic revolution point!

My daughter just moved to Boston where she started work on Monday. We went to Ikea to furnish her apartment and found ALL the directions were purely graphic!

The thing is that as bright as we both are (she graduated with honors from Williams College, I have a PhD and graduated from an ivy league school)...the directions were really hard to follow. There were times we just didn't quite "get" what went where. Here's just one page:

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Communicating with images is here to stay!
We as concerned parents and educators must teach our kids to "read" images
The International Reading Association (IRA) and the National Council of Teachers of English (NTCE) have included in their standards that "Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts"

EDUCATION MUST include and address this graphic revolution.

We should never abandon our classics. I love teaching Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Andrew Clemen's Frindle, but we also have to teach kids how to use Power Point, how to read graphic instructions/directions, and how to tell stories with graphic images, even how to "read" faces. Hence, enter graphic novels - a wonderful bridge for both worlds.

SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING GRAPHIC INTELLIGENCE:

Include graphic novels in your reading repertoire and in your read aloud repertoire with your kids.
Focus on learning to read the details in illustrations.
Talk about advertising icons - why do you thing a company / advertisers chose a particular image? Was it effective?
Talk about art, the use of color, the use of particular shapes...what these images portray...what emotions they evoke.
Discuss design choices for school projects, for homemade cards, for household products...
Turn commercial time into a cognitive puzzle: Talk about your favorite/least favorite commercials. What do you like about them? What do you hate about them? (Here are two of my favorites - one serious [and notice - no words], one that made me laugh)

I am curious - how much have graphic images invaded your worlds? How do you help teach your kids to cope with the images they're bombarded with? How do you cope? Please let me know in your comments!

education vs. Education: The Difference is in Expectations

2011-08-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

BACK TO SCHOOL: With our kids starting a new school year, it's time to evaluate just what they are getting. Is it an "education" or an "Education."

education involves teaching kids a curriculum set to meet state standards. "education" is typically teacher (and test) driven and its relevance is often missed by the students. "education" involves teaching facts from a textbook and worksheets with scattered tests and projects, and studying for state/national mandated tests upon which funding is determined. For example, as a school consultant a few years ago (in a city school I choose not to disclose), I noticed the students there were given sample state tests in math and reading every few weeks. Those students were getting an 'education' because there was no time to 'play' with the material - no time to integrate aspects of the curriculum into their lives to make it meaningful or for it to come alive. No time to depart the text or to take learning tangents along lines students were interested in. There was only time to cover what was on the test and practice test taking skills.

Education involves teaching kids a given broad "liberal arts" curriculum with the expectation that they critically evaluate and incorporate that curriculum - evaluating how meaningful it is to themselves and others, and expanding upon that core curriculum. Education involves a wide breadth of issues and sources (textbooks, original sources and texts, computer/internet sources, graphic novels and classics) that are student driven and teacher facilitated. Classrooms are interactive, and involve critical thinking, critical reading, and creativity. While state and national tests are a given 'reality' - they don't dictate the curriculum, classes or content. For example, when my son was in sixth grade, the teacher told them that the book they were reading was based on Milton's Paradise Lost. My son was so taken by the book, he read Paradise Lost and the teacher asked him to make a class presentation about it. My son was receiving an Education.

The difference is in our EXPECTATIONS - Expectations in what our kids can learn and accomplish; expectations in what should be taught.

Expectations of what our kids can learn and accomplish: While these vary from child to child, one thing remains constant: Set the bar low, achievements will be low; set the bar high and students will rise to those goals. The key: making learning engaging and taking cues from your students to facilitate learning and meeting challenges and expectations.

IF they have NO trouble with the reading materials - increase the bar a bit. Give them more to read; give them more to discuss; add depth and more analysis to the discussions; have them integrate more sources - using more extensive resources.
IF they find the material challenging - first, evaluate what is the challenge and adjust accordingly.

IF the reading material poses too great a challenge, switch it around a bit. You may want to have them read fewer sources but notch up their critical analyses. You may want to keep the reading material but provide resources to help them (for example: summarize what they will be reading BEFORE they read it; have appropriate graphic novels to complement the textbooks)
IF the reading material is fine, but the lesson demands are too challenging - switch them around. IF there is too much writing, make sure that they write a certain amount but supplement the writing with other activities (creating a video, an interview, a diorama).
IF the class discussions are too challenging - ask the teacher to provide one or two discussion questions is advance that your student can prepare for (and be one of the first called on when the question is posed in class). You may also want to record certain classes and review them together later.

In short, don't expect less from your kids and students - expect more, but monitor their work and their working process. Tweak the working process - incorporating their strengths and affinities and involving multiple sources, resources and skills so ALL expectations are met.

Expectations of what should be taught: 21st Century Educational Leadership has some of the right answers. They advocate for interactive, student driven education (that is meaningful and lessons that they can immediately relate to) with lessons that incorporate verbal, visual and technological literacies.

"Twenty-first century skills combining technology literacy, critical thinking, creativity and mastery of core subject matter are the lifeblood of a productive workforce in today's global, knowledge-based economy." - 21st Century Educational Leadership

This, however, is only part of the solution. Student driven education is essential - learning must be meaningful and relevant to students and they must play and interact with it. However, there is something to be said about being well read... Being able to go into any social situation and join others' conversations - regardless of the topic. Knowing classics in literature, philosophy, economics are as important as history, science and math. Classic literature and philosophy represent where our ideas and ideals originated and are important in helping to determine and chart where we must go. I firmly believe in integrating comics, computers, and classics.

What do you think? What type of education did you receive? What type of education is your child receiving? How can we get our teachers to Educate (let me know if you want to continue this discussion)?

Deaf Ears? Or Teaching Our Kids How to Listen?

2011-08-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

From: crosswalk.com

I had another post ready for this week, but as I sit hear reading the Sunday New York Times, another, possibly more pressing issue hit me: Deaf Ears. As the US (and possibly the world) economy unravels and our political systems appear ineffective - our leaders seem to have blinders and deaf ears.

The article "Amid Criticism on Downgrade, S.&P. Fires Back" The article details that:

"The day after Standard & Poor's took the unprecedented step of stripping the United States government of its top credit rating, the ratings agency offered a full-throated defense of its decision, calling the bitter stand-off between President Obama and Congress over raising the debt ceiling a 'debacle'...Initial reactions from Congressional leaders suggesting that S.&P.'s action was unlikely to force consensus on the fundamental divide ... Politicians on both sides used the decision to bolster their own long-standing positions...Officials in the White House and Treasury criticized S.&P.'s move as based on faulty budget accounting..."

MSNBC reported that the White House is now blaming the Tea Party Republicans for this mess. What bothered me most (aside from the overall economic and political "debacle") is that neither Congress nor the White House address the "debacle" or assume any responsibility. Instead they are "bolstering" their own long standing positions, are arguing with "accounting," and blaming others.

Blinders and deaf ears!

I am, however, neither a politician nor an economist. I am a parent and educator and as I read this I realize how difficult it is for all of us to hear, accept, and address things we would prefer to ignore (or blame others for), and how important it is for us as 'responsible' adults, parents and educators to teach our kids to 'listen' to lessons and other opinions, especially when they are difficult to 'hear' , to learn how to assume responsibility, and to respond with veritas.

How to teach kids to avoid the blinders and deaf ears:

First and foremost we have to model appropriate behavior. We have to listen to them, and don't interrupt them as they're attempting to explain their perspectives.
We have to hear why they may not want to accept what we say and acknowledge their feelings.
We have to help them recognize our perspectives and problem solve resolutions.
We also have to teach and model compromise.

How do we help them hear what they don't want to accept?

When faced with a potential argument, speak calmly and ask your child to elaborate why they're upset (see this previous posting for more details: http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/07/power-of-argument.html)
Model - show (don't just tell) your kids how you appropriately approach things you don't want to hear. Model compromising, when appropriate.
Brainstorm on how to listen better. Teach and model how to pause, process, think, respond; how to use and respond to eye contact; and not to use subjective 'feeling' words when responding.
Read books, watch news clips and together - talk about how characters may not want to face the issues. Discuss why and brainstorm how to make them more effective listeners.
Illustrated books, comic books, and visual clips are effective because you can analyze what is said with body language and facial expressions (which don't necessarily reflect what is said). Understanding these social nuances is important and these visuals help.

Play listening games together:

Telephone - requires a number of players: one person whispers something to the next who whispers the message to the next person, etc. The last person in the chain must repeat the message (which often is completely garbled)

My grandmothers trunk - requires a number of players: The first person begins, "In my grandmother's trunk I found an ______ ("A" word such as alligator). The next person repeats what the previous person found and adds another item to the trunk, beginning with the next letter of the alphabet.

Going on a picnic - requires a number of players: The first person begins, "I'm going on a picnic and bringing an ______ ("A" word such as apple). The next person repeats what the previous person is bringing on the picnic and adds another item to the picnic basket, beginning with the next letter of the alphabet.

Work in pairs (for home or school) and have each member of the pair talk for one minute in response to a question. The other person must listen and report back later what was said. Each member of the pair takes turn as listener and talker, and each must later repeat their partner's response.

Watch, read, and discuss related content together. Have some fun - listen to the Monty Python clip above, for example, from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Try to find all the ways the father is not listening to his son. Next, find all the ways the guards fail to listen to the father. Then brainstorm on how the father and son might be more effective in getting his message across.

In closing I hope you enjoy these two clips from 1776 as we deal with our current state of affairs (which haven't actually changed much, have they?):

Are you a good listener? What do you do to get others to 'hear' you? I'd love to continue the conversation.