For years parents have been concerned that their children were bored in class. Parents responded beautifully to their children’s cries of boredom. They allowed their children to fill their time with video game playing. Parents began filling the afternoons with all sorts of organized activities. Teachers rallied to fill the empty space with creative activities […]
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Looking at the following “8 Traits of Successful People,” we can see how our focus of education needs to shift from performing well to score well, to learning how to live in real world situations. For over 50 years, I have evaluated my effectiveness, not by how my students scored on standardized tests, but how
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Parents controlling their children’s device use is admirable, but in many cases it’s futile. By doing so, parents are creating a situation that makes children want to sneak it. Having encountered students who would wake at 1 am, unlock the drawer that contained the device, and be found playing it under the covers, I can
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Checking in with students about their goals and how they feel they are doing is crucial to help them maintain their mental health. Hundreds of students are suffering silently, because of they have perceptions of how they should be performing. They are questioning if they can maintain their current level of performance. The stress of
CRUCIAL to Student Success: Mental Check-ins Read More »
After a few years of working with third graders I had an epiphany about the perceptions held by underachieving students who lacked confidence, or students who demonstrated negative behaviors. I was discovering an alarming number of students with poor self-images who were very capable students. As the demands on kindergarteners shifted from developmental learning to
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My first failures in the classroom led me to discover Homework Solutions that promotes self-advocacy in students. Students fear mistakes. As young as 4 years old, I have seen children fall apart because they made a mistake. By time these same children enter third grade, they either know the value of a mistake or the
Self-Advocates Succeed! Read More »
The start of school is exciting. Students love getting new school supplies and can’t wait to start writing on the fresh pages with hopes of a better year. The first weeks are designed to be easy to help students settle in, but then the novelty of the new supplies wanes as the placement testing begins.
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With social media bombarding new parents with how to parent, it’s not a surprise that parents are frustrated. There are many strategies being offered that are much more diplomatic than when I was raising my children. The flaw in many of the strategies is they ask parents to talk too much to the children. Children
Parenting: To Negotiate or Not Read More »
Turn on the television, open the newspaper, or magazine and notice the ads. What are all advertisers doing to get your attention. They use a time tested formula that sells products. 1. They point out something to be fearful of like rashes, aches and pains, male patterned baldness, female facial hair, or weak bones in children. 2.
Elections Offer Critical Thinking Skills Read More »
You can’t get where you want to go if you don’t know what it looks like. Start your children on the road to success by preparing them for a great year. A little visualization of an end of the year report card is where I would start my students every year. Try this with your
See the End Before they Begin Read More »