“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“A big boy.”
Image and quote source from Humans of New York.
Dreams of a little boy…
•May 28, 2013 • Leave a CommentThe Lego School of Play
•May 26, 2013 • Leave a CommentIn August, however, Kirk Kristiansen will take an even bigger step toward developing a town that emphasizes its pint-sized citizens: He’s opening a school. The International School of Billund will focus on inquiry-based, Montessori-style education. “Collaboration, problem solving, and learning through play are embedded into our learning philosophy,” the school says of its curriculum, “and we believe that a fusion of these highly acknowledge learning methods mentioned above will strengthen our students’ ability to engage in life as creative, critical thinkers.”
Full article can be found here.
While I completely agree with the principles of play and the importance of creativity in child’s life, it is after all still a school. But one hopefully heading in the right direction.
![[optional image description]](https://i0.wp.com/cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/science/assets_c/2013/05/shutterstock_96560440-thumb-570x465-122618.jpg)
Image source can be found here.
Follow the leader
•May 24, 2013 • Leave a CommentThis morning I took the Jibbers to his weekly Gymboree class, “Family Play Time,” which is usually followed by about an hour of “Open Gym.”
During the Family Play Time I am always amazed at the way the Gymboree staff turn simple gym equipment into a barn one week, an elephant another week or a firetruck which was the theme for this week. Their imagination and their understanding of the world of young children is awesome. So much so, that they are always so understanding when the Jibbers refuses to participate by not answering any questions or prefers to follow along by simply watching from the sidelines; unless, of course, it is the parachute or the bouncy log. Who can resist the bouncy log?!
However, once the Family Play Time is done, then emerges the Jibbers totally in charge of his surroundings and doing what he loves best: the master of his own destiny. He looks forward to Open Gym or what he refers to as Free Play. And it’s amazing how he is able to sweep up the other children in a game that the Jibbers calls Catch-me-if-you-can game which is a mix of follow-the-leader and tag. All the children seamlessly take turns being the leader and running at almost top speed through the obstacle course set up. Our job as parents is simply to get out of the way.
And we love it. The children get exhausted and we get excited at the thought of them possibly taking an even longer nap than usual. But more than that watching them play with minimal scuffles and sorting it out for themselves is amazing. Really. The leader is the one who at any given time is running the fastest or the one who chooses to change the direction or whatever comes to the mind of these precocious three and four year old destiny-makers.
It reinforces in me the need for children to have space and time to play in an unstructured environment, free from any adult intervention knowing that if needed Mama or Papa are nearby. The joy on these children’s faces is breathtaking. Watching them do whatever their imagination lets them is simply awesome. It is this unharnessed creativity that leads to problem solving, social skills and more. We as parents just need to give them that time to develop it.
Every day of every child should have some time, some place where they decide who they are going to be and what they are going to do and for how long.
His face says it all…
•May 22, 2013 • Leave a CommentI may homeschool the Jibbers, and have issues with “the system”, but I have been blessed with inspirational, amazing and truly caring teachers who gave rise towards my passion for education. God bless them…
Image source can be found here.
You is kind. You is smart. You is important.
•May 20, 2013 • Leave a CommentEvery child needs to hear these words, and more:
“You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”
Original video source can be found here.
Full story and discussion found here at MSNBC.
Thank you Upworthy.com for the heads up.
This is water.
•May 9, 2013 • Leave a Comment“On May 21, 2005, David Foster Wallace got up before the graduating class of Kenyon college and delivered one of history’s most memorable commencement addresses…
Now, the fine folks of The Glossary have remixed an abridged version of Wallace’s original audio with a sequence of aptly chosen images to give one pause.”
Video source can be found here.
Responsibility vs Obedience
•April 16, 2013 • Leave a Comment
In the discipline with dignity framework there is an emphasis placed upon teaching children the benefit of making responsible choices as opposed to having them simply be obedient and follow directions. In society, as in the classroom, this simple distinction makes all the difference for one’s time in school and in the world.
Image source can be found here.
Multiple Choices, All the Wrong Answers
•April 9, 2013 • Leave a CommentAn awesome piece designed to help us better understand the current origins and thinkers behind the American education system. The original post can be found here, by Susan Ohanian and Stephen Krashen.
1. Who said “Hurricane Katrina was “the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans. That education system was a disaster.”
a) Rush Limbaugh
b) Pat Robinson
c) Editor at The Onion
d) Bill O’Reilly
e) U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
2. US international test scores aren’t at the top of the world because:
a) we lack common standards and valid tests.
b) many teachers are not doing their job.
c) nearly 25% of American children live in poverty.
d) American children are not interested in hard study.
e) parents don’t take an interest in children’s education.
3. A notable feature of education in Finland, the country scoring highest on international tests, is:
a) universal pre-school emphasizes an early start in skill development.
b) children in grade school have a play break every 45 minutes.
c) a system of annual national standardized tests informs teachers of every child’s skill attainment.
d) there are no teacher unions to cripple reform.
e) corporate leaders have taken a leadership role in school policy.
4. Middle class American students who attend well-funded schools
a) achieve high scores on international tests, among the highest in the world.
b) don’t read as much as kids used to.
c) aren’t learning enough math and science.
d) don’t do enough analytical writing.
e) lack competitive drive.
5. 1.6 million children in the U.S.
a) have teachers who are not highly qualified.
b) are overweight.
c) live in single-parent families.
d) should be held back in school.
e) are homeless.
6. Children who live in poverty in the US
a) are protected by a comprehensive social welfare safety net.
b) need a very structured curriculum.
c) are more likely to attend a school with poorly supported libraries than are middle class children.
d) have the same chance for school success as other students—if their parents support education.
e) need vouchers to attend better schools.
7. Common Core Standards were developed because
a) parents worry that US children score far below other countries on international tests.
b) teachers lack the skills to craft adequate curriculum and wanted help.
c) state departments of education asked for them.
d) of grass-roots concern that children need special tools to compete in the Global Economy.
e) the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation paid for them.
8. Common Core Standards in literacy were written by
a) classroom teachers.
b) child psychologists.
c) university researchers.
d) business leaders.
e) a lawyer who specializes in “standards-driven reform” and someone whose background is in Management Consulting, who once tutored children while studying at Yale.
9. The new Common Core tests
a) let the teachers know exactly what each student needs to learn next.
b) give parents evidence teachers are doing their job.
c) ensure that standards are being met.
d) give principals a fair way to evaluate teachers.
e) make fiscal demands many districts cannot meet.
10. The new online feature of Common Core testing
a) will reduce administration costs.
b) will streamline student evaluation.
c) offers new opportunities for creativity.
d) will lead to more individualized learning.
e) means students will be tested many more times each year.
ANSWERS
1. E
“Duncan: ‘Katrina was the best thing for New Orleans school system,’” Jan. 29, 2010
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/01/duncan-katrina-was-the-best-thing-for-new- orleans-schools/
2. C
“Measuring Child Poverty,” UNICEF, May 2012
3. B
“Finland Schools Flourish in Freedom and Flexibility,” The Guardian, Dec. 5, 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/05/finland-schools-curriculum-teaching
4. A
“PISA 2009 Reading Test Results: The US does quite well, controlling for SES. And maybe
American scores are “just right.”
Click to access PISA_2009-US_Scores_Just_Right.pdf
5. E
http://www.familyhomelessness.org/children.php?p=ts
6. C
Di Loreto, C., and Tse, L. 1999. Seeing is believing: Disparity in books in two Los Angeles area public libraries. School Library Quarterly 17(3): 31-36; Duke, N. 2000. For the rich it’s richer: Print experiences and environments offered to children in very low and very high-socioeconomic status first-grade classrooms. American Educational Research Journal 37(2): 441-478; Neuman, S.B. and Celano, D. 2001. Access to print in low-income and middle-income communities: An ecological study of four neighborhoods. Reading Research Quarterly, 36, 1, 8-26.
7. E
“Is the Gates Foundation Involved in bribery,” July 23, 2010
http://prorevnews.blogspot.com/2010/07/is-gates-foundation-involved-in-bribery.html
“JoLLE Forum–Rotten to the (Common) Core,” Nov. 1, 2012
8. E
David Coleman bio; Susan Pimentel bio
http://about.collegeboard.org/leadership/president
http://www.nagb.org/who-we-are/members/bios/b_pimentel.html
9. E
“Federal Mandates on Local Education: Costs and Consequences–Yes, it’s a Race, but is it in the Right Direction?”
Click to access brief_8_education.pdf
10. E
“Common Core Assessments”
http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-assessments/
black board, white chalk 