November 2012
1 post
Let Your Little Ferris Take the Day Off!
Obviously, it should be a common courtesy to keep your kid home when he has a cold or a flu. Sadly, this means that your schedule will be altered. You have to make extra plans. Your day won’t be as smooth as usual. You might have to get a babysitter, or even remember to phone home every hour or two to make sure the phone hasn’t gone up in flames along with the house, etc.
Your kid’s sick....
August 2012
1 post
What Teachers Make - Taylor Mali
He says the problem with teachers is
What’s a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life
was to become a teacher?
He reminds the other dinner guests that it’s true
what they say about teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.
I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the temptation to remind the dinner guests
that it’s also true what they say...
May 2012
3 posts
“Mom, I Read Playboy For The Articles... Really!”
This is a phrase we’ve stopped hearing altogether, due partly to the soon-to-be antiquated magazine format, but due mostly to technology that renders knowledge more accessible.
How to get your kid to be forced to ‘flip through intelligent knowledge, in order to get to the good stuff’…?
Well, you can’t. Not exactly, anyway. Almost the entire method, structure, and filing of acquired...
My Little Mildred Gave His Teacher a Passing Grade
In an ideal world, every teacher would end up giving all their students 100%, and anything less would be the fault of the teacher.
Teachers know their job is to find and create a bridge between the knowledge to be taught and the student. This bridge must be tailored to the abilities of the student and must render the knowledge accessible, interesting, stimulating, functional, logical, and...
April 2012
14 posts
Mom, Dad, Kid, or in Between, This’ll Make You...
Yesterday, I read an article that left me speechless. Aside from being humbled and shocked, I realized that I was guilty of conveniently turning a blind eye to certain hardships.
The link was sent to me by a brilliant friend, who’s a special needs assistant, and who created a multiple award-winning organization called Beyond the Crayon (http://tinyurl.com/cuh5cm4). It’s a resource dedicated...
Bon Jovi did his Homework Sans Internet!
“Back in the day when I went to school…”
Yeah, yeah, back in the day, back in the day… How exactly does that help your kid?
“I wish parents (and the general public) knew that they are not experts on education simply because they themselves went through the school system as a child…” (Teacher, public middle school, AB, Canada)
We all have a certain aversion to change. It’s...
Year End Free Marks = Government Exams
In certain places, a student’s year-end marks are 50% class mark and 50% government exam mark. Is it fair?
First of all, as harsh as it may sound, school isn’t fair, neither is life. Let’s do away with the question of fairness. Let’s look at how we can make the injustice positive for your child.
In the case of government issued exams, most of the time, they are ‘easier’ than in-class exams. They...
“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate...”
– C.S. Lewis
XOXO Gossip Parent
(If you wanna go straight to the gossip, go to the *)
When did ‘bitching’ become synonymous with getting involved?
It is understood that we all ‘have a voice’ and we all want to be heard. The channels for that have been established via social networking and technology, and we’ve been taught that we have the right to add our two cents.
Without judging the quality of this vox poluli, it is...
“Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.”
– H. G. Wells
Maybe your Einstein is bright enough to fail!
In a world obsessed with numbers, we start defining everything according to numerical checkpoints. 50% is pass, 80% is honours, 1.6% is a great rate from the bank, 1000 friends on Facebook means you’re popular, etc.
Your child comes home with a 56% in Geography (let’s say). As a parent, you think, “he passed, but he’s not ‘very good’. My kid is very capable of being very good! Why doesn’t the...
My Kid Dropped Out! W.T.Fruitcake Can I Do?
Your kid has a set of values that are anchored a little in how you raised him, a little in society, and a lot in his close social environment, aka his friends. These values, along with his place (popularity, ability, social status, money) in his greater environment, will dictate how he will act and what he’ll do. Of all the strings controlling your loved marionette, you don’t have too much pull....
Is Your Kid a Sardine?
Yesterday, I heard that in many classrooms, they raised the number of students per class to 40.
Allow me to put this in terms that you’ll understand.
At first, you may think that there’s no big deal to this. The reason you think this is that you’re thinking of university-sized classes or seminars, and you’re thinking of adults attending. You’re thinking of people who have an interest in...
A Teacher is Not a Dentist
I read an article about the 10 reasons the dentist hates you as much as you hate him. Most of the reasons in the article were due to the mirroring effect of the dentist feeling what you feel towards him.
If you remember back when you first found out that a certain boy/girl in your class likes you, you’ll remember how suddenly you started to reciprocate the feelings. The most attractive thing that...
March 2012
20 posts
Harder than a diamond, Better than a trust fund
Any parent can give this to their child. It is a question that transcends borders and generations. It is such a simple question, yet one from which most flee.
If you can help your child answer it, you will have ended up giving him unspeakable advantages.
Like all precious things, it takes a little effort, perhaps insistence, contemplation, understanding, support, love, objective opinions, and...
This blog entry is boring for parents
Your children may be different from animals in many ways, but some things remain the same throughout the majority of species. Classical conditioning (pavlovian response) is abundant and used as technique of teaching, of raising children, of encouraging, of propaganda, even of playing (in the case of ‘Two for Flinching’) etc, etc.
It can and does backfire. Your children hear the word “important”...
“I forget what I was taught, I only remember what I’ve learnt.”
– Patrick White, 1973 Nobel Prize winner for Literature
The talk that every father should have with his...
True story. One of the parents I know started a talk with his son in the following way: “Son, anyone can use it, but real men use it properly.”
He was referring to the proper use of the agenda. As whimsical and superficial as this may seem, it is one of the most underrated causes of lower marks in school.
Surely, I must be joking, right? Wrong.
In school, kids are repeatedly told how important...
Can you buy good marks?
In response to the video on How to Get a Tutor For Your Kid, the following comment was made:
“I didn’t find a tutor this way, but after hearing it… It made sense. The tutor has, however, helped to improve my child’s marks. I sometimes wonder if the teacher’s knowing that he [my child] has a tutor plays a bigger role when it comes time to give a mark for overall effort.”
To...
Here kid, take my car keys and wallet. While...
In the last decade, almost two, there has evolved a trend in empowering children. This is a trend that is based on some wonderful facts:
ALL children are much more intelligent than we give them credit for.
The potential of a child is rarely reached.
They are working with hormones and energy that we, as adults, no longer have as easy access to.
They are bathing in the most current trends, often...
WatchWith profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success in this video.
One should remember that the goal is success, not a number.
As a fellow teacher wrote:
“ I wish parents knew that success is not measured by test scores alone. ”
(Teacher, public school, grade 3, New York, USA)
Houston, do we have a problem?
A very dear and longtime friend of mine had this question for me today:
“ Can you believe my older son is in grade 11 and I still keep close communication [with his teachers] in order to make sure he’s passing and doing well?
I’ve noticed that parents of high school kids are either really involved or not at all.
As a teacher, is it annoying to receive an email 2 or 3 times a month for...
Psycho-ammo for you to learn before your kid has...
The first teacher your kid has had is mother nature. He’s blessed with certain survival skills that he will master before he learns to say “Mama”.
There’s the known test of putting a baby boy and a baby girl in a play pen and putting the mother on the other side of the room. The boy will try to shake and push his way to his mother, whilst the girl will sit in the middle of the play pen and cry,...
My kid's teacher is a total witch!
How do I deal with ‘this one teacher’ my kid has?
Without getting into the psychology of it and what the reality is, versus the impression you have, or how your little angel has been playing you against the teacher, etc., I’ll cut to the chase…
Let me put it to you in a way that you can understand: You’re a protective honey bee and you’re up against a grizzly bear. If you go to war,...
The agenda... The wall of the caveman's cave
How do I get my kid to use his agenda?
Of course, it does somewhat depend on the age of the child, but the answer is simple: rationalize with your child. Tell him the truth.
Now, what IS the truth?
Your child’s job is to be a student. If you leave the country and you’re asked officially what his occupation is, it is that of a ‘student’.
In life, as adults, we have the...
" Who likes parent/teacher interviews ! ? ! "
This weekend, most teachers are doing report cards… What comes next? Parent/teacher interviews: Steps in pulling off a better and more productive meeting/interview with your child’s teacher: - Go to the interview - Be there on time - Bring the one child (if child is meant to attend) - Start by thanking the teacher for the work they’ve put in (I can assure you, the thanks are well deserved) -...
DEAR PARENTS:
I want you to know that “there is a distinct possibility that the way you treat me (as a teacher) will be reflected (and sometimes amplified) in my treatment of your child. ‘Fairness’ may push me to try to not let this happen, but it does happen. It’s a fact. When a parent is rude, difficult, hostile, accusing, condescending or confrontational, it makes it that much harder...
Amazing collaboration and support -
One of the amazing teachers, with whom I’ve been in contact, helped by posting a question, the same question I asked all teachers, on her blog: http://ow.ly/9xVUK The response has been out of this world and an absolutely INVALUABLE resource (both for the workshop AND for parents). If you’re a teacher, please do go and contribute. If, however, you’re a parent, I think reading...
Raison d'être...
My friends have children that are now just becoming teenagers. They asked me some ‘simple’ questions about what they can do with their child, as their children seem to have certain troubles in school. I started talking and didn’t stop for 3 hours. This happened on more than one occasion, and each time, my friends begged me to teach a class or a workshop, offering this information. Much...
