SchoolReady

I was a mother of one when I started this blog. I will soon have three children and my focus, for now, has necessarily shifted. Did someone say squirrel?

I'm going to give the writing a rest for now, but I plan to pick "Getting Our Children SchoolReady" back up sooner rather than later. The vocabulary-building story book series that underpins this blog has been almost two years in the making, and it has a ways yet to go. Going, however, it is, and while so am I for now, this is not "so long" but, rather, "see ya later."

Not the game, the song (though there's lots you can do with the game, of course, too). After recently observing a kindergarten classroom, I realized that the classic kids song is actually an inhibitory control exercise, or, in other slightly simplified words, an activity that targets a person's ability to react appropriately in a given situation using their powers of focus and impulse control. 

The song shouldn't just be sung, however, it has to be sung right: this means, in case, like me, you were unawares, that you're supposed to repeat the words six times, and each time you sing the song, you leave out a subsequent letter of "B-I-N-G-O" in the part where you do the spelling. Sing the song straight up, first; then the next time, drop the "B" and replace it with, say, a clap; the third time, drop the "I"; and so on, until by the end you're just clapping instead of singing letters. 

In case you've forgotten how the song about the farmer's dog goes, here are the words, below:

There was a farmer who had a dog, And Bingo was his name-o. B-I-N-G-O B-I-N-G-O B-I-N-G-O And Bingo was his name-o.

There was a farmer who had a dog, And Bingo was his name-o. (clap) -I-N-G-O (clap) -I-N-G-O (clap) -I-N-G-O And Bingo was his name-o.

Dear Common Core,

We tried to make this work; we really did. We kept our minds open and waited patiently for you to work your magic. All you've brought was disappointment.

And so, you can't really call it a 180, because we were never 100% on  board, but you could definitely say we've had a change of heart. The Common Core State Standards are a bad idea. 

What, you ask, caused this change? In a word: action. 

For starters, I stand by what I said about the CCSS' rhetoric. It's pretty good, and if it weren't for everything, and I mean everything, non-rhetorical, I'd still be giving the thumbs up. There are lots of important points and worthy values enshrined within the standards - strong words about the need to respect diverse learners and to provide "non-traditional" students with ability-appropriate learning material. The purported objectives of the standards, too, are spot on: learning does not equal memorizing but rather real understanding, demonstrable through analytical application. 

But on the other hand, the implementation, actual application, and, for all practical intents and purposes, real story of the Common Core is something quite different, and one has to wonder what, if any, of the rhetoric is truth. 

First, Those Stupid Tests

For one thing, while we once argued that the standards should be viewed separately from the associated "high stakes" tests, it has become increasingly clear that this can't actually be done. At least, no one in any actual school seems interested in doing it. And, if teachers and administrators are so focused not on actual learning but on the test-corroborated "learning" that may also be known as regurgitation, one is led to believe that in fact the Common Core State Standards ARE indeed the tests. 

And OMG those tests! They're bad, just bad. We could take up a whole article to explain the problems with standardized testing in general, but let it suffice here to say that a not uncommon result of, specifically, those tests is TEARS.  

Aren't Professionals Supposed to have a PLAN?

Secondly, and this was a concern we shared previously, the fact that teachers had so little involvement in the creation and plan for implementation for the standards is a serious problem that does not appear to be resolving itself. I say "plan" here as though there actually were one and not just a "go date" where students were magically supposed to show that they were "up to standard" with respect to standards they had never, or for only a short time, been taught. If teachers had been better involved in the process, undoubtedly someone would have mentioned a better plan might be necessary. 

Limited Resources and Struggling Students

Thirdly, and generally most importantly, regardless of the purported intentions of the CCSS creators, the net effect on the quality of instruction in classrooms is NOT positive. Despite the valuing of real understanding over memorization and of mastery over mere exposure, students are not becoming masters of academic content or skill. As tests will continue to show, students who have always done well in school may benefit from the focus on "rigor" and the faster pace of learning that CC promotes, but the students that struggle - the very same students that much of the Common Core rhetoric purports to be concerned about, will continue to struggle and, likely, more so.

Without increased support and resources in their schools, "higher expectations" will simply be another way to measure failure from students who have experienced too much of it already. And, with classroom practices being more and more out of line with what is appropriate for children's ages - an indirect effect of the increased pace of learning - more and more students will likely find themselves in this category, needing interventions they cannot hope to receive. 

Common Core, you almost had us. You spoke such a pretty game, and we wanted to believe. But we're starting to see your true colors. And our children are too precious for your empty promises. 

What makes a math mind?

In 2011, a team of psychologists at John Hopkins University published a study that gave some surprising insight into this question - insight that parents ought to consider from all angles when thinking about ways to prepare their children for the long and sometimes difficult journey known as Math.

The study, led by post-doctoral fellow Melissa Libertus, indicated that preschoolers’ math skills are strongly tied to an innate numerical intuition that animals of all varieties possess, an intuition she and others call “number sense.” 

Her research measured number sense with subitizing - by having preschoolers estimate the number of different colored dots flashed on a computer screen. Because the preschoolers didn’t have time to count the dots but had to use their intuition and powers of estimation, it was determined that they were relying on their “number sense” rather than their counting abilities. 

Children who demonstrated strong number sense were then more likely to do better with specific math-related tasks, showing a link between number sense and mathematical ability.  

The children in the study were too young to have received formalized math instruction, and this fact, in combination with research that has shown that animals also use number sense in activities like hunting and tracking prey, suggest the inborn nature of number sense.  

Libertus' study provides insight about what it means to be good at math that parents, especially, might find interesting. But, while it is helpful to understand the roots of mathematical understanding, there may be danger in viewing the underpinnings of math ability as something we’re either born with or not. Number sense is something that can be, and should be, practiced. In fact, Libertus herself noted that her research “raises many important questions and issues, including one of the most important ones, which is whether we can train a child’s number sense with an eye to improving his future math ability.”

So how might we do this "training?" Options abound. There is the abundance of online and paper-based number sense “practice activities,” but likely more developmentally appropriate for young children are play-based activities that encourage them to think about the numbers in the world around them and what they might be able to do with those numbers. Everything from counting to five in a game of hide-and-seek to explaining to your child why you’re selecting a particular dollar bill amount to pay with at the store are examples of fun and easy activities that promote number sense.

It turns out there's more than one lesson to be learned from the John Hopkins study. Rather than looking at number sense as a characteristic belonging to the mathematically-gifted, why not look at it as something to practice and hone? Rather than focusing on “math practice,” let's try thinking about promoting number sense, and about finding opportunities to show our children how to use numbers in the natural context of the world around them.

Number sense isn’t pre-destiny; it’s an opportunity for all.

Check our sources or get more info:

Banhoo, S. "In Future Math Whizzes, Signs of 'Number Sense.'" The New York Times 8/11/11

The midterm elections are over. Billions of dollars were spent nationwide by people, parties, and corporations in order to elect the candidate most considered amenable to the cause in question. 

On Wednesday morning, some of us continued the celebrations we started the evening before, and some of us wiped away the dried tears caked to our cheeks - but even more of us didn't miss a beat, because we didn't vote.

Once the final tallies come in, the 2014 elections may be a record low. If less than 38% of all eligible voters casted ballots, as appears to be the case, this will make the total the lowest since the 1942 elections that took place in the midst of World War II.

Regardless of your political persuasion and what you think is best for our country's children when it comes to their education, it's hard to argue that public schools fared well in this election. Politicians with records of education budget-slashing were (re-)elected in states across the country. Here in Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker was re-elected by a windfall after cutting the state education budget by $800 million. (Road construction, on the other hand, has and will continue to fare quite well under Walker; I'm not here to argue whether roads or schools are the greater good, but it's hard to argue that with less resources, schools will be able to accomplish as much educating.)

Despite being continually tasked with more and provided less with which to accomplish it, schools will press on doing the best - if not at times misguided - job they can to educate their students. Among the most pressing of their duties?

You know ehow? The self help/DIY guide site that always has an answer to any practical question you can think of? Notable for its ubiquity as well as its awful "journalism," it is a place I confess to turning in times when a step-by-step how-to is needed. 

I just googled "how to raise a baby ehow." I have some experience raising babies now as our first turned two in August, but this two child thing is going to be something else. I can already tell, and there's still currently a 1:1 adult/child ratio in the house, often more with frequent visits from friends and family. 

I figured a nice, compact step-by-step sure shouldn't hurt right now. I could take ehow's advice and sort of multiply it by two and get a pretty good idea of what's ahead. And ehow did not disappoint. Complete with a checklist that ranges from diapers to a nasal aspirator, the article really nailed the important points at least. 

But in all seriousness, it's not the amount of work that scares me to much as the question of how do you do two jobs at once? Most of the time, I know, you don't, but those times when you have to try are going to be hard. How do you get a baby to stop crying when you're changing a toddler's diaper? How do you get a toddler to stop eating play dough when you're feeding a newborn?

I know there are some moms reading this. You should REALLY consider leaving me some comments with advice in them. The sooner we figure this out, the sooner we can get back to talking about the learning stuff I promised from the outset and the sooner we can stop talking about semi-related things like diaper-changing. 

Hey...true! 

I did it again! Hopefully you noticed; I skipped another post. This time, though, I've got a fabulous excuse, and it finally came around late last Wednesday morning:

My daughter is highly talented at entertaining herself. Give her a sock, a spoon, and a few squares of toilet paper and she's good for an hour. 

I should be overjoyed about this fact - think of all the chores I could do in my spare time! - but I'm the type of person who thinks WAY too much, and on my mind all too often are the excess of Pinterest boards and all those TV and magazine commercials showing happy mom playing with smiling toddler, sometimes with a dad thrown somewhere in the mix. If she can entertain herself, this means that I don't have to...but should I still try? 

With a friend in town and my priorities straight, there's little time for writing this week. Sometimes, though, less is more. Ernest Hemingway once wrote a six word story and called it his best work. It went:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn. 

School's (almost) out! 

My daughter likes nursery rhymes. Is there a two-year old who doesn't? They rhyme. That's all they need to know.

I, on the other hand, am not so sure. I mean, they're fine, some are cute, I don't mind them, I guess, but, overall, I can't avoid the conclusion: nursery rhymes are weird. 

The first week of school is almost up and kids are already starting to get used to the routines of the day and of their classrooms. 

Students everywhere have already told themselves, "this isn't so bad!" 

But what about the others?

It's August 29. Do you know where your kids' brains are? 

If not, you're not alone. They probably don't know either. (Ha...ha.)

In all seriousness, there's no need to worry, and hopefully your kids know this, too. Every year, teachers greet wide-eyed young ones on the first day of school who give little hint at the loud-spirited busybodies they will soon show themselves to be, and those same now-students similarly give each other little indication of the nervousness they're all feeling together, but alone. 

The same thing is, in some form, going through everyone's mind:

What have I gotten myself into?

But before you know it, summer vacation is a thing of the distant past  - and a daydream in the distant horizon - and barely anyone can remember the books they read or the books they didn't read, or the stuff they forgot to remember from last year, and no one remembers, let alone will admit to, being nervous. Everyone is quickly fully immersed in the swing of things known as a school year.

The tragedies that occurred around the country this week highlight the importance of education on many levels. Regardless of what versions of reality you choose to believe, we can all agree that when young people die, tragedy is involved. (This week alone, three young African American men were killed by police in different cities.)