The Suburban News published this article in 2007
I can't organize my priorities
Many students who perform below their abilities do so because they cannot organize their priorities. I see students struggle to prioritize their daily assignments and their long term projects. They spend three hours working on a small writing assignment worth 25 points and then blow off the big 200 point paper we've been working on for a month. Before you bang your head-and your child's head- into a wall trying to explain why one course of action is more responsible than another, consider the most current brain research.
During adolescence, the brain undergoes its second major developmental spurt, and the development occurs from back to front. What this means is that the prefrontal cortex, the area that instructs us to delay gratification and consider consequences, is the last part of the brain to mature. This lack of good judgment may be one explanation why otherwise smart teens get themselves into trouble. Furthermore, because teens do not have a fully developed prefrontal cortex, they rely more on the amygdala which is the emotional center of the brain. This may be a reason teens are more impulsive and emotional than adults.
So when your child organizes his priorities in bizarre order, it may be because he is not able to determine importance and organize accordingly. If your child is not equipped to make good judgments, then it follows that he would be happy for you to help him, right? Wrong. Studies by Harvard neuropsychologist Deborah Urgelun-Todd found that young teens often mistake fearful expressions as anger, confusion or sadness. When a parent is exhibiting fear (which parents of teens exhibit a lot), the teen may incorrectly interpret that expression as hostile and turn on his defense mechanisms, usually anger or apathy.
So should we let our kids off the hook and blame biology? No, but knowing a child's biological limitations can help parents adjust how they deal with their kids when their grades suffer from the inability to prioritize. Parents can help their children manage their time by helping students start a point log. A point log should be located somewhere in the front of the notebook where it is easily accessible. As teachers pass out each assignment, students should write the name of the assignment and the total possible points for the assignment. Teachers correlate the difficulty of projects and the time they expect students to work on those projects with points. When students are working on various assignments in the evening, they can plan how much time they should allocate to their assignments based on the point values.
Caution: Do not ask your child to share what he earned on every assignment. Try to keep the focus off the grade. Focus on the success YOU are seeing in his attitude, his efforts, and his commitment to school, not the number of questions he got right on a test. The grades will come eventually. Be positive about the reading improvement you are seeing. Take every opportunity to give him a quick complement about his notebook or how you are so proud of the effort he has been making (even if it is slight at first). Your child will interpret any slightly negative gesture from you as nagging. He will think you are angry and then come up with a million reasons why he has made you angry. "No matter what I do, it isn't enough," is a comment I hear from a lot of my students about their parents. Those comments become great excuses to plunge back into apathy and stop trying at all.
Contact the teacher about his progress if you need to know numbers, but don't involve your child in that part of the communication. Let him come to you and show you his grades as they improve. If he thinks you are spying on him, he will think you don't trust him and you don't think he can do it on his own. Ask the teacher to email you with any positive feedback about your child's behavior in class or on assignments. When you get a good report from the teacher, then involve your child. Tell him she contacted you because she is proud of his progress and is excited to see him working so hard. The positive feedback will do much more good than the negative.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
No Parent Left Behind article on reading
This article was published in the Suburban News in 2007
Our country is in a reading crisis and educators need parents to help. "US 11th graders have placed very close to the bottom [in reading ability], behind students from the Phillippines, Indonesia, Brazil, and other developing nations," found RAND, a nonprofit research organization. The 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress, the government's most comprehensive assessment of American education, found that while 77 percent of seniors read at or above the basic reading level, only 40 percent are proficient, and only 6 percent read at the advanced level.
So how do we make our kids better readers?
First of all, help them realize reading is work by reading with them and modeling strategies you use. Choose a magazine your child reads or find a magazine that writes about one of your child's interests, especially one you don’t know much about—say video games. Gamer magazines use enough lingo to make any non-gaming reader struggle.
Read an article with your child. When you come to an unfamiliar word, take your child through the decoding process you use. If you read a sentence you cannot understand, break it down and explain your way through it. Research shows that academic failure can often be attributed to strategic difficulties rather than limitations in learning capacity. It also shows that good readers usually use more than one reading strategy.
Major mistake in modeling reading: Do not read a passage from your child's homework. Because you have experience with this type of reading, you will probably not struggle. Reading his assignments aloud will only make the negative self talk worse because you will be modeling that reading should be easy when you want to model that reading is work.
Second, encourage reading. Good readers practice. Figure out what your child likes and find reading materials for him. Don't just focus on novels either. Graphic novels have pictures. They do not have a lot of text per page. They are not intimidating. They offer good plot development, character development, and all the other literary "stuff" educators want to expose to your child, but the story in a graphic novel is told through a combination of pictures and words which is much less intimidating for weak readers. If your local librarian doesn't know much about the graphic novel, stop into a comic book shop and ask the owner to help you find one appropriate for your child.
Bookmark some good sites for your child to read. How do you find the sites? Check out magazines that highlight the interests of your child and look for a web address. The magazine's web site will usually offer links to other sites. Not only will your child have a better experience on the web, you will be learning more about what makes your child tick and will have some conversation material.
Buy your child a subscription to a magazine. Newsweek, Time, and other news publications often offer teen versions. You can have your child use those magazines to model his reading strategies and then you can look for related articles in the adult version of the magazine and model your strategies. What a great conversation opener, and a great way to get your child involved in the world around him.
Third, encourage experience. Making meaning out of what we read relies on our ability to incorporate the new information into already existing schema, or file folders, in our mind. If you want your child to find learning easier, then help him create those file folders. You will be amazed how much easier it will be for him to understand characters, their dilemmas, the complexities of experiences and the subtleties of a plot if he has some color in his own life story. Finally, encourage your child to question. Researchers believe learners who are aware of what they don't know will decide to seek out information. Reading the information will be easier for them because they will have an interest. To spark curiosity, encourage discussion. Your child may need some time to build the courage to start asking questions. Give him time to consider what he wonders. Once he starts verbalizing his questions, you will have another chance to get to know him again.
Reading comprehension is a complex process that requires practice, hard work, resilience and determination. Don't get frustrated if your child takes baby steps. Every step he takes gets him a little closer to academic achievement and the ability to communicate better. Know that your efforts make you a good parent. Doing these reading exercises with your child will help him see that you care about his future, accept his limitations, and want to help him...and that you can have some fun and laugh at yourself every once in awhile while you are learning.
Our country is in a reading crisis and educators need parents to help. "US 11th graders have placed very close to the bottom [in reading ability], behind students from the Phillippines, Indonesia, Brazil, and other developing nations," found RAND, a nonprofit research organization. The 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress, the government's most comprehensive assessment of American education, found that while 77 percent of seniors read at or above the basic reading level, only 40 percent are proficient, and only 6 percent read at the advanced level.
So how do we make our kids better readers?
First of all, help them realize reading is work by reading with them and modeling strategies you use. Choose a magazine your child reads or find a magazine that writes about one of your child's interests, especially one you don’t know much about—say video games. Gamer magazines use enough lingo to make any non-gaming reader struggle.
Read an article with your child. When you come to an unfamiliar word, take your child through the decoding process you use. If you read a sentence you cannot understand, break it down and explain your way through it. Research shows that academic failure can often be attributed to strategic difficulties rather than limitations in learning capacity. It also shows that good readers usually use more than one reading strategy.
Major mistake in modeling reading: Do not read a passage from your child's homework. Because you have experience with this type of reading, you will probably not struggle. Reading his assignments aloud will only make the negative self talk worse because you will be modeling that reading should be easy when you want to model that reading is work.
Second, encourage reading. Good readers practice. Figure out what your child likes and find reading materials for him. Don't just focus on novels either. Graphic novels have pictures. They do not have a lot of text per page. They are not intimidating. They offer good plot development, character development, and all the other literary "stuff" educators want to expose to your child, but the story in a graphic novel is told through a combination of pictures and words which is much less intimidating for weak readers. If your local librarian doesn't know much about the graphic novel, stop into a comic book shop and ask the owner to help you find one appropriate for your child.
Bookmark some good sites for your child to read. How do you find the sites? Check out magazines that highlight the interests of your child and look for a web address. The magazine's web site will usually offer links to other sites. Not only will your child have a better experience on the web, you will be learning more about what makes your child tick and will have some conversation material.
Buy your child a subscription to a magazine. Newsweek, Time, and other news publications often offer teen versions. You can have your child use those magazines to model his reading strategies and then you can look for related articles in the adult version of the magazine and model your strategies. What a great conversation opener, and a great way to get your child involved in the world around him.
Third, encourage experience. Making meaning out of what we read relies on our ability to incorporate the new information into already existing schema, or file folders, in our mind. If you want your child to find learning easier, then help him create those file folders. You will be amazed how much easier it will be for him to understand characters, their dilemmas, the complexities of experiences and the subtleties of a plot if he has some color in his own life story. Finally, encourage your child to question. Researchers believe learners who are aware of what they don't know will decide to seek out information. Reading the information will be easier for them because they will have an interest. To spark curiosity, encourage discussion. Your child may need some time to build the courage to start asking questions. Give him time to consider what he wonders. Once he starts verbalizing his questions, you will have another chance to get to know him again.
Reading comprehension is a complex process that requires practice, hard work, resilience and determination. Don't get frustrated if your child takes baby steps. Every step he takes gets him a little closer to academic achievement and the ability to communicate better. Know that your efforts make you a good parent. Doing these reading exercises with your child will help him see that you care about his future, accept his limitations, and want to help him...and that you can have some fun and laugh at yourself every once in awhile while you are learning.
No Parent Left Behind article about organization
This article was published in the Suburban News Publication in 2007
Teens today study while they IM their friends, listen to their ipods, and update their Facebook accounts. This kind of stimulation can have two negative academic effects for students: students don’t practice sustaining their attention so they often struggle when they are reading, and students expect a teacher’s lessons to be as entertaining as MTV. Unfortunately, much of the information in school is disseminated through lecture, guided notes, and other auditory means. While many teachers try to spice it up with technology, most formal settings, including business seminars and other continuing education, are often presented in an auditory manner.
Learning to organize one's thoughts through good note-taking can help your child get the most out of school and keep him active during the learning process. Simplifying the note-taking process allows students the ability to focus on what is being taught.
Some subjects require that teachers use text books and teach from those texts. The disorganized student should jump up and click his heels when he encounters this type of teacher. Textbook writers set up the book in a simple manner so it is easy to reduce the information. Take history, for example. Let's say your child is studying the French Revolution. The history book will have a chapter called the French Revolution and then several sections. The sections will address one of the following key questions: who, what, when, where, why and how. Most students can predict the kinds of questions the text or the teacher will answer for each of those broad key questions.
Divide up a piece of paper into six sections. Put one of the six questions in each box. Each lesson, have your child write the name of the chapter, the six questions and the questions he predicts he will have to answer before the end of the unit. Each time the teacher answers a question, have him write the answer in the appropriate box. For example, the teacher may ask “Who” fought in the French Revolution, “Why” the disagreement couldn’t be settled diplomatically, or “When” the major battles occurred. Once the unit is over and your child is studying for the test, he only has six major topics to remember, and he can check off the information in the box as he masters it. Not only is this note taking system effective, it will teach your child to ask questions before he reads a text and reinforce the reading strategies good readers use.
This system can work in any subject because all subjects will address the six main questions, even math. This system also works when teachers give out guided notes, which are usually in outline form. Each section of the outline will most likely relate to one major question. Students can also use the study sheet while reading textbooks. They will have effectively reduced the information in the text to a much more manageable size.
The “Big 6” note taking strategy will work until the student runs into a reading passage he doesn't understand. One disturbing habit I see in my students is they stop reading at the first sign of trouble. If they encounter too many big words, or if they find a passage they cannot immediately understand, they stop reading and come to class the next day complaining that "I don't get it." When I ask them what they don't get, they cannot answer me. Probing further is often fruitless and ends in frustration on both sides.
Little sticky notes can be the saving experience for this student. Buy some of the little strips of sticky notes or the smaller rectangular ones. The square ones are too big. Any time a student runs into a word he doesn't know, he can stick it, and move on. Any time he is reading and cannot visualize what is happening in the story, or if he finds himself reading the same passage over and over without understanding it, he can stick it and move on. When he arrives to class the following day, he can open his book to the exact location he found confusing and let the teacher interpret with him. The teacher will know he put in the effort and read the assignment and will be happy to clarify any of the passages he didn't understand.
Sticky notes can also be invaluable note taking tools during class. Teachers often point to specific passages from novels or texts. Those passages often contain information the students will see on the final test. When a teacher makes reference to a specific passage from a novel or text, stick it. Studying for the test then becomes a two part process: making sure you know all the information on the Big 6 note taking sheets, and reviewing the facts in the passages with sticky notes.
Teens today study while they IM their friends, listen to their ipods, and update their Facebook accounts. This kind of stimulation can have two negative academic effects for students: students don’t practice sustaining their attention so they often struggle when they are reading, and students expect a teacher’s lessons to be as entertaining as MTV. Unfortunately, much of the information in school is disseminated through lecture, guided notes, and other auditory means. While many teachers try to spice it up with technology, most formal settings, including business seminars and other continuing education, are often presented in an auditory manner.
Learning to organize one's thoughts through good note-taking can help your child get the most out of school and keep him active during the learning process. Simplifying the note-taking process allows students the ability to focus on what is being taught.
Some subjects require that teachers use text books and teach from those texts. The disorganized student should jump up and click his heels when he encounters this type of teacher. Textbook writers set up the book in a simple manner so it is easy to reduce the information. Take history, for example. Let's say your child is studying the French Revolution. The history book will have a chapter called the French Revolution and then several sections. The sections will address one of the following key questions: who, what, when, where, why and how. Most students can predict the kinds of questions the text or the teacher will answer for each of those broad key questions.
Divide up a piece of paper into six sections. Put one of the six questions in each box. Each lesson, have your child write the name of the chapter, the six questions and the questions he predicts he will have to answer before the end of the unit. Each time the teacher answers a question, have him write the answer in the appropriate box. For example, the teacher may ask “Who” fought in the French Revolution, “Why” the disagreement couldn’t be settled diplomatically, or “When” the major battles occurred. Once the unit is over and your child is studying for the test, he only has six major topics to remember, and he can check off the information in the box as he masters it. Not only is this note taking system effective, it will teach your child to ask questions before he reads a text and reinforce the reading strategies good readers use.
This system can work in any subject because all subjects will address the six main questions, even math. This system also works when teachers give out guided notes, which are usually in outline form. Each section of the outline will most likely relate to one major question. Students can also use the study sheet while reading textbooks. They will have effectively reduced the information in the text to a much more manageable size.
The “Big 6” note taking strategy will work until the student runs into a reading passage he doesn't understand. One disturbing habit I see in my students is they stop reading at the first sign of trouble. If they encounter too many big words, or if they find a passage they cannot immediately understand, they stop reading and come to class the next day complaining that "I don't get it." When I ask them what they don't get, they cannot answer me. Probing further is often fruitless and ends in frustration on both sides.
Little sticky notes can be the saving experience for this student. Buy some of the little strips of sticky notes or the smaller rectangular ones. The square ones are too big. Any time a student runs into a word he doesn't know, he can stick it, and move on. Any time he is reading and cannot visualize what is happening in the story, or if he finds himself reading the same passage over and over without understanding it, he can stick it and move on. When he arrives to class the following day, he can open his book to the exact location he found confusing and let the teacher interpret with him. The teacher will know he put in the effort and read the assignment and will be happy to clarify any of the passages he didn't understand.
Sticky notes can also be invaluable note taking tools during class. Teachers often point to specific passages from novels or texts. Those passages often contain information the students will see on the final test. When a teacher makes reference to a specific passage from a novel or text, stick it. Studying for the test then becomes a two part process: making sure you know all the information on the Big 6 note taking sheets, and reviewing the facts in the passages with sticky notes.
SNP article about working together for education
Acting alone, schools cannot prepare students for workforce
Critics of education like to refer to the Rip Van Winkle story to illustrate how slowly education changes. After 100 years of sleep, Van Winkle only recognized the schools because they had not changed at all. Our current global economy paired with the speed of growth in technology is forcing education to change, but many traditional public schools do not have the flexibility or funding to keep up.
Consider this explanation of technology’s future by Ray Kurzweil, a prominent inventor, mathematician, and entrepreneur: “An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense ‘intuitive linear’ view. So we won't experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century -- it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today's rate).”
Schools cannot stay current, let alone act as visionaries. They do not have the funding, support from the business community, or time in their curriculum to stray from standardized test prep to adequately engage students in technology. The public is noticing. eSchool News reports that “a recent poll commissioned by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills shows the vast majority of U.S. voters believe students are ill-equipped to compete in the global learning environment, and that schools must incorporate 21st-century skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, communication and self-direction, and computer and technology skills into the curriculum.”
Bill McInturff with Public Opinion Strategies told eSchools the recent poll reveals that voters believe students are not workforce-ready, don't have the breadth of skills needed to succeed in today's world, and are not well-rounded enough.
Failing to teach these 21st-century skills is expensive for the end user, the student. In fact, a recent report by the National Science Foundation found that many of our newest scientists and engineers actually need skills-based training from a community college to be competitive. The report found that 50 percent of the science and engineering graduates who attended a community college went there to, “gain further skills and knowledge in an academic or occupational field.” These college graduates lacked the hands on, practical skills needed to be competitive in their fields. They didn’t have the right training in high school or in college, and now they must attend specialized programs on their own dime, or their company’s dime if they are lucky enough to get a job.
So what do we do? We work together to bring change.
The public needs to educate itself about the educational options out there for their children. They need to force partnerships between their school districts, career centers, local businesses and local colleges. School districts need to focus their finances on what they do well, and outsource what they cannot fund. Students need to have the opportunities for hands on experience through apprenticeships and internships, experiences that can enrich their college education by making the academic information relevant. The path to professional success is changing, and it can be revised to be much more efficient and affordable.
Our economy is global. Our business world is multi-cultural and multi-national. One company may have designers in the United States, manufacturing plants in Mexico, and customer service in India. But, our schools continue to try to do it all in one building with limited resources. That model is not effective, and it will not teach our students how to function in their future careers.
We need a partnership council, and we need one now. Who will join me?
Critics of education like to refer to the Rip Van Winkle story to illustrate how slowly education changes. After 100 years of sleep, Van Winkle only recognized the schools because they had not changed at all. Our current global economy paired with the speed of growth in technology is forcing education to change, but many traditional public schools do not have the flexibility or funding to keep up.
Consider this explanation of technology’s future by Ray Kurzweil, a prominent inventor, mathematician, and entrepreneur: “An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense ‘intuitive linear’ view. So we won't experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century -- it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today's rate).”
Schools cannot stay current, let alone act as visionaries. They do not have the funding, support from the business community, or time in their curriculum to stray from standardized test prep to adequately engage students in technology. The public is noticing. eSchool News reports that “a recent poll commissioned by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills shows the vast majority of U.S. voters believe students are ill-equipped to compete in the global learning environment, and that schools must incorporate 21st-century skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, communication and self-direction, and computer and technology skills into the curriculum.”
Bill McInturff with Public Opinion Strategies told eSchools the recent poll reveals that voters believe students are not workforce-ready, don't have the breadth of skills needed to succeed in today's world, and are not well-rounded enough.
Failing to teach these 21st-century skills is expensive for the end user, the student. In fact, a recent report by the National Science Foundation found that many of our newest scientists and engineers actually need skills-based training from a community college to be competitive. The report found that 50 percent of the science and engineering graduates who attended a community college went there to, “gain further skills and knowledge in an academic or occupational field.” These college graduates lacked the hands on, practical skills needed to be competitive in their fields. They didn’t have the right training in high school or in college, and now they must attend specialized programs on their own dime, or their company’s dime if they are lucky enough to get a job.
So what do we do? We work together to bring change.
The public needs to educate itself about the educational options out there for their children. They need to force partnerships between their school districts, career centers, local businesses and local colleges. School districts need to focus their finances on what they do well, and outsource what they cannot fund. Students need to have the opportunities for hands on experience through apprenticeships and internships, experiences that can enrich their college education by making the academic information relevant. The path to professional success is changing, and it can be revised to be much more efficient and affordable.
Our economy is global. Our business world is multi-cultural and multi-national. One company may have designers in the United States, manufacturing plants in Mexico, and customer service in India. But, our schools continue to try to do it all in one building with limited resources. That model is not effective, and it will not teach our students how to function in their future careers.
We need a partnership council, and we need one now. Who will join me?
SNP article I wrote about career centers
Career Centers deserve look from college-bound students
Educators spend millions of dollars on fads that are often under-researched or misapplied. In fact, a new body of research is examining high school reform and finding a large discrepancy between theory and reality.
For example, many schools started smaller “academies,” or schools within schools, to try to help students stay engaged in their learning. However, research is now finding, “This approach led to increased stratification of students by race, academic ability, and socioeconomic class,” according to a new book called Schools Within Schools: Possibilities and Pitfalls of High School Reform.
“Similar to many other educational reforms, the SWS [schools within schools] has been promoted and implemented without a solid base of empirical evidence to support it,” write the authors, Douglas Ready and Valerie Lee.
Educators struggle with the disconnect between what we know about learning and the way we design schools, so we often try to invent creative ways to connect the two. We know students learn better when we have smaller classrooms. We know students learn better when they are actively engaged in their subject matter. We know that students retain information better if they apply what they learn in real world settings. But, high school class sizes are growing and standardized testing is shrinking the time teachers have to do applied activities.
Rather than relying on the schools to find funds to invent new programs, parents need to educate themselves about the systems already in place, the programs that have already been tested, modified and tweaked. Career centers partner with local school districts, and they have evolved to fit modern educational needs. They no longer just serve students who want to learn trades; do not want to go to college, or students who are behavior problems at their schools.
While they still help at-risk students, many of their programs are designed for the college bound, offer college credit, and offer certifications to help students get a jump start. In fact, in 2006, the Delaware Area Career Center, the center that serves many of the northern Columbus suburban districts achieved a graduation rate of 98.8%. Over 60% of their students enrolled in higher education.
Students today have more educational options than ever before, and career centers are the best kept secret of those options. I am constantly returning to my mental rolodex of students who would have loved the opportunities they could have had if I had only known.
Educators spend millions of dollars on fads that are often under-researched or misapplied. In fact, a new body of research is examining high school reform and finding a large discrepancy between theory and reality.
For example, many schools started smaller “academies,” or schools within schools, to try to help students stay engaged in their learning. However, research is now finding, “This approach led to increased stratification of students by race, academic ability, and socioeconomic class,” according to a new book called Schools Within Schools: Possibilities and Pitfalls of High School Reform.
“Similar to many other educational reforms, the SWS [schools within schools] has been promoted and implemented without a solid base of empirical evidence to support it,” write the authors, Douglas Ready and Valerie Lee.
Educators struggle with the disconnect between what we know about learning and the way we design schools, so we often try to invent creative ways to connect the two. We know students learn better when we have smaller classrooms. We know students learn better when they are actively engaged in their subject matter. We know that students retain information better if they apply what they learn in real world settings. But, high school class sizes are growing and standardized testing is shrinking the time teachers have to do applied activities.
Rather than relying on the schools to find funds to invent new programs, parents need to educate themselves about the systems already in place, the programs that have already been tested, modified and tweaked. Career centers partner with local school districts, and they have evolved to fit modern educational needs. They no longer just serve students who want to learn trades; do not want to go to college, or students who are behavior problems at their schools.
While they still help at-risk students, many of their programs are designed for the college bound, offer college credit, and offer certifications to help students get a jump start. In fact, in 2006, the Delaware Area Career Center, the center that serves many of the northern Columbus suburban districts achieved a graduation rate of 98.8%. Over 60% of their students enrolled in higher education.
Students today have more educational options than ever before, and career centers are the best kept secret of those options. I am constantly returning to my mental rolodex of students who would have loved the opportunities they could have had if I had only known.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
A new journey
I am on a journey, and I am realizing that journey is both exhausting and exhilerating. I spent nearly a decade teaching high school students in a suburban district in Columbus, Ohio. Parents used to come to me with concerns when their children were not performing up to their potential. I decided to do some research and create a suggested reading list for parents, but I found very little for the list. Most of the books helped teachers design lessons for the struggling student or taught them how to work with literacy issues in classrooms. For parents, most of the books dealt with the angst of the teenage years and how to navigate the adolscent years. I realized I would need to write the book parents could use, so I did. No Parent Left Behind: a handbook for parents of struggling students appeared in print in spring 2007. Almost immediately, schools started contacting me to come and speak to their staff about how to involve parents. One school even bought a copy for each freshman parent.
After I wrote my book, I knew I needed to leave the classroom to promote it. I could not miss school days to facilitate presentations and professional development, or the students would suffer. The position as a community relations coordinator at a local career center opened and offered a flexible schedule and the ability to meet and network with people in the educational community. When I began there, I planned to do a lot of community events and networking, which I did my first year.
I am very passionate about the fact that education is the responsibility of an entire community, and that doesn't just mean financial responsibility. The number one predictor of student success is parental involvement. I take that a step further. A school that truly prepares our students for the future should have businesses, as well as parents and social services, involved in a hands on way. The school should be the community center where students can learn much more than just academics: they should learn what success means TO THEM and learn about themselves, their responsibility to their society and the education they need to reach their goals. The mission of every school should be "To foster passion." Connecting students with local opportunities in business should offer a good return on investment for the businesses as they attempt to develop their workforce and groom tomorrow's leaders.
My job at the career center changed from networking to marketing. I am no longer in the community creating those types of connections for our students. I am now engaged in marketing, web site design, and screening for advertising opportunities and professional photographers and designers. Although I am sure I could learn to be really great at coordinating all those tasks, my daily tasks are no longer connected enough to education to satisfy me. So..I will move on.
I am a firm believer that life throws opportunities my way and I just have to make sure to keep my eyes open so I can take advantage of them. My new journey back to school as a doctoral student at The Ohio State University's will be an adventure in a variety of ways. I expect to be challenged academically, financially and philosophically as I navigate the coursework and begin thinking of my research interests for the future.
I plan to use this blog to share educational research I encounter during my doctoral coursework. I also plan to use it to help people see what life is like as a doc student. I hope current educators and administrators I have worked with will follow this blog to see what new perspectives I can bring to their schools. I also hope to offer a place where educators, parents, administrators, and business people can discuss issues about education and parenting students. The contribution readers of this blog can make will greatly help me shape my research interests and future workshops.
After I wrote my book, I knew I needed to leave the classroom to promote it. I could not miss school days to facilitate presentations and professional development, or the students would suffer. The position as a community relations coordinator at a local career center opened and offered a flexible schedule and the ability to meet and network with people in the educational community. When I began there, I planned to do a lot of community events and networking, which I did my first year.
I am very passionate about the fact that education is the responsibility of an entire community, and that doesn't just mean financial responsibility. The number one predictor of student success is parental involvement. I take that a step further. A school that truly prepares our students for the future should have businesses, as well as parents and social services, involved in a hands on way. The school should be the community center where students can learn much more than just academics: they should learn what success means TO THEM and learn about themselves, their responsibility to their society and the education they need to reach their goals. The mission of every school should be "To foster passion." Connecting students with local opportunities in business should offer a good return on investment for the businesses as they attempt to develop their workforce and groom tomorrow's leaders.
My job at the career center changed from networking to marketing. I am no longer in the community creating those types of connections for our students. I am now engaged in marketing, web site design, and screening for advertising opportunities and professional photographers and designers. Although I am sure I could learn to be really great at coordinating all those tasks, my daily tasks are no longer connected enough to education to satisfy me. So..I will move on.
I am a firm believer that life throws opportunities my way and I just have to make sure to keep my eyes open so I can take advantage of them. My new journey back to school as a doctoral student at The Ohio State University's will be an adventure in a variety of ways. I expect to be challenged academically, financially and philosophically as I navigate the coursework and begin thinking of my research interests for the future.
I plan to use this blog to share educational research I encounter during my doctoral coursework. I also plan to use it to help people see what life is like as a doc student. I hope current educators and administrators I have worked with will follow this blog to see what new perspectives I can bring to their schools. I also hope to offer a place where educators, parents, administrators, and business people can discuss issues about education and parenting students. The contribution readers of this blog can make will greatly help me shape my research interests and future workshops.
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