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Strollerderby
Getting children to understand the feelings of others is not an easy task, but it’s an important one. In my eyes, it’s actually THE most important one. Understanding how other people feel makes it easier to live a compassionate and conscientious life. Being a good person is certainly possible without that piece, but if you can’t relate to other people’s feelings, it’s a lot harder to know how not to hurt them.
Here in the U.S., we seem to think empathy is something that emerges naturally. And when it doesn’t, we think there must be a problem. But a program for grade school students in Japan shows an entirely different way of thinking. The idea there is that the honest expression of feelings—and ability to connect with the feelings of others—is a skill that must be practiced. And these skills deserve a central role in the school curriculum.
So how do they do it? Continue reading »
The debate about red-shirting heats up about this time every year. Parents of kids born from late summer to early winter wring their hands while staring hard at their post-preschooler trying to discern: is this the year to start? Is 4 years old too young for Kindergarten? Is 6 too old? Will the boy sit still? Will the girl be bored? What to do?
The slide toward earlier reading and more academics in Kindergarten doesn’t make the decision any easier. So while a lot of parents who decide to red-shirt are accused of wanting a leg-up in sports years down the road, there are sound reasons to put off Kindergarten enrollment for another year: if your child isn’t ready to settle down, he’ll only learn to dislike school and distract all of his peers in the process.
Pamela Paul wrote about redshirting last week for the New York Times and captured some of the many reasons — and frequent regrets — that underlie decisions to wait a year or go for it at 4. But I think the decision doesn’t have to be so all-or-nothing, so anguishing. After all, if your child winds up indeed being too young, she can always repeat Kindergarten.
That’s right, flunk Kindergarten. Continue reading »
Read this and weep. A name-that-historical-giant quiz administered to 1,000 British schoolkids elicited these scary answers:
Buzz Lightyear and Luke Skywalker were named as the first man on the moon.
This morning, a coalition of governors and school chiefs from 48 states and the District of Columbia issued their proposal for new, national English and math standards for students in grades K-12.
The standards are a move toward ensuring that every student is expected to leave school with the same body of knowledge and abilities no matter where they are from, so that they will be fully prepared for college or work after graduating high school. It would replace the current state standards, which some critics believe states have watered down in response to the high-stakes testing of No Child Left Behind, and which vary wildly. Only Alaska and Texas rejected the standards, which will be available for public comment until April 2.
The standards require, for example, Continue reading »
On Monday, the Obama administration announced plans to change how we assess whether schools are succeeding or failing, and to change how federal dollars are handed out based on such assessments. In an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, Susan Engel, a senior lecturer in psychology and the director of the teaching program at Williams College, laid out her vision of the ideal classroom.
It seems that higher education may be the only business that’s currently recession-proof. According to a survey released by the College Board, tuition at 4-year private colleges spiked 4.4% this year to over $26,000. Students at public institutions got an even bigger hit: up 6% for both in-state and out-of state students, to over $7,000 and $18,000 respectively.
Some people may have felt relief reading “All in the Timing,” today’s top story on Babble. Writer and children’s story book author Dashka Slater sets out to remind us that picture books aren’t just for babies; they’re for big kids, too. She also wants you to know that reading level doesn’t always jibe with readiness level — some kids’ lit is lost on the young-yet-advanced readers.
Great insight! Parents of advanced readers, go over to Slater’s piece and then unbox those “babyish” picture books for a few more years.
But for the rest of you who read the article and are now crapping your pants — 4-year-olds reading? 6-year-olds and Shakespeare? 10-year-olds and Eragon?– come to Mama Madeline. Continue reading »
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