Raising hands ... a looming relic in education?

Along with the dunce cap and printed textbooks, it appears the raised hand will be added to the growing heap of outdated school classroom necessities. This in an effort, according to Jezebel, to avoid Hermione Granger types to dominate classroom discussion.

For generations, the raised hand has been used to signal polite and knowledgeable classroom participation; “raise your hands if you know the answer,” was the firm refrain of an educator at the very top of her classroom management game.

Which is why it comes as a surprise to see news that the raised hand, at least in one elementary school, has been banned. Continue reading »

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"Who thinks everyone deserves a quality education regardless of financial status?" "I do!"

I started kindergarten in 1981, when I was 4 years old.  Back then, the typical half-day class involved tracing some letters and numbers, having a snack and taking a nap.  (Was nap time really necessary?  We were only there for 3 hours!)  My class was monitored by a kind, grey-haired lady named Mrs. Dashner, who was more a grandma figure than a teacher.

Flash forward 30 years, and my daughter’s kindergarten class is helmed by a bright, energetic 20-something working on her second master’s degree.  Kindergarten is no longer a 3-hour babysitting session, it’s a full day, full-on experience.  Recent topics of study in my daughter’s class have included the life cycle of butterflies and chicks, replete with live science lab where caterpillars cocooned and chicks incubated.  The butterflies were released on Friday and the chicks are now growing contour feathers, but my little chickadee is still only 5.  She won’t turn 6 until over a month into first grade.  She’s part of a dying breed of kindergartners who are 4 at the beginning of the school year.  According to the New York Times, “Connecticut, one of the last states to allow 4-year-olds to enter kindergarten, is considering changing its rules so that children would have to be 5 by Oct. 1, not Jan. 1, prompting a fight over access, equity and persistent achievement gaps based on race and class.” Continue reading »

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Christian school mandates haircut

4-year-old Jack Szablewski was recently barred from attending Pre-K at his New Jersey parochial school because his hair was deemed too long.

Jack’s parents are especially outraged over the school’s decision because Jack had been growing his hair in honor of his grandfather, who died of lung cancer. The boy was planning to donate hair so it could be used in wigs for kids who lost their own hair because of cancer treatments, according to NBC News’ “Today Show.”

“That’s Christian? That’s Catholic?” Jack’s mother Renee Szablewski asked during a telephone interview with TODAYshow.com earlier this week.

It sounds appalling, but the case isn’t so clear cut. Continue reading »

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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 »

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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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