Want to get your kids into college? Let them play
Wow! Stop the presses! This headline says it all. Erika Christakis and Nicholas Christakis are Masters of one of Harvard’s residential houses. They see a distinct difference between students with a play-based preschool and early childhood background and those from “drill and kill” schools. Not only do they feel play is critical to the development of young children, they “wonder why play is not encouraged in educational periods later in the developmental life of young people — giving kids more practice as they get closer to the ages of our students.”
I highly recommend you click here to read more!
The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers
How much is a great Kindergarten teacher worth? $320,000.00 per year. David Leonhardt of the New York Times Economic Scene writes about a unique study that is changing the way the world looks at early childhood education.
“Students who had learned much more in kindergarten were more likely to go to college than students with otherwise similar backgrounds. Students who learned more were also less likely to become single parents. As adults, they were more likely to be saving for retirement. Perhaps most striking, they were earning more.”
Click here to read more.
Gunn High School Sings Away Hate Group
Here is a beautiful example of experiential education. The students of Gunn High School were confronted with a hate group that was targeting their school because of its’ practice of tolerance. This video shows how the school prepares the children for what’s coming as well as supports them in crafting a value-based response.
“The highest result of education, is tolerance.” -Helen Keller
Click here to see the video.
Playing to Learn
The New York Times’ Susan Engel envisions a world where children learn by doing and are given ample time to master the critical skills they need through activities that are relevant. Engel asks us to: “Imagine, for instance, a third-grade classroom that was free of the laundry list of goals currently harnessing our teachers and students, and that was devoted instead to just a few narrowly defined and deeply focused goals.”
Click here to read more.
Where the Bar Ought to Be
Deborah Kenny is the woman behind the amazing group of charter schools known as the Harlem Village Academies. In starting her charter schools, Kenny felt that one thing was more important than all others: quality teaching. “If you had an amazing teacher who was talented and passionate and given the freedom and support to teach well,” she said, “that was just 100 times more important than anything else.”
Don’t miss the five tenets she had in mind when raising her own children, and that represent the core expectations for students at the Harlem Village Academies.
Click here to read more.
Let’s Take a Poetry Break
Please check out these 2 exceptional poems written and performed by Sayda Morales a graduate of the first Kipp Charter School in the Bronx. Listen for her tribute to Kipp, “I am from a team and a family helping me climb the mountain to college”. It is our wish that Valley Charter School will be that team, that community, for the young people we are entrusted to teach.
Click Here for “I Am From”
Click Here for “Para Ti, Mi Hija” (“For you, my daughter”)
2010 TEDPrize Winner: Jamie Oliver
Don’t miss this inspiring talk by Chef Jamie Oliver. He has become a highly vocal and active advocate for children’s right to eat fresh, nutritious food both at school and in the home. His goal is to educate American schools and parents on how to serve healthy, easy to prepare foods on a budget. One of the unique positions he takes is on the importance of parents cooking for their children, then sitting down to eat with them. Without this food “infrastructure”, we are becoming a nation of people who don’t know how or what to eat, and who don’t know and understand the fulfillment of a family meal. Jamie’s winning wish:
“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”
School Adds Weeding to Reading and Writing
As with all educational topics, school gardens have been the subject of hot debate lately. This article by Kim Severson in the New York Times Dining section, outlines the debate and details the plans for the latest Edible Schoolyard backed by California’s Alice Waters. For those who don’t know, Alice Waters has been a huge champion of the idea that fresh, good food is a right, not a privilege. In many circles she is credited with the increased availability of organic foods in our local markets. The school garden at P.S. 216 in Brooklyn will be the sixth backed by Waters’ Chez Panisse Foundation.
“Teachers will use the garden to give students — 460 children from prekindergarten to the fifth grade — lessons in subjects like art, math, history and science. Administrators hope the school will eventually become a center for the study of the environment and agriculture.”
Emotional Training Helps Kids Fight Depression
Evidence is building around the importance of supporting the emotional development of school age children. Check out this NPR piece by Allison Aubrey. In it she explores resilience training in the Middle School years. It appears that helping kids stay positive and focused in an emotionally charged moment not only improves coping skills, it diminishes their chances of becoming depressed by about 50%.
“If a person tends to see small disappointments as catastrophes or failures, they can become depressed or anxious. It’s a common trick our minds can play on us, as children and as adults. But once thoughts are more aligned with reality, emotional responses can change for the better.”
leave a comment