October 2015

October 30, 2015

Your child is only at level 23!

I have had to sit on this subject for 2 days as as it was connected to an incident that left me white hot with rage! All I could do was rant and rave with my colleagues who all agreed privately but pointed out they are often bound to work within this crazy system!

I worked with a perfectly normal 6 year old this week who is just beginning to sound out and recognise some words. He has a lovely sense of humour and is obviously a very active, creative child who will do well at school.

BUT he comes from a classroom where the levels may as well be inscribed on children’s wrists like those in POW camps! His parents were told the sad news- “Only at level 23!”

Up to level 23 in reading? What does this mean? Of course I know there are various prescribed lists of levels suitable for children with books that fit within these lists. Many of these lists are put together by publishers of particular reading schemes and teachers (searching for a sane, easier way of assessing) are grabbing at these levels and giving out comments such as “Oh dear! Your child is only at level 23- he should be at 30.”
Who said?
What about the fact that he has started his reading journey and now recognises all the single sounds, many digraphs and can sound out simple words?

What about the fact that he loves picture books, comprehends well and has great ideas for writing narratives?

Aren’t they things to celebrate for a 6 year old? But NO!

Because some children can master all their phonics at 5 years we now judge those who take a little longer.

This is utter madness and teachers know this deep down.
Evaluation is a complex process and cannot be pinned down to numbers like this.

You have to get to KNOW a child to evaluate them. Not only do you apply baseline testing, you have to observe, figure out their thinking patterns and watch them in action.

When we make these fast judgements we are lowering our standards as educators and behaving like teaching machines.

The results are sad kids with low self-esteem who already hate school at 6! At 6? Crazy!

I know some teachers are pushed to place kids against very questionable ranking scores but this causes unbelievable harm for children and parents.

We can do much better than this!

Now when I assess children and ask them how they think they are doing at school, they answer me like this,
“Oh Vicky- I am only at level 15.” When I ask them what that means they haven’t a clue and neither have I.

Let’s get back to solid, on the floor observation, talking to children, identifying learning styles, finding what they can do, running records and closely monitoring phonological awareness, word identification and fluency. I tell kids when they have problems and I make up plans to help them rather than giving out some meaningless score! We are teaching children- not machines!
What is happening is stupidity of the first degree and I cannot stand back and watch what is happening with a closed mouth.

Come on educators- speak your minds and parents- DEMAND to know exactly what these levels mean and why your child should have to be a carbon copy of some “idealised” robot child!

October 28, 2015

The A-Z of Child Whispering: I is for IMPOSSIBLE (wrong!)

“ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE- ONLY BELIEVE!”
I remember singing this at Church many years ago and wondering, “Could this be true?”
Fortunately for me I was able to navigate my way around the school system at the time and it suited my learning style.
I knew many kids my age who did not do well academically but could think far more creatively than me and were obviously much smarter!
Why do we consign kids to educational rubbish tips so early?
Why are we so keen to burst bubbles of possibilities?
I hear so many instances where teachers have said of a 7 year old, “Well he won’t get to Uni but…….
How would they know?
I have been teaching for a very long time and I can’t predict that.
I truly believe all kids are gifted and that is why I wrote ALL KIDS ARE SMART.
This is what I believe-
We should stop limiting children at such early ages. We don’t use the word IMPOSSIBLE in my programs. IMPOSSIBLE things may well be possible tomorrow!

I see so many anxious parents of perfectly normal, intelligent children who just happen to be taking a little longer to develop.
I also see children who have genuine difficulties as their learning style is not catered for by their school and they have some huge learning gaps. We work hard to mend their self-esteem and establish basic concepts.
We also have many children attending who achieve academically 1-3 years ahead of the expected levels and we provide challenge and enriching programs for them.
Both teachers and parents need to get to know children and considered preferred intelligences and learning style.
Readers of ALL KIDS ARE SMART can use the provided tests to determine their own strengths and weaknesses as well as the children they are concerned with. This helps us to offer precision teaching based on actual needs and delivered in such a way they can access and benefit.
The old hymn was right and is being proven by entrepreneurs all over the world. Most famous entrepreneurs such as Richard Branston scooted around the school system and pretty well ignored it! They refused to have their self-belief and creativity confined and battered as discussed by Ken Robinson:

Child whisperers – take note and stoke the fires of belief rather than pouring the cold, cruel waters of cynicism onto children’s emerging self-beliefs!

If you would like a copy of ALL KIDS ARE SMART please email victoriacarlton@iinet.net.au

October 26, 2015October 26, 2015

Scary, slimy learning happening at ICE this Saturday!

We have just finished another Super Science Saturday and again the message is clear! Children with their innate curiosity LOVE experiments and are never bored with the world around them!

Last week we did an experiment with static electricity, balloons and tissue paper ghosts- they insisted on repeating it again and again!

Later we did an experiment to make candy worms wriggle– it didn’t work well and we had to do it 3 times and try and figure out what variables needed changing. So much thinking and learning!

We also learned about our bones by using cotton buds to make skeletons!

Because the learning activities (literacy and numeracy), are peppered amongst the science experiments the children hardly notice they are actually working really hard!

I notice children often turn up 30 minutes early- a clear sign they are enjoying themselves! Many children elect to do a double session- another clear sign they LOVE science enough to give up their precious Saturday mornings!

I often have this sense of excitement Friday mornings because frankly I NEVER know exactly what the outcome of Super Science Saturday will be– I just know that science is most definitely the fastest path to get most kids to feel invigorated about learning and make fast progress!

This Saturday we have a full morning of Halloween experiments, horrible creative writing exercises, ghastly art/craft and nasty maths! I can’t wait!

October 21, 2015

KIDS GOING FOR GOLD

I was running JOLLY GRAMMAR training over the last 2 days and honoured to have very passionate dedicated Darwin teachers attending!
We were discussing expected levels children reach and ways to measure these levels. I was telling them about what I have done this term at our centre. Basically I took a deep breath and told ALL the children I expected them to jump up a level and reach for the stars this term! The amazing thing is the kids caught “the ball” and they are already running with it. Kids love challenges!
A young teacher (an acting Principal) told us she had doubled the levels her children were expected to reach. She told us she had come from a school in another state where the expected levels were exactly DOUBLE of the ones expected at her present school. So she looked around, thought, “these kids are just as capable” and set new levels. And- guess what? The kids got there! She has doubled the expected academic outcomes in her school by simply believing in her pupils and setting the bar at a higher level.
I was SO impressed. There are many stories about how expectations determine educational standards and we all know it is true but somehow we still accept less than kids can give. This insults children and I truly believe we need to insist on excellence.
I don’t believe, “Do it again,” is a soul destroying statement. Often it means we know they are capable of better work. I am not a fan of putting too much pressure on children but I do believe that we should ALL give of our best. Accepting less than their best is actually quite insulting for children. They WANT to go for gold. They are just not sure of the route and might need to be adjusted in their tracks!

October 19, 2015

Does anyone speak “Fairy” around here?

Today I told teachers in Darwin about a teacher I knew who had her Kindy kids writing and drawing pictures to an imaginary fairy who lived in her cupboard. One of the teachers in the workshop told me a lovely story.
This teacher had written on a piece of pink paper with a few squiggles with lots of glitter and asked her 4 year olds, “Can anyone speak “Fairy” around here?

One little boy confidently called out, “I can!” and then made up a lovely, creative explanation of the weird squiggles!

A few weeks later, the teacher thought she would try it again, and asked the little boy to try to decode some more “Fairy” words on a purple piece of paper. This time she wrote a few simple words that could be sounded out. The little boy was having none of this! He was not interested in sounding out words as this was not half as interesting as making up his own story!

The little boy took a good look, and assertively replied, “Sorry, I can’t read “Fairy” when it is written on purple paper!”

The point here is the marvellous confidence and creativity the little boy showed and his ability to fight his way out of a difficult situation!

Young children have huge dollops of wonderful creativity and imagination. Unfortunately we usually squash this within the first 2 years of school. As Sir Ken Robinson points out- so many Kindy kids are creative geniuses but lose it within a year! We need to grow creativity rather than kill it!

Can you imagine walking into your local pub/café/ workplace and asking the same question: “Does anyone around here speak “Fairy?”
I dare you to try! The answers might be a little different!

October 17, 2015

ABC of Child Whispering: I is for Immediate

Immediacy is craved by youngsters but as teachers and parents we need to be aware of the effects on developing characters if we always provide instant gratification to children. We ALL need to learn to wait! (Not an easy concept for children brought up in the age of push a button and something exciting happens!)
Today I came across an interesting article about the famous marshmallow test), done with children that showed that the ability to delay gratification has such a huge effect on our lives. (Stanford University during the 60s)

The interesting part for child whisperers is that a second experiment set up at Rochester University to replicate this but with an important twist, proved that we can deliberately set out to develop this ability to delay gratification in children.

Before offering the child the marshmallow, the researchers split the children into two groups.

“The first group was exposed to a series of unreliable experiences. For example, the researcher gave the child a small box of crayons and promised to bring a bigger one, but never did. Then the researcher gave the child a small sticker and promised to bring a better selection of stickers, but never did.
Meanwhile, the second group had very reliable experiences. They were promised better crayons and got them. They were told about the better stickers and then they received them.
You can imagine the impact these experiences had on the marshmallow test. The children in the unreliable group had no reason to trust that the researchers would bring a second marshmallow and thus they didn’t wait very long to eat the first one.
Meanwhile, the children in the second group were training their brains to see delayed gratification as a positive. Every time the researcher made a promise and then delivered on it, the child’s brain registered two things: 1) waiting for gratification is worth it and 2) I have the capability to wait. As a result, the second group waited an average of four times longer than the first group.
In other words, the child’s ability to delay gratification and display self-control was not a predetermined trait, but rather was impacted by the experiences and environment that surrounded them. In fact, the effects of the environment were almost instantaneous. Just a few minutes of reliable or unreliable experiences were enough to push the actions of each child in one direction or another.”

40 Years of Stanford Research Found That People With This One Quality Are More Likely to Succeed

So what can we learn from this?
Very simple.
We can learn to clean up our act- especially as teachers and BE CONSISTENT with the environment we set up for learning. We can learn that rewards, when consistently and fairly used WORK!
Just this week I had a child show us this. This child is extremely bright but was not showing this at school. He has developed the trait of not paying attention (he is 6) as he is bored and has learned that his ability is a nuisance in his class so he has just switched off. Not a stupid way of coping when you consider he has to spend from 9-3, 5 days a week in this environment! His parents have enrolled him for 2 learning sessions with us per week to try to turn this situation around.
We set out to capture this child’s heart and I listened as the teachers at my center openly acknowledged his great skill with maths (he can work at a level 2 years above his age) and I noticed this little smile growing on his face. During his two 1.5 hr group learning sessions this week I tried to consistently acknowledge him and thank him for his efforts: wonderful mind-mapping, writing, maths and so on. After the second session he bounced out the door – happy, proud of his achievements and back in the learning community! Simple verbal praise delivered on a consistent basis with accompanying points is turning this child around and helping him realise his amazing intellect is a gift not a nuisance. Not rocket-science!

As parents and teachers we can set out today to notice what children CAN do, help them improve and set up goals with them with simple rewards built in.

We award points during each session and children use these to fill in the squares on their rocket ships. (100 squares.) When they have filled in 100 squares they get to choose a prize. It helps that we keep the prize box filled and children notice the wonderful contents as they fill in their scores each week!

They learn to WAIT for rewards and WORK for them!
During each learning session children can earn points for paying attention, getting homework done, neat written work, kind acts, having imaginative ideas………. They LOVE their points system and it works. Consistency of approach is ALWAYS the key. I figure that if we can just turn one young life around a week so they can enjoy learning and develop their potential, the effort and grey hairs will be worth it! Teaching and parenting truly are the most important jobs in the world!

October 16, 2015

TEACHERS NEED SELF-CARE

Angry mother scolding a disobedient child

I recently spoke at a conference in Singapore to Pre-School teachers about the importance of self-care.
The thing is, stressed teachers are not effective and teaching is one of the most highly stressed jobs in the world. This is particularly true of pre-school teaching. You simply cannot get away from little children. It is not possible to say, “Open your book to page 123 and carry on with your maths” while you take a moment to leave the room and breathe!
So you have to be PRESENT all the time and that means very good stress management principles are needed.
A recent survey of 30, 000 US teachers in New York found most of them were highly stressed but wanted to stay with their profession because they CARE!

“We ask teachers to be a combination of Albert Einstein, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr. and, I’m dating myself here, Tony Soprano,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT. “We ask them to be Mom and Dad and impart tough love but also be a shoulder to lean on. And when they don’t do these things, we blame them for not being saviors of the world. What is the effect? The effect has been teachers are in¬cred¬ibly stressed out.”

Teachers often still have young children at home so they do “double duty!”
When we train teachers to use our EQ4KIDZ program we insist on spending 1 day where we focus on teachers’ mental health issues, EQ and stress management. We demonstrate ways to pause and be mindful and discuss helpful daily stress management.
In order to be able to drop all problems at the door of the classroom before entering, teachers need time to spend alone, to think, to plan and to manage their stress levels.
The busy school day must make some “intervals” or “gaps” where teachers can gather thoughts, reflect and re-group.
It is a great blessing to be able to teach the next generation but it is also one of the most taxing, enervating, highly skilled and stressful professions on earth so let’s ensure we do not lose our amazing teachers. The profession needs help!
With the many curriculum changes and challenging behaviours teachers must deal with, stress management is not just a soft option. It is a necessity. Unless all teachers are taught how to manage their stress, care for themselves and recognise unhealthy signs of tension we will have burnt out, fed up and stressed out teachers and unhappy, unsuccessful students.

October 13, 2015

“Kindfulness” Braids

Braided bracelet, colored threads, beads and various attributes

This term all our students will be invited to stop, be mindful for a minute and then focus on a kind deed they can do.
They will then take 3 pieces of yarn or ribbon and braid them together to hang on our learning tree.
This braid will symbolise the way that kindness affects at least 3 people-
• The person we are kind to
• Ourselves as we feel good inside
• Someone else who is affected by what we have done. (They may have seen the act, or benefited because the recipient of kindness tends to spread the love!)

This kindness braids us all together and causes ripple effects in our lives.
When I explained this to yesterday’s students (first day of term), they were very excited and wanted to start immediately! They also want to wear these KINDNESS braids as bracelets and thread beads onto them! I guess, (as usual), the children have taken an idea and transformed it. They breathed life into it and improved it!
We hope our learning tree and children’s wrists will be covered with these braids by the end of the term!
Next week we will be enjoying a special visualisation to help us spread the kindness and I will share it on this blog!

October 11, 2015

Not a Worksheet in Sight!

I was honoured to be a presenter both days at the recent ECDA conference in Singapore.

Over the 2 days I spent a great deal of time walking around, meeting educators and looking at the wonderful displays about children’s learning.

What really struck me as unusual was NOT A BORING WORKSHEET in sight!

There were photos of children engaged in creative, problem solving activities and many examples of their writing and fascinating ideas.

There were HUGE displays of children’s art and craft and models they built to demonstrate understanding of various themes and projects.

The excitement about science, maths, literacy and social emotional learning was everywhere! Young children had been to museums and art galleries to learn and absorb and then allowed to respond honestly in their own unique ways.

Congratulations ECDA on a wonderful conference and congratulations Singapore Pre-School teachers for the amazing showcasing of children’s work and creativity.

I came back to Perth, invigorated and fired up with so many ideas and new strategies. Thank you!

October 9, 2015October 9, 2015

The ABC of Child Whispering: I is for IMPORTANT

As developing child whisperers we need to keep IMPORTANT in front of us at all times. That means thinking deeply about life and children.

It means letting children be who they are meant to be. It means honouring their cocktail of intelligences.

ALL KIDS ARE SMART can show you ways to assess your child’s intelligences and build on each one.

You can of course also assess and build your own intelligences as well with this book!

Of course we want the best for our children but that does not always mean academic success.

The values such as kindness, self-discipline, perseverance and loyalty are the most important things we teach as well as spiritual, emotional and social learning.

Listening to children and making time to be with them, are essential as we help them to grow.

Encouraging children to be kind and loving people are essential components of real learning. These values cannot be learned at speed and children gradually learn these through interactions with you and their close and extended family and community groups and through their play, books, media and faiths. Build a meaningful, positive and life enhancing home environment for your children and choose a schooling system that will build their EQ as well as their IQ!

You are a model- ultimately what you DO rather than what you say will have the greatest impact on your children.

Give up your preconceived notions of who they should be. (And who YOU want them to be!)

Rather ask- who are they?

Let them unfold and discover their own destiny and don’t stand in their way!

Month: October 2015