Thank you to Poppy & Geoff Spencer for sharing their expertise with us about using music and art to reduce anxiety in our kids. 

They shared some great ideas on how to use an "Art Starter" to help get them calm enough to do homework. 

I'm working this into my Become a Better Learner Program, as a way for students to set themselves up for a more successful homework time.  

If you would like to connect with Poppy & Geoff you can do so through their website https://poppyandgeoff.com/

Looking forward to hear how you all use this with your children. Come Share in the FB Group. 

Jill

Funny story… I have never been very good at determining how long things really take to do. My TO DO list is evidence of this. I have far too many items listed and too many boxes left unchecked at the end of the day. When I go to “run errands,” I plan to accomplish 5-6 of them in an estimated 1 hour. LOL!!

I laugh about this now, because this work I’m doing around the COS has brought to light my weak sense of time. Even when I’m writing this email, I think… 15 minutes… and then when I look back over the time for revision, editing, uploading, and links… it’s more like 90 minutes.

In contrast, my husband has an EXCELLENT sense of time. He just knows how long things are going to take and he is always pithing 10 minutes of accurate. He doesn’t count minutes or write out a time-specific plan, he just knows. It’s a strength I do possess.  This work uncovered this difference and allowed us to talk and laugh about it....

The 21^st century workplace uses collaboration on a daily basis. So much so, its in the top 5 skills looked for my hiring managers.

You might be asking… then how do we get from ineffective group work to effective collaboration skills?

Good question and one that won’t be answered by the classroom. 

GOOD collaboration requires a vulnerability FROM each participant and a deep respect FOR each participant for that vulnerability.  If either ingredient is missing, the cake doesn’t taste good (Metaphor alert! ).

This recipe is so CRUCIAL, organizations frequently use a skilled facilitator to create safety, elicit vulnerability, mediate discussion, remind respect, and monitor progress toward an end goal.  In time, this group grows in self-awareness and learns to check themselves and each other rendering a 3rd party facilitator unnecessary. This does not happen over night… but is the ultimate goal of collaboration.

This kind of facilitation and...

Situation

Recently I worked with a 6th grade girl on a science task. The assignment was to read about the scientific method and make a flap page (see pic above) to summarize each step. 

Observations

I noticed three problems emerge as she worked on this task.

1. The "artsy" nature of the flap page didn't increase engagement on a learning level. It made it look pretty and she happens to like pretty, but it did not change the learning. 

2. Her "summaries" looked almost identical to the original text in both language and length.

3. There seemed to be no more understanding of the scientific method from this task than before it. And since I assumed this to be the teacher's purpose for this assignment, this was a problem. 

Implications

Both issues 2 & 3 are COMMON struggles when our children read textbooks.  Frequently we assume that READING is a viable way to learn. But reading ALONE is not how we learn... its what we do during reading that results...

There are many things I enjoy.  Picture books are one of my favorites.  I have collected a wonderful library for Jacob; and I enjoy reading different books to him as often as he will let me. Of course his attention span right now is about 2-4 pages and thus we miss most of the meat of a book. But the times we get through to all 10 ladybugs disappearing... I smile. He smiles. And once in a while, he turns it back to the beginning and we read it all again. 

Pictures books amaze me.  

So this shouldn’t surprise you… but my latest plunge is into creating a series of picture books that address learning, my specialty. I haven't seen these kinds of stories in the market and I think they could be valuable to learners. 

My main character is Pistachio the Pug who loves to learn and tackles many of the struggles learners face as he completes his work for the Pugademy, School for Smart Pugs. Pistachio will be a...

A few weeks ago I observed Jacob, my now 2 year old, pulling on a rope, that was attached to a tree. He would run with it until it ran out of slack and would yank him to the ground. (watch video) He didn't like getting pulled back or falling; but he continued to pull the rope and run. Repeatedly. 

I wondered WHY he kept doing this. Wasn't he learning? 

But then I observed him in the backyard... with his play horse. 

He had observed his dad take the dog for a walk ON A LEASH and now he was walking his toy horse ON A LEASH.  

If I pull on the rope, MY LEASH, then... what's attached will follow. 

He had LEARNED this from observation and was just applying it to the tree. But the tree didn't behave like his WORKING THEORY.  

For years it was thought that a student's mind was a blank slate. MYTH!!  From the moment a person enters this world as an infant they are learning. They don't know they...

As I’ve shared before I absolutely LOVE picture books. In a short period of time you can be TOTALLY moved.  I have been amassing quite a library for Jacob and truth be told… they’re just as much for me. :)

Some of the books capture you with the illustrations, some with the characters, some with the stories. But every now and then one just MOVES you. This is one such picture book.

What Do You Do With An Idea

For years I’ve had the IDEA… change education in a way that reaches every child as a unique learner. I’ve tried everything… the classroom, administration, district level administration, consulting, teacher training, tutoring, curriculum development, conference speaker, etc. Nothing has impacted in a way that sustains my IDEA… use your expertise and enthusiasm to help every learner into a customized program.

In 2009 I gave up. I sought a totally different career direction. But following me around was this IDEA…...

Writing seems to be a tough skill for most children. Actually many adults would confess to not being great writers either. And teaching writing can be an even bigger challenge. I’m not talking the mechanical act of writing… I’m talking about getting words into the form of sentences, paragraphs, dialogue, and pages, with a cohesive feel that accomplishes your purpose and reaches your audience.

 I have found writing is less painful when it is associated with something FUN. Thus I promote writing from PLAY.  (I am in the middle of a series called “Using PLAY to improve Writing.” You can find the videos on my FB page .)

 I know what you’re thinking. How do I use PLAY to address writing?

 First, let me clarify what I mean by writing. It’s any way that I, the writer, communicate what I understand OUT to an audience. It could be a paragraph, a data table, a graph, a visualization, a video, a script, a poster etc. And writing...

Learning is MESSY.  OK. But how do I support the learning, when all I want to do is make it NEAT?

Do you remember learning to feed yourself? Of course not. But I'm sure your parents do. You do remember your child learning to feed him/herself. It’s a combination of letting go and stepping in. They have to use that spoon for the first time and when they do the food tends to be everywhere but in their mouth. MESSY. But it’s part of the process of learning how to feed yourself. 

My little Jacob wanted to use the spoon himself very early. (He has a self-sufficient streak that is both exciting and frustrating.) And so I handed him a spoon. I was a little reluctant because I knew that my table and chairs would never be the same. But if I never allow him the chance to learn, which is messy, then I would still be feeding him at 10. And that is ridiculous.

For him to get proficient at eating, he has to spill. He has to miss his mouth and get the spaghetti sauce all over...