Friday, January 29, 2010

Brushing Up on Personal Hygiene at PreK Level


Today the New York Times had an article concerning a prek program in Massachusetts that added toothbrush time as part of the curriculum. While I applaud the idea of teaching children to brush correctly, having a program that require students to brush their teeth in school is another indication of schools trying to be parents instead of requiring parents to live up to their responsibilities. Schools already provide breakfast and assist in clothing students. Requiring students to brush their teeth in school because some parents are poor in ensuring that their children have proper oral hygiene is rewarding poor parental behavior instead of helping to correct that behavior. Once again the solution is simple: Set standards for parents and require them to live up to the standards.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Doing It By the Numbers

On the Jan 25, 2010 ABC Evening News program, I watched Diane Sawyer report that a new study indicated that elementary school female math teachers give girl students math anxiety. I traced the report to an article on line written by Emma Woolacott. Pay attention to the sample size in the article, by the way.

What annoys me is once again we conclude the problem lies with teachers. I believe that problem bigger and lies within our culture where females in swim suits are gloried more than females who demonstrate brain power. In time that view will surely change since more females are graduating college than males. [Just a thought: If males aren't graduating college, what are they doing?]

The problem of females having anxiety with math isn't as simple as the results of the study to be remedied simply with teacher training. One memory from college that haunts me is that of a girl, who I dated, being dissuaded from majoring in math--early 1970s--even though she was a solid "B" student in math. She weathered that treatment from the chair of the math department and went on to receive a MBA form the University of Pennsylvania.

Although anecdotal, as a woodcrafter I find it interesting that at craft stores, where many early educators shop, numbers are difficult to locate while products with the alphabet are abound on shelves. I tend to believe that if educators were requesting number products, those products would be on the shelves for purchase--"Just sayin'".

I also see hope in TV programs as Numb3rs, where actor Navi Rawat portrays a highly talented female math professor, who helps the FBI solve crimes. Moreover, note that business news shows on TV increasingly have more female commentators. All of this may seem casual on its face, but I believe an effect that females are capable of excelling in math and any other field and there is no cause to worry.

So, let us continue to beat up on teachers as the source of why students have all sorts of problems. Let us keep forgetting that the first and most significant educators in children's lives are parents. In my situation, my mother was forced to leave school in the eleventh grade to work just before the Depression Period. She had great math skills even at 75 years of age. All nine of her children didn't finish high school, but all could read, write, and do basic math at least. I mention this to highlight that teachers are only part of the puzzle in educating children.

Surely, more robust teacher education programs are fine, but much more support is needed from parents as well. High anxiety isn't with teachers only. Lastly, in 2008 I wrote about an NPR story that indicate that females are doing as well as males in math. Has something changed since then?

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Where Are Parents in the Equation?

The U.S. Department of Education's new program, Race to the Top, is the talk within education these days. What frustrates me in that discussion and other discussions about education is that the role of parents in education is hardly ever mentioned. To say that a student can arrive at school not ready to learn (lack of housing, improper diet, improperly clothed, etc.) and schools are expected to turn this student into highly performing child is unfair. Why aren't parents being evaluated within this process? Where are the standards of behavior for parental involvement in school? Doesn't a student's home life have a bearing on her school performance? And if so, how does that affect the teacher's/school's performance with the student? I suggest that if teacher performance is tied to student performance, parental involvement should part of the assessment. Moreover, parents should be penalized for failure to be involved in the education of their child.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

5-Year-Old Drummer

I saw this video on a blog and read the comments about it before I actually watched the video. What struck me within the comments was that quite a few respondents indicated that the young drummer "wasn't all that good" and was "pretty good." Therefore, I was biased before I watched the video. Well, what immediately became apparent while watching the video was that the negative respondents had no clue about motor skills of a typical five-year old. I'm always reviewing research on early learning skills to develop activities to improve those skills. With that said, I can attest that the skills of the young drummer are amazing!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Jospeh Had a Little Overcoat and Educational Funding



As the U.S. Department of Education make final preparation to dole out millions of dollars toward educational programs, I'm having an unsettled feeling. I keep thinking that much of the money will be siphened off as each level of governmental organizations takes a cut and swarms of consultants receive hefty sums of money for unproductive programs. In the end so much less of the money will actually reach the student level to create a lasting positive impact. Much like Joseph's overcoat, which transforms from an outer garmet to a button and finally to nothing, I have fear that in the end we will receive so little for the money spent. I find it greatly disturbing that so many people will become wealthy through film-flam schemes because adequate control for such large sums of money is impossible.

Even though it is well intended and the goal is praiseworthy, this scope to reform education would greatly surprise me it if is successful in have most of the funds reach and help local programs significantly. I think there is a better way to ensure the greatest effect from use of the such large funds, however.

What if part of the management of the funding were modeled along the lines of Muhammad Yunus's (winner of 2006 Nobel Peace Prize) micro-financing program? What if thousands of small organizations received micro-grants ($1,000 - $5,000, e.g.) within a simplified application process with results being reported in a YouTube channel? My thought is that the chance of thousands of authenic and highly productive projects is greater than those where millions of dollars go through programs managed by states. I would bet on the brilliance and resourcefulness of people on the ground ever time when compared to programs managed through state's burearatic processes. Moreover, as Yunus found, poor people are oftentime extemely trustworthy.

There is a chance that the Department of Education already has in place ideas as the the one I've indicated, I'm not aware of those ideas. Even so, let's realize that presently the weather is cold across the U.S., and we could use ever bit of Joseph's overcoat, even as protection within national funding in education.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Thoughts About Preschool

Lately, I've been wondering why we use the term "pre-school" as if school doesn't start until later. I checked Wikipedia and found that "Preschool education is the provision of education for children before the commencement of statutory education, usually between the ages of three and five, dependent on the jurisdiction." OK, I'll go down the rabbit hole and ask: Why other levels of education is covered under statutory and preschool not? I'll leave that idea there because at the moment I'm not up to the research to get to the bottom of that rabbit hole.

Another thought about preschool I have is that learning and play should not be mutually exclusive. I have the impression that the mistake we make in preschool is that we try to mimic teaching strategies from higher grades within the preschool environment. The result is that the focus on play and experimentation is lost. When I say play, I don't mean spending half the day having children aimlessly finger painting and playing in sand. As an alternative, what if sand play also incorporated showing children how in other cultures colorful sand is used to make art work? My impression is that young children are eager to learn because of a drive by their brains to develop connections for survival.

The more I think about this situation, the more I'm coming to the decision that we have the wrong people in the preschool environment. I believe the right people for the preschool environment have a road map in their mind for what young children need for later learning and how to translate the information for young children to begin that journey. I'm not talking just about general areas as persevarance, cooperation, etc. I would include foundations to critical thinking as well since more and we are learning that very young minds are more dynamic than we thought.

[Diversion: Before I forget again, I challenge anyone reading this blog entry to locate "numbers" as oppose to alphabet letters in a craft store. I present this challenge because in developing activities for young children I use numbers as frequently as the alphabet and have had a difficult time finding numbers, particularly made of of wood. I've been trying to reduce the use of plastic in activities I develop.]

So why do I think we have many of the wrong people in preschool education? Perhaps we devalue the importance of preschool education. Years ago in one of my educational research classes, my professor postulated that teacher pay should be higher at the lower levels of education since more teaching is required that lower levels as oppose to higher levels where teachers function more as guides. With lower pay and less education accepted to teach in early education, the quality of teaching often suffers.

Low pay and limited education of teachers are only part of why the wrong people often end up in the early education environment, however. What else is missing is people with talent to turn learning into play and share a respect for children. Life is play for young children and learning should be on their level. So for those teachers with special skills, why can't we "pay for talent" as Wall Street Banks claim they need to do? Maybe the answer has more to do with gender than rationality.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

A Positive Story to Start the New Year

Here is a great story about a very young artist, found at DailyMail.com. Best wishes to all in the new year.