Sunday, December 27, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Reaching The Problem Child
Reaching the problem child
By Robert Stelmach
What is the problem? That’s often the first question. What can I do to fix it? That’s often the second. There are many others I can ask: questions about grades, life at home, even choice of friends. Each of these most likely will lead to other problems, more things to fix, and certainly more questions and still more problems. Which makes me think, can I fix things for someone else? Can I truly understand what a problem child is going through, so as to make the right choices for that child? Or am I fighting a loosing battle?
Perhaps, there is another way. What if I start, not by thinking of the child as a problem, but as a person, let’s say a brand new friend? His name might be Jordan. So, what do I know about Jordan? This new beginning suggests a whole new series of questions. Where does he live? What does he really like to do? If he could have one wish, what would that wish be? And what can I do to encourage him to follow his dream?
Now, if my friend Jordan is particularly difficult to deal with, perhaps I could think about what colour, plant, or animal he reminds me of, something that helps to smooth out his rough edges. When growing exotic plants or dealing with wild animals, one needs to be patient—take one step at a time. I could picture him as a young colt, a bit frisky, moody, and sometimes even cantankerous. But he is young, strong, and shows promise. It’s worth the effort.
Then again, what if Jordan turns obnoxious, gets under my skin, or really pushes my buttons. Friction is inevitable, even with the best of students. However, when friction does occur, I could concentrate on a mantra, a word picture that puts difficult moments into perspective. I could think of Jordan as K2, a mountain in the Himalayas that has killed more climbers than any other.
I could think as follows: K2 is nothing more than a mountain, while Jordan is nothing more than a child. “K2 K2.” The mountain has no intent to kill. “K2 K2.” One minute, the sun is shining. A moment later, a sudden storm literally chokes the mountain with snow, making survival almost impossible. “K2 K2.” Is this not true of Jordan as well—how he changes in an instant from amiable to outrageous, leaving me feeling the dagger of his words or eyes? “K2 K2.”
What I need to realize and think about is that the dagger is not meant for me, but is pointed at the reflection of what really bothers him, something that has absolutely nothing to do with me. Like the storm, his anger is only an act of nature. And it is up to me to protect myself from that storm. And so I say, “K2 K2.” It is through my own strength of will that I will survive and walk away from this battle of wills unscathed.
Helping a child like Jordan is not easy. There will always be setbacks. There will even be failures. It is also true that helping troubled kids is not for everyone. But, the rewards are as great as those for climbing K2 and surviving, or turning a wild horse into a winner. Though in cases like Jordan, the rewards are usually silent and within, the gift is greatly worth giving. I know from experience. I was once like Jordan.
And who am I in this process, the teacher or the Kid Whisperer? I prefer to think of myself as the latter. Teaching can wait until I have won Jordan’s trust.
Robert Stelmach, (aka MaxTell), troubadour, author, and musician. www.maxtell.ca.
By Robert Stelmach
What is the problem? That’s often the first question. What can I do to fix it? That’s often the second. There are many others I can ask: questions about grades, life at home, even choice of friends. Each of these most likely will lead to other problems, more things to fix, and certainly more questions and still more problems. Which makes me think, can I fix things for someone else? Can I truly understand what a problem child is going through, so as to make the right choices for that child? Or am I fighting a loosing battle?
Perhaps, there is another way. What if I start, not by thinking of the child as a problem, but as a person, let’s say a brand new friend? His name might be Jordan. So, what do I know about Jordan? This new beginning suggests a whole new series of questions. Where does he live? What does he really like to do? If he could have one wish, what would that wish be? And what can I do to encourage him to follow his dream?
Now, if my friend Jordan is particularly difficult to deal with, perhaps I could think about what colour, plant, or animal he reminds me of, something that helps to smooth out his rough edges. When growing exotic plants or dealing with wild animals, one needs to be patient—take one step at a time. I could picture him as a young colt, a bit frisky, moody, and sometimes even cantankerous. But he is young, strong, and shows promise. It’s worth the effort.
Then again, what if Jordan turns obnoxious, gets under my skin, or really pushes my buttons. Friction is inevitable, even with the best of students. However, when friction does occur, I could concentrate on a mantra, a word picture that puts difficult moments into perspective. I could think of Jordan as K2, a mountain in the Himalayas that has killed more climbers than any other.
I could think as follows: K2 is nothing more than a mountain, while Jordan is nothing more than a child. “K2 K2.” The mountain has no intent to kill. “K2 K2.” One minute, the sun is shining. A moment later, a sudden storm literally chokes the mountain with snow, making survival almost impossible. “K2 K2.” Is this not true of Jordan as well—how he changes in an instant from amiable to outrageous, leaving me feeling the dagger of his words or eyes? “K2 K2.”
What I need to realize and think about is that the dagger is not meant for me, but is pointed at the reflection of what really bothers him, something that has absolutely nothing to do with me. Like the storm, his anger is only an act of nature. And it is up to me to protect myself from that storm. And so I say, “K2 K2.” It is through my own strength of will that I will survive and walk away from this battle of wills unscathed.
Helping a child like Jordan is not easy. There will always be setbacks. There will even be failures. It is also true that helping troubled kids is not for everyone. But, the rewards are as great as those for climbing K2 and surviving, or turning a wild horse into a winner. Though in cases like Jordan, the rewards are usually silent and within, the gift is greatly worth giving. I know from experience. I was once like Jordan.
And who am I in this process, the teacher or the Kid Whisperer? I prefer to think of myself as the latter. Teaching can wait until I have won Jordan’s trust.
Robert Stelmach, (aka MaxTell), troubadour, author, and musician. www.maxtell.ca.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Is Singing a Good Way to Learn English??
It has been reported that learning English by singing is an interesting and effective way (Baker, 2007; Calvert and others, 1993; Hamner, 2003; Lems, 2002; Shih, 1980), but a systematic investigation on its effects of learning English seems to be lacking.
The researcher conducted a quantitative study (sponsored by Providence University) in 2008 to discover the effects. 20 college students in Taiwan participated in the study. 10 of them were in the prose group and the other half ‘learned English by singing’.
Ten English songs were chosen (Always, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, She, Memories, Dream, Yesterday Once More, On Top of the World, Let it Be, Trouble Sleeping, and Fernando) and were rewritten into the prose form by two Americans.
At the beginning of the study, all of the subjects took pretests of listening comprehension (on the levels of sentences, dialogues, and paragraphs) and an oral test (of 1 minute impromptu speech with 2 minutes preparation on a given topic).
Then, the prose group studied English paragraphs with the same content as the 10 English songs, introduced to the ‘singing’ group, with lyrics explained. After these 10 weeks, all of the subjects took posttests (the same listening comprehension test, the same format of oral test on a different topic, and a cloze achievement test).
The test scores did not support the general belief that learning by singing is more effective. That is, in the song group the differences between pre-tests and post-tests were not significant except for the listening tests, but in the prose group the difference was significant.
These results showed that the prose group instead of the song group made significant progress. The implication of this study parallels that of Calvert et al. (1993); i.e. singing with little effort leads to limited information processing.
The researcher conducted a quantitative study (sponsored by Providence University) in 2008 to discover the effects. 20 college students in Taiwan participated in the study. 10 of them were in the prose group and the other half ‘learned English by singing’.
Ten English songs were chosen (Always, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, She, Memories, Dream, Yesterday Once More, On Top of the World, Let it Be, Trouble Sleeping, and Fernando) and were rewritten into the prose form by two Americans.
At the beginning of the study, all of the subjects took pretests of listening comprehension (on the levels of sentences, dialogues, and paragraphs) and an oral test (of 1 minute impromptu speech with 2 minutes preparation on a given topic).
Then, the prose group studied English paragraphs with the same content as the 10 English songs, introduced to the ‘singing’ group, with lyrics explained. After these 10 weeks, all of the subjects took posttests (the same listening comprehension test, the same format of oral test on a different topic, and a cloze achievement test).
The test scores did not support the general belief that learning by singing is more effective. That is, in the song group the differences between pre-tests and post-tests were not significant except for the listening tests, but in the prose group the difference was significant.
These results showed that the prose group instead of the song group made significant progress. The implication of this study parallels that of Calvert et al. (1993); i.e. singing with little effort leads to limited information processing.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
Human Rights Day
Elementary Teachers Celebrate Human Rights Day
Education can provide a pathway for change
TORONTO, Dec. 10 /CNW/ - December 10 is Human Rights Day, a day to celebrate 'The Universal Declaration of Human Rights' proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948. The Declaration affirms that everyone is entitled to fundamental rights without restrictions of any kind.
"Elementary teachers understand that educating children and the greater community about the negative impacts of discrimination and exclusion can be a pathway to a more just and equitable society," said Sam Hammond, President, Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO)
"A main objective of ETFO is to foster a climate of social justice and equity and take a leadership role in confronting individual and systemic discrimination and inequality in all its forms. The federation has focused on lobbying for social change at the provincial level and developing classroom resources and professional development to share with educators across Canada and internationally," Hammond said.
ETFO's human rights materials address issues such as homophobia and heterosexism, ability, violence against women and children, equity and inclusion, racism, classism, and rights of the child and can be used in the elementary classroom to help teachers and students begin conversations about human rights.
Two years ago with funding from the Ontario Ministry of Education, ETFO began an intensive program of addressing poverty and its impact on education, The goal of ETFO's 'Education and Poverty' project is to educate teachers and the broader community about the impact of poverty in the classroom and to develop strategies to address some of its impacts.
In conjunction with Right To Play International, ETFO is working with the Ministry of Education and the national teacher union in Benin, West Africa on the implementation of an early childhood education program under Education International's 'Education For All' plan. This initiative will enhance the learning of their young children but will also allow young girls to go to school and not have to drop out at age 6 or 7 to watch their young siblings.
The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario represents 73,000 elementary public school teachers and education workers across the province and is the largest teacher federation in Canada
Education can provide a pathway for change
TORONTO, Dec. 10 /CNW/ - December 10 is Human Rights Day, a day to celebrate 'The Universal Declaration of Human Rights' proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948. The Declaration affirms that everyone is entitled to fundamental rights without restrictions of any kind.
"Elementary teachers understand that educating children and the greater community about the negative impacts of discrimination and exclusion can be a pathway to a more just and equitable society," said Sam Hammond, President, Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO)
"A main objective of ETFO is to foster a climate of social justice and equity and take a leadership role in confronting individual and systemic discrimination and inequality in all its forms. The federation has focused on lobbying for social change at the provincial level and developing classroom resources and professional development to share with educators across Canada and internationally," Hammond said.
ETFO's human rights materials address issues such as homophobia and heterosexism, ability, violence against women and children, equity and inclusion, racism, classism, and rights of the child and can be used in the elementary classroom to help teachers and students begin conversations about human rights.
Two years ago with funding from the Ontario Ministry of Education, ETFO began an intensive program of addressing poverty and its impact on education, The goal of ETFO's 'Education and Poverty' project is to educate teachers and the broader community about the impact of poverty in the classroom and to develop strategies to address some of its impacts.
In conjunction with Right To Play International, ETFO is working with the Ministry of Education and the national teacher union in Benin, West Africa on the implementation of an early childhood education program under Education International's 'Education For All' plan. This initiative will enhance the learning of their young children but will also allow young girls to go to school and not have to drop out at age 6 or 7 to watch their young siblings.
The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario represents 73,000 elementary public school teachers and education workers across the province and is the largest teacher federation in Canada
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
More resource sites to check out
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
http://blogs.learnnc.org/instructify/
http://primaryschoolteaching.co.uk/feed.xml
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
http://blogs.learnnc.org/instructify/
http://primaryschoolteaching.co.uk/feed.xml
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Your Favourite Links
Do you have some favourite links that help you with your teaching? If so please share them with us.
Here are some of ours:
http://www.ascd.org/
http://www.scribblar.com/
http://www.twiddla.com/
http://www.foreign-language-teachers.com/
http://www.epals.com/
http://quizlet.com/
http://www.readwritethink.org/
https://www.msu.edu/~sandinkr/tprsarticles.htm
http://classtools.net/
http://www.alline.org/
http://www.tut-world.com/
Here are some of ours:
http://www.ascd.org/
http://www.scribblar.com/
http://www.twiddla.com/
http://www.foreign-language-teachers.com/
http://www.epals.com/
http://quizlet.com/
http://www.readwritethink.org/
https://www.msu.edu/~sandinkr/tprsarticles.htm
http://classtools.net/
http://www.alline.org/
http://www.tut-world.com/
Auto Backup and file sharing
If you have two computers or devices and would like to easily share documents between them, Dropbox is the tool for the job. Your files are automatically updated, so there is no need to worry about copying and dragging, pasting and cutting or backing up.
Also, Dropbox shared folders let you share or collaborate on a set of files. When someone joins a shared folder, the folder appears inside their Dropbox, and syncs to their computers automatically.
I use Dropbox daily. It works perfectly and saves me a lot of time. The best part is it is free!
Just use this link to sign up: https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTI2MDA0MjU5
Also, Dropbox shared folders let you share or collaborate on a set of files. When someone joins a shared folder, the folder appears inside their Dropbox, and syncs to their computers automatically.
I use Dropbox daily. It works perfectly and saves me a lot of time. The best part is it is free!
Just use this link to sign up: https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTI2MDA0MjU5
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