« November 2005 | Main | January 2006 »
December 31, 2005
Resolutions-Can They Be Kept?
Funny, as I started this blog, I mistyped the title. I put in resoulutions. Actually getting to your soul is where new learning starts. Okay for those of you that don't like the term, call it core, heart, or psyche. My thesaurus allows me to use other terms correctly. Whatever you call a change in your lifestyle, you need to get beyond your head and your thinking, and into a safer place to start on something new.
I don't know about you, but I sometimes allow other people to live in my head-my mother, my PE teacher, a huge monitor that says NO. Like the ad on TV, no is the only word these folks know. "No, you can't do that. No, it's too dangerous. No, don't do it. You won't be any good at it." I need to quiet these folks or banish them completely before I can venture into the world of new learning.
So let's take my desire to exercise. Learning something new starts with a desire. I want to exercise. It doesn't matter why or for what purpose. I just want to do it. What do you want to do? Play the piano, surf, become a doctor? What's the desire? Ask yourself the question and find out.
For today, my desire is to exercise. Now immediately the Monitors show up. "Blah, blah, blah, can't, no, blah, blah." It helps that I wrote down yesterday where some of these monitor voices came from. It helps to realize they aren't here today. They don't know. They are not me. My swimming coach is probably in his 80s and my PE teacher is probably retired. Neither one of them will remember my name or face. Only I am remembering what they said to me. Let them go.
Just to make sure, I do some visualizations and affirmations. There was a study done a number of years ago around shooting baskets. The researchers had one group practice shooting freethrows, one group not practice at all, and a third group visualize shooting freethrows. After thirty days the practice group improved 24% and the visualizing group improved 23%! I believe in visualizing what I want to do. I also tell myself I can exercise and I am good at it.
While I'm psyching myself up for this new learning, I get ready. I do some research. I start with asking myself some questions. What do I like to do best? What would hold my attention longest? What do I want the results to be? When I answer my questions, I do some research to match what I want with what's available.
My time is limited so I know going to the gym every day isn't going to work. I'll quit the first week. I've actually already tried that. I quit the first week. My schedule is crazy so what I do needs to be flexible and portable. No lugging equipment around. I have an exercise bike in the garage. I like music, dance type movements, and something quick so I can get on to other things.
Knowing what will work and working on my thinking, I choose an exercise DVD that includes yoga with some reinforcement to get rid of negative Monitors, dance routines to music, and is broken into 5-10 minute segments.
Now what I want to learn fits into something I can handle in my schedule and includes activities I like to do. Keeping my resolution may not be 100% guaranteed, but it will be a lot easier than if I didn't look at these factors.
Now it's your turn. Take one of those resolutions of yours and make it into something you can actually achieve. Limit the negative influences, visualize your success, and choose what will work for you to accomplish your purpose.
By the way, if you miss your mark a time or two, it's okay to keep going anyway. The freethrowers didn't make it every time, but the kept playing anyway. Learning is not about being perfect. It's about making mistakes, learning from them and going on. So let's get on with it.
Happy New Year.
Posted by Dr Joni at 08:27 AM | Comments (0)
December 30, 2005
Got A Resolution Yet?
I've been talking about resolutions as if they were new learning opportunties because that's exactly what they are. If you are making a resolution to do something different, you're telling your head, body, and everyone around you "I'm learning how to do something new, something I haven't done before." Putting it in another light, if you already knew how to diet, stop smoking, quit procrastinating or whatever your issue is and what your doing worked for you, you'd be doing it. If you need a resolution then what you're doing probably isn't working and you want to change it.
Let's take a look at what I'm suggesting. I need to exercise. Every book tells me I should. My doctor suggestions it nicely and not so nicely. Ads on TV and in magazines tell me to buy this or that miracle solution to getting my body in shape. My head tells me I should exercise, but when it comes right down to it, I don't.
Oh, I have lots of reasons why I don't, but the bottom line is, I don't. Now if my resolution this year is to exercise, I am not going to be able to use any of my past learning to make that happen. If I could have done that before, I would be exercising today.
Let me give you examples of my past learning when it comes to exercise:
Swimming as a child-did well until swimming instructor had me swim the length of the pool and I nearly drowned-learned not to swim
5th grade volleyball-couldn’t figure out how to get under the ball-ended up on the sidelines-don’t play volleyball
8th grade physical fitness-failed the situps portion of the test-know I can’t do situps
High school tennis-nearly hit the teacher with an errant ball and she nearly took my head off-don’t play tennis
Gee, do you suppose what I learned was detrimental to skills and enjoyment of exercise today? One would think. So everytime I think about trying a new exercise, I drown or hear the PE teacher telling me how awfull I am at anything physical.
If this sounds familiar, it may be because you recognize as you look at making the same resolution for the 15th year in a row, that there may be some background behind why you have such a struggle doing whatever it is you resolve to do. With all those negatives going on in your head, why bother? Why resolve to do it in the first place? You can't get over these.
Actually there are some things you can do to help yourself and it doesn't involve taking up field hockey just because it's an area where you have no past history. It does require thinking differently. It requires thinking in a different way than you have been thinking in the past.
If you're interested in learning how to do that and a way to actually keep a resolution you make, come back tomorrow. It will be New Year's Eve and what better way to start your New Year than by optimistically looking at those resolutions that have haunted you for years.
See you tomorrow.
Posted by Dr Joni at 08:27 AM | Comments (0)
December 28, 2005
Now About Those Resolutions
Most of us make or at least think about making New Year's resolutions. We may write them down and make vows to keep them, or we may know ourselves well enough to recognize they aren't going to happen so why bother. Either way, many of us at think about doing something different or new with the changing over of the year.
So what's that all about? Why do we consider changes? Often times it's because what we're doing right now isn't working very well for us. Maybe it's being 20 pounds overweight or sitting in front of the TV every evening while the exercise equipment we bought last year sits idly gathering more spiderwebs. With me it's the piano keyboard I bought myself two Christmases ago. I really wanted to learn to play. I've wanted to learn for years. I bought the keyboard. I've bought a couple books. I have a couple CDs on learning how. I even stopped by the music store to find out when lessons were given. So why haven't I learned how to play?
I can give you a variety of excuses. I don't have time right now. Work is pretty busy. My sock drawer needs rearranging. Who knows what else I can come up with, but I just don't do it.
So what's that about? I want it. Why won't I do it?
My answer-fear. I mentioned writing the blog and how quickly and easily I was able to learn it. I wanted to do it. I found out how. I tried it, and I learned it. For some reason I didn't have any fears wrapped up in this one. It was new and new to a lot of people so nobody had a built up notion of what it should be like. I certainly didn't so I couldn't make a whole lot of mistakes and people wouldn't even know they were mistakes. Shoot, I wouldn't even know they were mistakes, but playing the piano is different. There are rules and expectaions. There is perfection and if you can't be perfect the first day, well what's the use.
Adults bring baggage to learning. Kids don't, at least young children don't until they are taught there is baggage to carry. As adults we bring a whole lot of expectations about what "should" be. Our resolutions, our plans for going back to school, or changing our lifestyle get scuttled, not by others, but by our own expectations of what we think we ought to be and when we're not what we think we ought to be, that we are less than okay.
So resolutions and new learning starts with what we have in our heads already. It's too bad we can't go back to childhood when we didn't have expectations of failure. Well, try it. Go back to those days. What if you couldn't fail? What if everything you tried to learn was a success and a joy? What if every step was new and exciting-even if it was only a single step? That's how kids learn. They take the first step and it's a miracle, and everyone is thrilled with it. Then the child takes two and three steps, and he's off and running. No fear of failure. Every step is a success.
So what if, as if you were a child, every step for you is a success. Every note or chord I learn is a great event, every pound you lose is a success, every minute you use your exercise bike is a new learning for you and your body.
If we came at it with the insight of a child, learning would certainly be different, and it just might make keeping those resolutions a possibility. Let's see middle C is....
Posted by Dr Joni at 07:10 AM | Comments (0)
December 27, 2005
Lifelong Learning
Funny I hadn't thought of talking about adult learning before, especially when the mission statement of my office http://www.glenncoe.org/ has included the phrase "lifelong learning" for as long as I've been a part of it. I also believe in it. We teach Adult Education and handle Senior Nutrition where we include activities for the older members of our county. I just hadn't thought about talking about it here.
And why not? Adults learn all the time. When I was asked to write this blog my first response was, "Oh, sure, I'll be happy to do that." To my friends I was saying "What the heck is a blog?"
I had no clue. So I had to learn about it. I went on the web and found blogs. I wrote to one person in particular because I liked her blog. I asked her what she did, how she did it, and what she was trying to accomplish. I asked questions of friends and found people willing to direct me to people who were writing blogs. Then I asked questions of them. Most were very willing to share what they knew. Then I went to ER's editor David Little and asked what he wanted. He showed me how the program worked or at least what he knew of it at the time. I went off and tried it. I tried some of the things I saw, read about, and was shown. I tried new stuff just to see how it worked and looked. I made major mistakes and wiped stuff out and had to start again. Eventually I learned enough to officially open the blog. A couple of weeks ago I was asked to help a new blogger get started. Guess I learned something!
Okay, the point is not about how to write a blog, but about learning something new. We all do it. You get a new car and it's different than the old one so you have to learn this one. You got a DVD player for Christmas and you're still trying to connect the wires, but you really want to watch The 40 Year Old Virgin (best selling DVD this season-I watched part of it and turned it off. A bit over the top for my taste). You've always wanted to play the piano and you now have a keyboard to learn on. So when do you learn? How? Who teaches you?
On a scarier level, you have a heart attack or find out you have diabetes. Your doctor says change your lifestyle. If you're like most folks you've built up some major habits in eating, sleeping, exercising (or not) and all of a sudden we have to "learn" something new. It's major.
Since New Year's is coming and many of us make the resolutions to change, let's talk about something other than kids and learning. Let's talk about us and learning. In getting ready for the New Year, I'm going to focus on you this week. You and your learning. Begin thinking about what you want to learn, and let's see how you can start and complete the process.
Posted by Dr Joni at 08:16 AM | Comments (0)
December 26, 2005
The Day After Christmas
I don't know about you, but the day after Christmas is the best shopping day of the year. It's the best shopping day if you don't mind getting up very early, skipping breakfast, leaving the house in the dark, finding the store you knew was going to open at 6:00 AM doesn't open until 8:00, then moving on to other stores only to find the parking lots and aisles full of other folks who had the same thoughts you did.
Sounds like I don't like this doesn't it? Actually, I usually enjoy the day after the holiday. Christmas is such a big build-up, always has been for me, but when the day is over what to do? I like winding up the season by finding a couple special deals to make next year another treat.
When you're home by 9:00 AM, it means your kids are just climbing out of bed after the big day. They'll be ready to try out their newest toys and games. The day after Christmas is a great day for games.
Monopoly, Scrabble, or Checkers-Chinese or regular, are fun board games. They often require strategy and thinking skills along with some reading, spelling or math. There are trivia games to test your knowledge, and all sorts of word and card games. Make some time after your shopping to play a game or two with your kids.
After your game, or just in case you are just too exhausted from your journeys, you can always go to Yahooligans and let them play some fun games on their own. Try http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/content/games/ for a fun website. I also found another website with games called Kaboose. The games look fun, but I had a bit of trouble with all the advertising on the site. Let me know if your kids try it and like it or if you do.
By the way, it's nice to see one or two of you writing in about the blog, kids, learning, or anything else that comes to mind. I appreciate feedback and comments. If you're concerned that your comment isn't okay to make or have a question you think might look dumb, don't worry about it. First I screen all comments as they come in and before they go up. If I can't answer it or it's really dumb (I doubt there are any really dumb questions when it comes to parenting, kids or learning, but just in case) I won't use it. If you have a question you don't want posted and think I might help, send it and I'll respond by email. Your question or comment may be just what someone else wants to know, so please don't hesitate. Just click the blue comment button after the posted date and a comment screen will come up.
Thanks for reading. This week I'm working at home so we'll talk about things for kids to do and learn on the way to New Year's Day.
Posted by Dr Joni at 01:08 PM | Comments (0)
December 25, 2005
Happy Holiday
Hope you're having a wonderful Christmas Day. Enjoy family and friends.
Posted by Dr Joni at 06:24 PM | Comments (0)
December 23, 2005
Presents Anyone?
It's the day before Christmas Eve and all through the day,
not a creature is quiet especially while at play.
The stockings aren't hung, they're not yet found
I'm hoping that Santa won't soon be around
Sorry, my own rendition since I'm usually one who's about ready for Christmas around the middle of January. It's not that I don't like the season. I love it. It's just often I've been working until the last few days and need to be reminded it's the day before the day before Christmas.
In case you're like me and looking at wrapping packages, there are ways to involve your kids that will create fun times and great learning experiences. Here are a few fun things to do:
Have your children count the presents that need to be wrapped then you can ask a variety of questions:
• How many bows will we need if each presents has one bow?
• How many will we need if each has two bows?
• How many tags will we need?
As you wrap each package you can estimate:
• How much paper will you need to wrap this book?
• Will you need more or less paper than you used for the book for this game?
• How many inches of ribbon will you need to go around the box?
• How many feet is that?
• You’ll need to get a ruler or a measuring tape and check out your guesses. How close was your estimate? Did the ribbon go all the way around the box?
I'm sure you can come up with more of your own, but you get the idea. It's time you're going to spend wrapping packages anyway, so let them help and let them learn at the same time. By the way, anyone seen the scotch tape?
Posted by Dr Joni at 05:58 PM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2005
Christmas Candy
Okay now it's time to head for the kitchen. Christmas season just wouldn't be the same without some delectable treats. My mother's was always fruit cake, but since I'm not terribly fond of fruit cake, I choose fudge and peanut brittle and other fun candy munchies. I checked on the Internet and there are a variety of sights for fun candy makings. My favorite for kids is http://www.sentex.net/~kdor/christmas.html#Recipes%20and%20Good%20Eats%20at%20Christmas It's got a host of different recipes and goodies to try.
Your kids, at any age, can help in the kitchen and they'll learn a great deal. When I was a child making fudge, after we made the fruit cake, was always fun. I remember chopping up the bitter chocolate bars, measuring in the sugar, adding milk, heating, stirring, lots of stirring, and dropping just a bit of the hot mixture into a cup of cold water. If it turned into a chocolate ball it was ready. If it didn't we needed to heat and stir a bit longer.
As you can tell from my recipie it was a while ago I learned how to make fudge and we used an age old recipie most folks wouldn't have time for today, but I still remember how much fun it was and how I looked forward to doing it.
When you spend the time in the kitchen with your children they are learning how to measure, pour, mix, heat, and taste, but they are also building skills, confidence, and creating lots of memories.
In case you're wondering what to create in the kitchen, let me assure you there are over 100 recipies for fudge alone. I found one with chocolate chips you put in the microwave. It doesn't matter a whole lot what you make. What matters is you make something together. I made fruit cake every year I lived at home. I don't make it today, but I remember enjoying the process of doing it. It was all part of the season, the fun, and growing up. So what are you waiting for? Pick a recipie and get on your way.
Posted by Dr Joni at 06:41 AM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2005
Christmas Shopping
It's the week before Christmas and the shopping may be of a priority. This week with your children home from school, you can help them shop for presents as well.
Shopping for presents is a great time for some fun learning activities. I don't know how you work with your children around money, but giving presents at Christmas is an ideal time for learning how to handle money. When mine were younger they received an allowance every week. Half went to them and half went into a savings for events like Christmas and birthdays. When the special days came up, they had money put aside to buy presents for other people.
Armed with $25 or so apiece we'd head for the store. When my children were little, there was a Ben Franklin five and dime close by. They'd each get to look on the shelves and oh and ah over the various toys. Then all of them would pile back into the car while I took one and a time into the store with me to make their purchases. The trick was to buy their presents and stay within their budget.
Carolyn would figure out she could buy the giant Barbie for Jennifer, but if she did there wouldn't be enough to buy the legos for Christopher. You could almost watch the wheels turning in their heads as they figured out how to get the most out of what they had.
Hm, sounds like what she does today whether it's Christmas or not. If I get the DVD player will I have enough left to get the ipod? Funny how what what we learn from our earliest experiences carries over into teenage and adult decisions.
Lessons learned in their shopping experience included a number of math skills. The budgeting, balancing, and decision making are all real life skills the kids use today, but there were a number of other life skills learned in the process. Giving, thinking about other people especially family members, sharing, caring, and a lot of laughter were just a few.
Enjoy shopping with your kids. They are learning all kinds of skills and behaviors as you do. Have a good time and make wonderful memories for you and your children.
Posted by Dr Joni at 06:02 AM | Comments (0)
December 18, 2005
Twas the Several Nights Before Christmas
There are many Christmas stories out there. I like Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" myself, but "The Gift of the Magi" is a nice one too. "Twas the Night Before Christmas" is definitely a favorite. If you want more current fun Grinches certainly can capture your attention. Kids like to hear stories as well as read them. Imaginations are already running wild with what's under the tree and what's coming Christmas Eve so add to the excitement with a few stories.
Words make pictures in a child's head. The word pictures depend a great deal on words the child already has a picture for. Let's take snowman. I grew up in Arizona so my relationship to snowmen was very sketchy. It was based mostly on pictures in books until one year my parents took me to the woods in the north part of the state. We made snowmen and angels in the snow, threw snowballs, and finished the day with hot chocolate and cold toes. It was a great deal of fun and gave me a much better appreciation of Frosty.
You may not be able to visit Dicken's England, but pictures in a book matched with the word pictures in a child's head allows Scrooge and his ghostly friends to come alive year after year.
Read the stories. Look at the pictures. Hear the words. Build the pictures in a child's head. Enjoy the stories every night before Christmas.
Posted by Dr Joni at 04:58 PM | Comments (0)
December 16, 2005
Christmas Carols
On Wednesday I was working in my office when I heard the sound of music (no pun planned) from somewhere in the building. Occassionally I hear a radio or CD, but this sounded live. On following the sound, along with half of the staff I might add, we discovered a group of carolers in the front entryway.
It was a bit of a ragtag group, not from their dress, but from the sizes of the participants. There was a baby, not much older than six months dressed in a bright red dress, to numerous children from kindergarten to high school arranged around the front desk. There were several parents and one teacher lead the crew.
"Eins, zwie, drei," said the teacher as the group began to sing. Of course, this is our German/art/music group from our home school program. Rene Castro, the teacher, uses any opportunity to let the children practice and we were the recepients.
What a treat. The kids sang a variety of songs both in English and in German. We were invited us to sing along, well, at least sing along on the English versions.
The holidays are great times for singing and performing. If you ever look a bit deeper into what goes into those performances you'll find listening and reading at the core. Kids can't sing without having heard the songs (listening) a number of times or reading the words over and over. What a fun way to learn vocabulary and word recognition, a couple of very important skills to have in school.
So sing away-English, Spanish, German. There are all kinds of fun things to learn in singing a new song. Where else can you learn about a Partridge in a pear tree, mistletoe, or corn cob pipes? We don't talk much about any of those things during normal conversation so why not sing and talk about them during the holidays?
Posted by Dr Joni at 07:38 AM | Comments (1)
December 14, 2005
Bright Lights
Okay so yesterday your children counted Christmas packages and ornaments. Today they can do more counting.
Around Christmas time, we'd take a drive around town or over to Chico from Orland or to buy a Christmas tree. It didn't matter where we went, we just went somewhere in the evening.
The game was to see how many lighted houses you could find before we got home. Powers of observations, strategies to figure out how you could find more than the others who were sitting next to you, as well as simply counting were the learning actvities for this one.
When we first started it, the kids were little and they just liked the locating and the counting of the houses. As they got older, strategy to find more than the others became involved.
It was fun. We laughed a great deal and I'll bet if I had all four of mine in a car today, they'd be counting lighted houses on the way home trying to see who could find the most.
Posted by Dr Joni at 07:28 AM | Comments (0)
December 13, 2005
Christmas Math
These are busy days for you. Get the lights up, trim the tree, which nights are you going to parties, when's the Christmas play at school? It's a bit crazy this time of year, and there are lots of fun activities you can have your kids do that are fun and help them learn skills at the same time.
My kids, and I don't know few who don't do this even secretly, liked to count the Christmas presents. I didn't encourage comparisons. The "you got more than I did" syndrome was not something I wanted to hear, but how many are under the tree works. How many balls on the tree? How many red light? Blue lights? Green lights? How many all together? Counting and addition is just fun stuff.
You can build in some subtraction by having them count the total number of presents and subtract their's. Have them count the lights and subtract the red ones. You can see how this works.
Young ones love anything about the lights, presents, and fun of Christmas. You can add a little extra learning without missing a single beat.
I'll have more activities this week for a variety of ages and stages.
Posted by Dr Joni at 07:17 AM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2005
Teaching and Learning
Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet someone new to me AND to be both a teacher and a learner. Fred Davis, a new blogger to the ER, called to ask if I would help him get started blogging. Understand he's calling the person who when asked to do this said, "Oh sure, I'd be happy to write a blog," and promptly said to friends "What the heck is a blog?"
Yesterday we spent some time going over a few items, until we ran into password trouble and had to stop. Then we spent another two hours talking about the kinds of things he and I want to share in our space on the net. It was a great afternoon.
So what does this have to do with teaching and learning? Everything. Teaching is really about sharing what you know/what you've learned with someone else. Learning is about trying out what someone else knows but doing it in your own way, making the learning yours.
I knew nothing about blogging, but I learned by researching, reading, talking to other people, and trying it out. I share what I've learned with someone else, they try it, and do it their way, then share with me or someone else what they know.
What do you know that you could share with someone today?
Posted by Dr Joni at 07:13 AM | Comments (0)
December 11, 2005
Military Appointments
Obviously I can't say who was selected and who wasn't. That's up to Congressman Herger and the military academies, but I can say these folks were impressive. Eighteen students, sixteen young men and two young women applied and were interviewed this weekend.
What's fun about these interviews is the caliber of the students-top grades, atheletes, leaders, and desiring to serve their country. You can't help but be impressed with their abilities. I was this year as I have been every year I've done this. As I said a couple days ago, this really reminds me how well education works and how talented kids are.
Posted by Dr Joni at 08:34 PM | Comments (0)
December 10, 2005
Almost Christmas/Military Academy Time
It's almost Christmas and every almost Christmas for the past several years, I've had a very unique and enjoyable opportunity. I'm on a panel to interview students for entrance into the Military Academies. Yes, West Point, the Air Force Academy, the Naval Academy and the Merchant Marines.
This is a yearly experience I enjoy. It's a chance to see some of the brightest and best students in all of the north state. Most of them come to our panel with top grade point averages, some with over a 4.0. They're all top in science and math, have great SAT scores, are atheletes, and leaders in school, civic, and/or church activities. These young men and women, most of them seniors in high school, are incredibly gifted already in their lives. Now they're deciding where to go and what to do to make a difference.
Today, and this year tomorrow as well, we will interview 19 students. I've looked at their resumes, transcripts, and reference letters. They are a wonderfully talented group. Not all will be selected, and of some who are selected not all will opt for a military choice. Some will decide to go to a University instead of an academy, but each year when I look at these students, I am always reassured how well education, our parents, and our communities are doing. We turn out kids like these. We turn out kids who will lead and create and develop the newest innovations we will live with in the upcoming decades.
I support the military. I need to. I have two sons in the Air Force, but beyond that I know what the service has done for my kids in helping them grow-up and focus on their futures and ours.
It's truly fun and an honor to meet with these students over the next couple days. I'm sure they won't have quite the same pleasure out of the experience that I will since they're on the hot seat, but some day I hope they know the pleasure we derive from watching them succeed.
Posted by Dr Joni at 06:28 AM | Comments (0)
December 07, 2005
Back in Town
Okay, I'm back in warmer California climate, and I do mean warmer. I had a great trip that started out in the 90 degree weather in San Antonio. By Oklahoma City it's 29 with a wind chill factor on top of it. Wow, that was cold.
Now it's back to California and back to education business here. I have a story to share, but I'm on the run for work so it will have to wait for this evening. Suffice it to say, I enjoyed Texas and Oklahoma a great deal and I learned a tremendous amount. Now it's time to both share what I learned as well as apply the parts that work here vs. what doesn't.
That last is the tricky part. Every state, actually every district in every state, has a different view of what works in their community when it comes to educating kids and they know what has worked for them. Where the tricky stuff comes in is looking at and keeping the parts that have really worked well and being willing to discard and try new things that haven't served a good purpose. Change is challenging and not easily done, and change for change sake never brings about the results you want. However, times change and kids need to learn different skills for this century than they did for the last. We need to continue to find ways to help them do that.
So I'm back looking at what's working and what isn't, trying to find the balance for kids and learning.
Posted by Dr Joni at 07:33 AM | Comments (0)
December 03, 2005
In Preschool Oklahoma Is Leading the Nation
Dr. Romona Paul, the Assistant State Superintendent, has become a real leader in the development of preschool programs across the nation. She admits it's unusual for a state like Oklahoma to be a leader. It's a bit like Glenn County being a leader in California. There are still lots of people who don't know there is a Glenn County in California, and even if they do they don't know where it is. Oklahoma's leadership in this area is a bit like that, but small or not, they've come out big in the preschool, and we're all trying to find out what they're doing.
Dr. Paul was extremely gracious with her time and passionate about what works and what doesn't in preschool education. The nice part about her expertise is she's had over a number of years to find out what's working and what isn't. Oklahoma started their program way back in 1980 with a pilot program. They are still using the same type model today with 70% of the 4-year-olds in the state attending a voluntary program funded by the state and operated by the public schools.
The were known as the "Nanny State" when they started the program. They took a lot of ribbing and problably, although she was very professional about saying so, a lot of criticism for their efforts. A study done out of Georgetown University in 2004 stopped the critics in their tracks. Without going into all the details (for those who wish more check the Georgetown website http://www.crocus.georgetown.edu/projects.html#ok)the results where exceptional. There were great gains in letter-word identification, spelling, and applied problems. That's test results, but more importantly were the vocabulary skills and the readiness and ease of transition to kindergarten. Children were ready for school, comfortable about learning, and making progress. And, as several others mentioned, parents have become more involved because they learned how to be involved in school when their children were in preschool.
The earlier group I had talked with, the curriculum folks, talked about kindergarten teachers having to adjust to children coming to them who already had the skills they used to teach. Kids came in knowing letters, numbers, and ready to learn more. What a shift for everyone to deal with, but what great abilities for kids to have at an earlier age.
Dr. Paul stressed over and over a collaborative approach. She talked about working with Head Start, the Department of Health Services, private day care providers, and schools as they developed their programs. Everyone was included as they developed the standards by which they were going to operate and instruct children. She insists that they could not have done this without collaborating a great deal on what they planned to do. The results have paid off big time for children.
California is talking about and getting ready to put an initiative on the ballot regarding universal preschool. I am grateful that we've had someone willing to be a "Nanny State" and stick their neck out to learn what works in this area. Our preschoolers deserve the best we can give them and I thank Dr. Paul and her folks for having looked ahead for all of us.
It was a great chance for me to learn so much. Thanks Oklahoma, Dr. Paul, Dr. Watson and the rest of your crew. I plan to keep in touch as we move into this arena.
Posted by Dr Joni at 08:15 AM | Comments (0)
OOOO Oklahoma
Yes and the wind does come sweepin' down the plains. It was supposed to be 62 degrees in Oklahoma City yesterday, but with a wind chill factor it felt like 30. Well, it felt like 30 to me. Wow, I'm spoiled and not used to this.
However, I had a great visit- actually great 2 visits with folks from the Oklahoma State Department of Education http://www.sde.state.ok.us/home/defaultie.html. If the weather was cold, the reception was contrastingly warm and friendly from those I met with in the department.
My first visit was with Dr. Jennifer Watson, Team Leader for the Office of Standards and Curriculum and the curriculum cabinet. What a great group. I just fit right into their agenda and asked questions about content areas of English/Language Arts, math, science, social studies, and fine arts. They shared about gifted and talented, a bit about preschool, and a lot about Ag in the Classroom. I laughed because in California I'm not sure how many children in Los Angeles or San Francisco know much about agriculture, but where I'm from in Glenn County, ag is a BIG deal. In Oklahoma it's a BIG deal too. I felt right at home.
The group was in the middle of a variety of conferences targeting improving instuction in the various content areas. They were very pleased with the reception by the teachers and the progress they'd made. They also shared their PASS program which is their standards-based instruction system. They'd even put their standards into small grade level booklets for the teachers to use. That has been a big hit.
After having been in a huge state like Texas, it was delightful to see a group of people who knew teachers by name and went out and met with them at their schools on a regular basis. It's tough to do that in the big states. That's probably one of the reasons I like being in a small county. I know everyone. It makes a difference for teachers, parents, and children when you know who they are.
Thanks Jennifer and your group for your hospitality.
Next was a visit about preschool. See that one on the next entry.
Posted by Dr Joni at 07:55 AM | Comments (0)
Really Big D
My other visit in Dallas was with the Superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District, Dr. Michael Hinojosa. Now here were talking really big D. DISD http://www.dallasisd.org/ has over 110,000 students with the district's demographics having changed dramatically over the years. As in many large cities, what was years ago was a predominately white middle class community has undergone inner city changes to first a predominately African American community to now a mix of Hispanic, African American, a few Asian students and 6% Caucasian. There's also an 87% low income rate (free and reduced lunch).
Dr. Hinojosa knows he has challenges. His first comments were that he was the seventh superintendent in the district in ten years and one of those superintendents lasted four years. You can do the math on this one. He laughingly said he had been there six months which was longer than some of his predecessors.
But the man is not daunted with the challenges. He spent time showing me his test results and explaining how he planned to motivate and change what wasn't working to what needed to be working. His issues were many of the same ones I've mentioned that I've found in visiting with districts-poverty, non-English speakers, special education, and high schools.
He was particularly clear about his high schools. He showed me a chart in his conference room that designated which schools, mostly high schools, need the most improvement. He had a plan for improving them and they were already showing some gains. He was out visiting schools every Wednesday and expecting to see what he wanted from those schools on his visits.
Dr. Hinojosa has vision and energy, two things that it takes to run any big school district. He invivited me to come back in three years and see what was happening. I assured him I'd be watching him make these differences well before three years, but I'd really like to come back to this district.
We talk about leadership being a key to any school or district in becoming a great school. If you've read the book Good to Great by Jim Collins http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0066620996/103-1267314-8811821?v=glance&n=283155, you know it takes a real effort from the top down to make things happen. This one has the earmarks of getting there even with its challenges, maybe even because of its challenges.
Posted by Dr Joni at 05:33 AM | Comments (0)
December 02, 2005
Big D
Thursday I moved on to Dallas. Again on this trip, when it was set up, it was with the idea that I'd visit a couple districts in each city and try to balance out the visits with large and smaller. I'm not quite sure what the definition of small is in Texas or if it's even in their dictionary. I did find out that there are 500 "small" districts in Texas, but I don't think I've really found them on this trip.
My first visit it Dallas was to a relatively small district. Garland Independent School District http://www.garlandisd.net/index.asp only has 55,000 students in it. In my northern California area that's putting together two or three counties and 20 or 30 districts. I know in Los Angeles it's a mere pittance, but I guess it's all relative.
Anyway in Garland I met with three of their leadership team, Dr. Joseph Lopez, Dr. Cathy Osmeyer, and Lina Phemister. Each district is unique and often have their own area of concentration. In this district I learned about their focus on gifted and talented students as well as their preschool program.
Garland has developed a strong gifted and talented (GT) program which includes schools that are 2/3 identified GT students and 1/3 neighborhood students in both the elementary and the middle school grades. They have a high school magnet program for GT as well as an International Baccalaureate program. Impressive for a "small" school district.
Equally impressive was their commitment to preschool education. Im finding that Texas overall is interested in making sure their pre Kindergarten students get a good start in school. Garland has developed two school sites for just the little ones.
This is Gloria F. Cisneros Prekindergarten School. Just thought you might like to see what fun it is to be in a preK.
Thank you Garland for a great visit.
Posted by Dr Joni at 05:05 AM | Comments (0)
December 01, 2005
Austin
Wednesday was fascinating in that I spent over three hours with Cami Jones, Director of Early Childhood Programs, in the Texas Education Agency http://www.tea.state.tx.us/. For those of us in California, that’s their state department of education. It was a real opportunity to ask questions from a state perspective on implementation of NCLB as well as what was happening in Texas in the world of preschool. California is looking at Universal Preschool for 4-year-olds and I want to know how well they’ve done in a state that already has preschool as an option.
I learned a great deal. Cami had been in her position for over 19 years so she was well-versed in the changes occurring in Texas education over time. She along with a number of the superintendents I talked with mentioned they’d been in the business of testing and accountability for over 20 years so the requirements of NCLB were not really as new to them as some of the rest of us. They had to modify somewhat because of subgroups and state vs. federal systems, but they were at least a jump ahead.
This whole week, however, has been overlade with a court case that just came out. I heard about it Monday and it was a topic of Cami’s as we met. It seems that a portion of the financing for Texas school budgeting has been struck down by the court. She indicated that their state was in pretty severe financial states in their funding of education and they were having to relook at it. It sounded a lot like home, but their budget burdens were somewhat overriding their curriculum needs. The state department had been cutting staff for quite a while and with this turn of events, who knew what would be next for both the department and the schools. Hm, still sounds like home.
On the preschool side, we talked about how their system of support worked. It’s different than what’s being proposed in California. In Texas there’s an eligibility criteria for entrance into the preschool program. Eligibility includes low income, homeless, or English learners. It’s a half day program although there are some grants available for districts to apply for to make the program into a full day program.
I guess no program goes without it’s discussions around curriculum including preschool. It seems that after two approving votes by the state board to approve the continuance of a “hands-on” type learning system, the board reversed it’s decision and is combining its curriculum with the 1-5th grade materials in a more text/workbook format. For preschool and kindergarten teachers that’s going to be a hard one to understand. If you’ve ever had the privilege of being in a preschool you know it’s all motion and energy. Curtailing that energy to a seat with a workbook may be a challenge in anyone’s book.
After leaving Cami’s office I had the rare pleasure of visiting with a friend in Austin and got to see the very same little people we are talking about. My friend Danielle has 3-year-old twins, a boy, Omar, and a girl, Nadia. Now that was energy and shear fun. They did color in a coloring book for, oh maybe 15 seconds. They could hardly wait to get to the park and go down the slides and chase the birds. Wonder if our legislators or board members, from whatever state, have visited with any preschoolers lately?
Posted by Dr Joni at 06:29 PM | Comments (0)