Merry Christmas

I want to wish all my friends a Merry Christmas and send you all my best wishes for a happy New Year.

New Favorite Author

Well, howdy. I have been so busy with the new school year that I haven't had much time to post. I also have a new favorite author. Thanks to my Cassandra, I broke down and read the Twilight Series. They are excellent and well written. However, due to my new found interest in vampires, I began watching True Blood over the summer. Loved it!! I had never heard of the Sookie Stackhouse books and until I saw an interview with David Ball, I had no idea that was where he found the inspiration for True Blood. Like a true bibliophile, I could not help myself and ran out and bought the first Sookie books, Dead Until Dark. I have fallen for Sookie and her world in a hard way. Thanks to Charlaine Harris for writing such excellent material and thanks to Cassie for turning me onto the vampire lore. What fun. I am through book 6 and am heading out the door for more.

A Billion for a Billion

Great Podcast about Intuitive Learners

Have a listen!

More from About Our Children

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

About our kids re-airs this Sunday on MSNBC, tune in!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Brain Rules Interview

The Best Teacher Movie

Regarded by academics as one of the most influential educators of the 1960s and ‘70s, Cullum championed what is, by today's standards, an unorthodox educational philosophy: the belief that the only way teachers can be successful with children is to speak directly to their hearts and to their instinctive and largely ignored capacity to quickly understand and identify with the great personalities, ideas and emotions found in classical literature. To that end, Cullum regularly taught his elementary school children literary masterpieces, exposed them to great works of art and engaged them in the events of world history. Without leaving the classroom, his students visited King Tut's tomb, attended joint sessions of the U.S. Congress, operated on “bleeding” nouns in his "grammar hospital," and clamored to play the timeless roles of Julius Caesar, Lady Macbeth and Hamlet.

When Cullum was an elementary school teacher in the New York City suburbs during the 1960s, his friend Robert Downey helped film several student plays and classroom events. In A TOUCH OF GREATNESS, these lush black and white films, with original music created by Tom O'Horgan, capture the work of this radical teacher and his students’ love of learning.

I loved this movie so much, I bought it the minute I finished watching. He is an inspiriation to us all.

Goodbye to Frank McCourt - Teacher Man

Most of my summer reading was comprised of memoirs of teachers. One of my all time favorites was Frank McCourt's "Teacher Man". If you haven't read it, you must. The world is a bit sadder now that he is gone.

Two Books

Glass Castles was an excellent book- I would read it again and again. If you ever felt like you did not have the best childhood and thought about blaming parents for some of your failures, this is a must read. Jeannette Walls paints a picture of childhood poverty that won't be easily shaken.
And, All Souls, A Family Story from Southie is the story of Michael Patrick MacDonald's childhood growing up in South Boston during the late 60s and 70s. Unlike Jeannette's childhood his was marred not only by poverty but by violence, drugs, and alcohol that claimed the lives of several of his siblings as well as those of many of his friends.
Having grown up in poverty myself, I felt a kinship with both these authors. White poverty is somehow not seen by social workers and community activists. I have joined the ranks of Jeannette and Michael who made a better life for themselves without the help of affirmative action. When I look at my high school graduating class and see how few did "make it out". I wonder why we were not afforded the same help the minority students were provided.

Television Viewing and Language Development

Click on the post title to view the abstract of the article.
And, this is huge news, but where do I see it? In an information exchange for developmental psychologists under a study conducted by PBS stating that television shows can be educational. Let's stop confusing parents, no TV for children under 4 and call it a day. There is no level of television viewing that is beneficial and we can see from this study that it can be harmful to language development.

So, what have I been saying all along?

Self-regulation Game Predicts Kindergarten Achievement

ScienceDaily (2009-06-09) -- Early childhood development researchers have discovered that a simple, five-minute self-regulation game not only can predict end-of-year achievement in math, literacy and vocabulary, but also was associated with the equivalent of several months of additional learning in kindergarten. ... > read full article

Interesting that this is coming out now. We have been saying the same thing for years, why does it take some educators so long to catch on, children can't learn if they can't focus, focus = self-control = the ability to listen and process what is said. Yup, knew it all along.

I am a PC

Okay, so educators are supposed to be all over the Mac, I know--but! I have to say it, those commercials where they go into the store and buy a PC for under a $1000.00 and get just what they need, well I could be in one. I am on my third laptop in six years and have loved everyone. My current is an HP Pavilion Entertainment PC. I get NetFlix streaming to my PC and watch movies on it all the time. I love indy movies and stuff that no one else in my family cares to watch. I sit in my little office with my remote (yes, the PC comes with a little remote that fits into a small slot on the side of the PC) and just zone out. What a life! So yes, I am a PC.

How Education Kills Creativity

Summer Reading, Good Book, and Paperback Book Swap

Okay, I have added more than a few titles to my reading list, but right now am knee deep in Glass Castles, by Jeannette Walls. An excellent, true life story. Book snob that I am, I try to avoid bestsellers- glad I didn't do that here. Also, everyone must join Paperback Book Swap
http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php
(copy and paste the link above)
It's free. You sign up and list 10 books that you are willing to trade in for new books. Others around the country (world for all I know) do the same. You find a book you want to read and request it. The owner mails it to you and you do the same. Love it!! Totally feeding my reading habits. Talk to you soon.

My new favorite song

Hands Across America. Is baby sign language an essential or a rip-off?

I have been saying this for a while, nice to get some back up.

Hands Across America. Is baby sign language an essential or a rip-off?: "Hands Across America
Is baby sign language an essential or a rip-off? by Pamela Paul
April 7, 2008"

Summer Reading List

And so it begins---
The Reader (haven't seen the movie yet and won't until I read this)
One Size Fits Few: the Folly of Educational Standards
Iconclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently
Letter to my Daughter
Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggressive Girls
Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future
Still finding many more-----
Two weeks to go and freedom to read, read, read--- ahhh.

Playing For Change: Song Around the World "Stand By Me"

Just found this video and purchased the dvd from Itunes. Love, love, love this idea and the movement.

Olga Loya

On May 2nd, 2009, I attended the Stan Little Conference in Palm Desert with my dear friend Cassandra. We arrived a bit after the keynote speaker had begun but I certainly was captivated by Olga Loya. Olga is a storyteller (see the link above to her website). She was raised in East Los Angeles by parents who did not want her to speak Spanish and she shared her life experiences as a Latina woman trying to understand her heritage and the shame that families from Mexico seemed to feel about where they had come from.
I also enjoyed how she reminded us all of the idea that every family and every child has a story. I used her reminder to tell the participants in my workshop that they had to build on the family stories of the children they are working with to engender excitement in literacy. All children (all humans for that matter) want to know who they are. They want to know where they come from. We all enjoy hearing about when we were little or when our parents were little. Our grandparents have wonderful stories to tell. Not only can effective teachers "mine" families for stories, they can and should use the classroom events to make books and stories about the children.
So, get out that digital camera and begin writing the stories that will engage the children!

Animal School

For my friend Tiffiny and all those moms who worry that their child is not "fitting in". Click on the Animal School link.

Alliance for Childhood

Until the last few weeks I have been reading lots, here are my new recent favorites-
The Twilight Series
Eat, Love, Pray
Three Cups of Tea
Teaching by Heart: The Foxfire Interviews
The Tipping Point
I can't wait for summer and to get back to reading. Any suggestions for the summer reading list?
In the meantime check out the link to the Alliance for Childhood and the new report on the disappearance of play- titled "A Crisis in Kindergarten" it makes a compelling argument against pushing didactic academic teaching practices down to kindergarten and below.

I am excited to begin teaching curriculum next week. My favorite class to teach and such fun for all.

Due to popular demand

Okay, so I have been a bit remiss in writing. I promise that I will have a full rant posted this weekend. In the meantime, the Stan Little Conference is coming up the first weekend in May. If you can make it out to the desert, it promises to be a lovely day. Check out the link below for some interviews with amazing teachers who really make you think. Of course, I am leading you to Bev Bos first.
http://ttfuture.org/authors/bos