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.