I see lists everywhere of educators’ favorite toys and games for children, as if we know exactly what’s good for all children. I’ll let you in on a secret: we don’t. Parents know better than we do.
But we educators can help you make some better decisions about the money you spend on toys and games. After all, there are lots of toys and games out there. Many of them are very expensive, and marketers do their best to convince kids to convince their parents to buy, buy, buy.
Here’s the thing though - kids’ interests change quickly. I’m of the opinion that you don’t have to spend loads of money on something they’re going to outgrow or lose their interest in by next Thursday.
Electronic games? They’re fine especially games like Wii that get kids up and moving. But they can also be expensive. Give in to your kids’ interests, not just to what’s hot and new. Do your homework.
So here’s a list, not necessarily of specific titles and manufacturers (although I’ve included a few), but of categories of games and toys that deserve your consideration. Some are new - many are timeless classics that have been delighting children for years.
Toys and games that build creativity. Look for toys and games that encourage children to think creatively, to solve fun problems in multiple ways. This will help with school subjects like math, which, after all, is problem solving. Building toys and games are excellent (simple building blocks and Legos are as popular now as they always have been), as are science kits and engineering sets. Other favorites include Duplo for younger kids and Kinex for older kids. Don’t forget old favorites from Crayola and Playdoh, Check out www.discovery.com. A young friend loved the Nintendo game “Animal Crossing.” He enjoyed showing me the environments he created and peopled. A fourth grader now, he’s moved on to Mario Kart and Sims, but the involvement stays the same.
Toys and games that encourage learning new things. Look for toys and games that can build vocabulary or math skills in fun ways that don’t look like vocabulary or math (Taboo, Blurt, Monopoly, Chutes and Ladders). Or that build knowledge in other areas, like science, the environment, horseback riding, sports, history, geography, whatever your child shows an interest in. Remember, interests change quickly, so don’t go spending a fortune at the first sign of interest. Buy a simple deck of cards to teach math, for instance (War, Old Maid, Go Fish). Develop the interest, then spend the money, not the other way around.
Toys and games that encourage movement. Kids need plenty of exercise. Consider investing in simple athletic equipment that allows kids to experiment with various sports to see which ones they like and may have some talent with. Show them how to use it. Share your knowledge and talents - or even more fun, your lack of it – and get out in the yard and kick the soccer ball, throw the football, jump the rope. Use chalk for hopscotch. Blow bubbles and chase them around the yard.
Toys and games that encourage new interests. Childhood is a time for experimentation with the new and exciting. Consider toys and games that cultivate interests in the arts, science, or special interests and talents that your family values. Photography? Classical music? The military? Politics? Portrait painting? Raising show dogs? Designing video games? Growing the largest pumpkin at the county fair? The list is infinite. Just remember, it’s your kid’s interest not yours.
Toys and games that stimulate interest in other cultures and parts of the world. We Americans are known for our lack of knowledge about the world. As the world shrinks, it’s increasingly important for our kids to know as much as possible about the world’s places, cultures, and peoples. Consider toys and games that provoke such interests. Check out the gift shops at local museums for cool toys and games. I like the Smithsonian (www.si.edu). Learning a new language or even sparking exciting and fulfilling travel in the future could be a result. More and more colleges are requiring semesters abroad – get a head start.
Check out community calendars in your neighborhood. Is there a Korean Fair? Little Italy? Greektown? Visit them. Try the food.
No question, the most important characteristic of the best toys and games is the ability for kids and parents to play together from time to time. Inexpensive board games do this every bit as well as expensive computer games. Kids want to be with you. Each wants to feel as if he’s your favorite - that he doesn’t have to share you with brothers and sisters for just a little while. They just want you. Look for toys and games that can do that, even ones that aren’t hot and heavily marketed. You won’t go wrong.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Lists
Everyone has a list. Everywhere you look there are folks ready to share with you their five most important investing tips, their eight best recipes, their six ways to improve your tennis game, their twelve steps to recovery.
We like lists.
I am an unabashed “lifelong learner” complete with the occasional tweed coat when the weather cooperates. After nearly forty years in the education profession – teacher, administrator, curriculum developer – I’ve picked up a few pointers myself. Seems to me if you can’t pass on to the next generation what you’ve learned over the years in ten simple pointers, you’re either not focused or you’ve spread yourself too thin, which, come to think of it, may be the same thing. Multitasking is way overrated.
So here’s what I’ve learned.
1. Read as much as you can. Seems simple, doesn’t it? But reading, so I hear, is becoming a lost art, like conversation, writing, and using your indoor voice when you’re, well, indoors. Read just about anything, although it’s always a good idea to challenge and stretch yourself every once in a while. Books, magazines, and, newspapers are good, especially if you want depth and analysis. Parents, let your children see you reading. Let them see that reading is something everyone does, not just students. Show them that when you need or want information, you read to get it. Show that when you want to perform a task for which you’re unprepared, you read to prepare yourself. (Putting together that new bicycle is a good example.) And best of all, show them that you read for the pure pleasure of reading. If our bodies become what we eat, our minds become what we read. Keep a balanced and sensible reading diet.
2. Organize yourself. Our lives are complicated and insanely, scurryingly busy. We can control some of that busy-ness by organizing ourselves. My students used to complain that they’d spent “two hours” doing a relatively simple homework assignment. When I’d ask them to tell me about it, they’d invariably, often without embarrassment, describe an hour’s search for their books, pens, highlighters, or the scrap of paper on which they’d sort of written the vague outline of the assignment. Simple planners, “study buddies,” and especially a regular routine for homework would work wonders. Being “spontaneous,” is cool and romantic, but change your morning routine by just a few minutes, and see how it affects your whole day. So much for coolness and romance.
3. Be patient and humble. This doesn’t mean put off until tomorrow or adopt a surrendering meekness. Instead, it means you recognize that good results may mean taking your time and learning the details, as almost all non-miraculous achievements do.
4. Be persistent and assertive. No, this isn’t in direct contrast to #3. It’s entirely possible to be persistent and assertive without sacrificing the benefits of patience and humility. (Rosa Parks comes to mind.) If you believe in something, work for it with steadfastness. Persistent doesn’t mean pig-headedness; assertive doesn’t mean aggression. Civility counts, and the Golden Rule still applies.
5. Be ready to compromise occasionally. The world is full of people who take inexplicable pride in “never giving up.” The landscape of politics, business, and everyday life is littered with people who “fight to the death” with little to show for it except funerals for their ideas. Sometimes we even make heroes of these poor folks. (Die Hard movies are one example. Entertaining, you bet, but you try living like that!) The truth is that real life requires give-and-take. Just ask your spouse.
6. Share, and conversely, don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Independence is a good thing, of course, but so is interdependence. Everyone needs a little help now and then. (Remember your algebra class in high school?) It’s all well and good to “try, try again,” but sometimes we need to ask for help. I’ll admit I’m a slow learner on this one but every time I’ve asked for help from people who have more experience, training, or talent in a particular area, I’ve received it happily and generously. People don’t mind, even welcome, helping others. The secret is to ask for help early, before you’ve dug yourself into too big of a hole. And when people ask you for help, give it graciously.
7. Communicate clearly and fairly. This is a hard one for some people. It’s easier to yell than to talk. That’s why the world, and the media, are filled with yelling gasbags. But, the simple truth is that the more we talk and listen to each other the fewer obstacles we encounter on our way to getting what we want. In school, teachers aren’t mind readers. We need students to tell us where they’re having difficulties. Parents who communicate with teachers about their children’s needs and strengths are doing everyone a favor – teacher, parent, and especially student.
8. Pay attention. Hear what others are saying. Watch what they do. In schools, students give clues to their needs all the time, and it takes a special teacher to heed those clues. The same is true in life. Be alert to what people are saying in words and action. Atticus Finch was right when he told Scout to walk around in other people’s shoes before judging.
9. Balance. “Life’s a Balancing Act” reads a beloved chotchke a good friend gave me years ago. It hangs in a prominent place in my office for everyone, including me, to see daily. Count the number of times a day you’re faced with an either-or decision; you’ll be amazed at how often it occurs. The simple fact is most of life’s decisions are a balance of two or more ideas. In education, for example, we spent years fighting the Whole Language vs. Phonics circus, when in fact there’s benefit to each side’s argument. Anyone with any common sense can see that. But the battle raged on, and kids got caught in the middle, as they do in all adult battles.
10. Be grateful - every day. Create a regular time in your life to reflect on the good things that happen to you. Make it a regular routine. If you’re paying attention, you’ll see right away that gratitude probably doesn’t get the attention it should. This makes for great discussion and writing in schools, but it’s a habit that goes far beyond the classroom walls for both kids and adults. You decide for yourself who gets the gratitude.
What are your lessons learned over the years? Share them with me and with others.
- Dr. Rick
We like lists.
I am an unabashed “lifelong learner” complete with the occasional tweed coat when the weather cooperates. After nearly forty years in the education profession – teacher, administrator, curriculum developer – I’ve picked up a few pointers myself. Seems to me if you can’t pass on to the next generation what you’ve learned over the years in ten simple pointers, you’re either not focused or you’ve spread yourself too thin, which, come to think of it, may be the same thing. Multitasking is way overrated.
So here’s what I’ve learned.
1. Read as much as you can. Seems simple, doesn’t it? But reading, so I hear, is becoming a lost art, like conversation, writing, and using your indoor voice when you’re, well, indoors. Read just about anything, although it’s always a good idea to challenge and stretch yourself every once in a while. Books, magazines, and, newspapers are good, especially if you want depth and analysis. Parents, let your children see you reading. Let them see that reading is something everyone does, not just students. Show them that when you need or want information, you read to get it. Show that when you want to perform a task for which you’re unprepared, you read to prepare yourself. (Putting together that new bicycle is a good example.) And best of all, show them that you read for the pure pleasure of reading. If our bodies become what we eat, our minds become what we read. Keep a balanced and sensible reading diet.
2. Organize yourself. Our lives are complicated and insanely, scurryingly busy. We can control some of that busy-ness by organizing ourselves. My students used to complain that they’d spent “two hours” doing a relatively simple homework assignment. When I’d ask them to tell me about it, they’d invariably, often without embarrassment, describe an hour’s search for their books, pens, highlighters, or the scrap of paper on which they’d sort of written the vague outline of the assignment. Simple planners, “study buddies,” and especially a regular routine for homework would work wonders. Being “spontaneous,” is cool and romantic, but change your morning routine by just a few minutes, and see how it affects your whole day. So much for coolness and romance.
3. Be patient and humble. This doesn’t mean put off until tomorrow or adopt a surrendering meekness. Instead, it means you recognize that good results may mean taking your time and learning the details, as almost all non-miraculous achievements do.
4. Be persistent and assertive. No, this isn’t in direct contrast to #3. It’s entirely possible to be persistent and assertive without sacrificing the benefits of patience and humility. (Rosa Parks comes to mind.) If you believe in something, work for it with steadfastness. Persistent doesn’t mean pig-headedness; assertive doesn’t mean aggression. Civility counts, and the Golden Rule still applies.
5. Be ready to compromise occasionally. The world is full of people who take inexplicable pride in “never giving up.” The landscape of politics, business, and everyday life is littered with people who “fight to the death” with little to show for it except funerals for their ideas. Sometimes we even make heroes of these poor folks. (Die Hard movies are one example. Entertaining, you bet, but you try living like that!) The truth is that real life requires give-and-take. Just ask your spouse.
6. Share, and conversely, don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Independence is a good thing, of course, but so is interdependence. Everyone needs a little help now and then. (Remember your algebra class in high school?) It’s all well and good to “try, try again,” but sometimes we need to ask for help. I’ll admit I’m a slow learner on this one but every time I’ve asked for help from people who have more experience, training, or talent in a particular area, I’ve received it happily and generously. People don’t mind, even welcome, helping others. The secret is to ask for help early, before you’ve dug yourself into too big of a hole. And when people ask you for help, give it graciously.
7. Communicate clearly and fairly. This is a hard one for some people. It’s easier to yell than to talk. That’s why the world, and the media, are filled with yelling gasbags. But, the simple truth is that the more we talk and listen to each other the fewer obstacles we encounter on our way to getting what we want. In school, teachers aren’t mind readers. We need students to tell us where they’re having difficulties. Parents who communicate with teachers about their children’s needs and strengths are doing everyone a favor – teacher, parent, and especially student.
8. Pay attention. Hear what others are saying. Watch what they do. In schools, students give clues to their needs all the time, and it takes a special teacher to heed those clues. The same is true in life. Be alert to what people are saying in words and action. Atticus Finch was right when he told Scout to walk around in other people’s shoes before judging.
9. Balance. “Life’s a Balancing Act” reads a beloved chotchke a good friend gave me years ago. It hangs in a prominent place in my office for everyone, including me, to see daily. Count the number of times a day you’re faced with an either-or decision; you’ll be amazed at how often it occurs. The simple fact is most of life’s decisions are a balance of two or more ideas. In education, for example, we spent years fighting the Whole Language vs. Phonics circus, when in fact there’s benefit to each side’s argument. Anyone with any common sense can see that. But the battle raged on, and kids got caught in the middle, as they do in all adult battles.
10. Be grateful - every day. Create a regular time in your life to reflect on the good things that happen to you. Make it a regular routine. If you’re paying attention, you’ll see right away that gratitude probably doesn’t get the attention it should. This makes for great discussion and writing in schools, but it’s a habit that goes far beyond the classroom walls for both kids and adults. You decide for yourself who gets the gratitude.
What are your lessons learned over the years? Share them with me and with others.
- Dr. Rick
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Steve and the Cigarette
When I was a brand new teacher – couldn’t have been in the classroom more than a month or so – I learned a valuable lesson about violence and how to avoid it. We faculty were trying mightily (and vainly) to curtail student smoking on our high school campus. It was 1970, and smoking was okay for faculty in the lounges. Illogical, but that’s another story. Students could not smoke anywhere on campus, we decreed.
My classroom faced the front of the building, where the school buses lined up each day several minutes before the dismissal bell rang. The buses became the de facto dismissal bell. As soon as the buses roared up, the students packed up.
I noticed Steve at the back of the class, ready to leave. His books, if they had ever been opened, were now closed. He had a cigarette tucked behind his right ear. This is where I lost all common sense.
I was new at this teaching thing and I wanted to prove myself. I was a teacher, and I must enforce school rules. Before I could think, I said, “Steve, give me the cigarette.” I held out my hand, palm up.
Ever have one of those moments when as you’re saying something, you want to reach out, grab the words, and shove them back in your mouth before anyone hears them? This was one such moment.
Suddenly, for the first and only time that year, I had the full and undivided attention of the entire class of tenth graders - mostly boys. I had stupidly and in an instant set up a confrontation between teacher and student. A clueless new teacher had just given a foolish ultimatum to a teenager intent on saving face in front of his buddies.
It was a public school, and we weren’t allowed to pray, at least not formally and aloud, but I broke that rule quicker that it would have taken for Steve to light up his Marlboro. “Lord,” I said, “get me out of this situation, and I promise if I ever do anything so dumb again I won’t come looking to you to bail me out. But, just this once, help me out here, huh?”
There I stood, with my hand out. There Steve stood, staring at me. There they were, the other students, eyes wide with a burning interest that grammar lesons and Great Expectations could only dream of igniting.
The buses outside the window idled. The clock ticked.
Neither of us moved. This couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but it was an eternity in my mind. I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure my knees were shaking.
Then my prayer was answered. By Steve.
Slowly, deliberately, coolly, he took the cigarette from behind his ear, reached toward me, and with a Steve McQueen sneer (look him up, youngsters), crumpled it in my palm. He saved face, I got the cigarette. The tension broke.
I was so grateful, I wanted to hug him.
Steve understood on some level – surely not intellectually, this being Steve, but somewhere deeper, more powerful, more elemental – that old law of physics and Johnny Mercer (look him up, too), about an irresistible force meeting an immoveable object. Something’s gotta give. He was smarter than me that day. I’ll always be grateful for the lesson he taught me: you can avoid lots of unnecessary unpleasantness by not backing an adversary into a corner.
I think of this incident because of all the news lately about violence in schools. In Baltimore, where I live, a high school art teacher was beaten by a girl in her class whom she had just asked to take a seat. While some in the class loudly egged the beater on, the whole shameful incident was captured on video by another student who was presumably too busy pretending to be a cheap version of Quentin Tarantino than a modern version of the Good Samaritan.
We now learn about “cyber aggression,” a new form of violence made easier by the millions of teens who have cell phones with cameras and computers with Internet access. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied this new phenomenon and says that there’s been a huge increase in the numbers of teen victims of it. Apparently, it’s a mark of some kind of twisted honor to “star” in a video that shows you humiliating an “enemy.” Girls and boys alike are drawn to it.
It’s a disgusting social phenomenon, humiliating, physically dangerous, and demeaning. There are no winners, only losers. Losers get beat up; losers do the beating. Much can be said about the “coarsening of our culture,” and that’s probably correct in a time when we’ve put the word “rage” behind just about any activity now. Road rage, mall rage, sports rage, family rage, now school rage.
“Steve and the Cigarette” is nothing in comparison with this heinous incident, but I shudder to think of what could have happened if my near-dismissal-time students had had cell phones, if they had urged Steve to physical action and if my illegal prayer in the school hadn’t worked.
- Dr. Rick
My classroom faced the front of the building, where the school buses lined up each day several minutes before the dismissal bell rang. The buses became the de facto dismissal bell. As soon as the buses roared up, the students packed up.
I noticed Steve at the back of the class, ready to leave. His books, if they had ever been opened, were now closed. He had a cigarette tucked behind his right ear. This is where I lost all common sense.
I was new at this teaching thing and I wanted to prove myself. I was a teacher, and I must enforce school rules. Before I could think, I said, “Steve, give me the cigarette.” I held out my hand, palm up.
Ever have one of those moments when as you’re saying something, you want to reach out, grab the words, and shove them back in your mouth before anyone hears them? This was one such moment.
Suddenly, for the first and only time that year, I had the full and undivided attention of the entire class of tenth graders - mostly boys. I had stupidly and in an instant set up a confrontation between teacher and student. A clueless new teacher had just given a foolish ultimatum to a teenager intent on saving face in front of his buddies.
It was a public school, and we weren’t allowed to pray, at least not formally and aloud, but I broke that rule quicker that it would have taken for Steve to light up his Marlboro. “Lord,” I said, “get me out of this situation, and I promise if I ever do anything so dumb again I won’t come looking to you to bail me out. But, just this once, help me out here, huh?”
There I stood, with my hand out. There Steve stood, staring at me. There they were, the other students, eyes wide with a burning interest that grammar lesons and Great Expectations could only dream of igniting.
The buses outside the window idled. The clock ticked.
Neither of us moved. This couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but it was an eternity in my mind. I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure my knees were shaking.
Then my prayer was answered. By Steve.
Slowly, deliberately, coolly, he took the cigarette from behind his ear, reached toward me, and with a Steve McQueen sneer (look him up, youngsters), crumpled it in my palm. He saved face, I got the cigarette. The tension broke.
I was so grateful, I wanted to hug him.
Steve understood on some level – surely not intellectually, this being Steve, but somewhere deeper, more powerful, more elemental – that old law of physics and Johnny Mercer (look him up, too), about an irresistible force meeting an immoveable object. Something’s gotta give. He was smarter than me that day. I’ll always be grateful for the lesson he taught me: you can avoid lots of unnecessary unpleasantness by not backing an adversary into a corner.
I think of this incident because of all the news lately about violence in schools. In Baltimore, where I live, a high school art teacher was beaten by a girl in her class whom she had just asked to take a seat. While some in the class loudly egged the beater on, the whole shameful incident was captured on video by another student who was presumably too busy pretending to be a cheap version of Quentin Tarantino than a modern version of the Good Samaritan.
We now learn about “cyber aggression,” a new form of violence made easier by the millions of teens who have cell phones with cameras and computers with Internet access. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied this new phenomenon and says that there’s been a huge increase in the numbers of teen victims of it. Apparently, it’s a mark of some kind of twisted honor to “star” in a video that shows you humiliating an “enemy.” Girls and boys alike are drawn to it.
It’s a disgusting social phenomenon, humiliating, physically dangerous, and demeaning. There are no winners, only losers. Losers get beat up; losers do the beating. Much can be said about the “coarsening of our culture,” and that’s probably correct in a time when we’ve put the word “rage” behind just about any activity now. Road rage, mall rage, sports rage, family rage, now school rage.
“Steve and the Cigarette” is nothing in comparison with this heinous incident, but I shudder to think of what could have happened if my near-dismissal-time students had had cell phones, if they had urged Steve to physical action and if my illegal prayer in the school hadn’t worked.
- Dr. Rick
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
My Favorite Teachers
Stop people on the street – anyone, at random – and ask them to tell you about their favorite teacher. I guarantee, you’ll hear some amazing stories. Everyone has a favorite teacher. If they’re lucky, they’ve had a few who’ve made lasting impressions on them.
I guess I’m one of those lucky ones. I don’t think it’s the forgiving mist of memories, either, but I remember several of my elementary school teachers, nuns mostly (and not the scary type, although there were one or two of them), who stand up to kind reflection. I was an “army brat,” so my family moved with an accustomed frequency, and I was exposed to lots of different schools and teachers. I remember a few high school teachers who impressed upon me some academic rigor and respect, even motivation, for learning. And in college, there were many who not only taught me well but eventually became trusted mentors and then beloved friends. (Dr. Carr, Dr. Roderick, this is for you.)
I was even lucky in my working life. Several of my colleagues in the schools and offices where I worked taught me and nurtured my career as they too, became old friends. I watched Bob Bishop, a veteran teacher who taught across the hall from me during my earliest days of teaching, and I’d emulate what he did. Sometimes it worked for me, sometimes it didn’t.
I learned from Dick Price, my first boss, English department chair, who taught me the importance of humor in the classroom and its power in defusing unpleasant situations as well as motivating learning. Link humor with a startling depth of knowledge about your subject, and you could get kids to want to learn just about anything.
I learned from superintendents for whom I worked. Dr. Robert Y. Dubel was a master of communications. Dr. Stuart Berger was a model for holding onto deeply-held beliefs. Dr. Anthony Marchione was adept at gaining consensus from widely diverging groups.
Making the transition from the public to the private sector, I was eager to learn from the best around me. I’m still learning and I’m grateful for the chance to work with folks like Doug Becker and Peter Cohen.
I have stories about each one, but here’s just one. Mr. Bob Bishop (he was room 212 and I 213) had an overcrowded homeroom class and had to sit a student at his desk for the fifteen minute attendance-taking and announcements period.
One day, in boredom, the boy at Bob’s desk rummaged secretly through the drawers. In the back he found an inkpad and a stamp that read “bull - - - - t,” a gag-gift Bob had received and prudently put in the back of his desk, long ago forgotten. Before Bob could stop him, the boy had inked up the stamp and decorated his notebook.
The next day the boy came to class with a note from his father.
“Well, there goes my career,” Bob thought as he opened the envelope. “It was nice while it lasted.”
“Dear Mr. Bishop,” the dad wrote. “I couldn’t help but notice the decorations on my son’s notebook. He tells me he used a stamp that belongs to you. The next time he misbehaves in school, please apply that stamp to his forehead.”
Calamity averted. Sighs of relief exhaled. Smiles all around.
Who are your favorite teachers? If you haven’t told them, do so. Then share your stories here. Sad stories, funny stories, inspiring stories, ironic stories. We want to hear them.
Are you a teacher? Send me the stories that have made you laugh – or cry – over the years. Share these stories, and we’ll see why our favorite teachers stay with us forever. I’d be willing to bet that we remember them at least as much – maybe more – for their off-lesson lessons as well as for their planned-lesson lessons!
- Dr. Rick
I guess I’m one of those lucky ones. I don’t think it’s the forgiving mist of memories, either, but I remember several of my elementary school teachers, nuns mostly (and not the scary type, although there were one or two of them), who stand up to kind reflection. I was an “army brat,” so my family moved with an accustomed frequency, and I was exposed to lots of different schools and teachers. I remember a few high school teachers who impressed upon me some academic rigor and respect, even motivation, for learning. And in college, there were many who not only taught me well but eventually became trusted mentors and then beloved friends. (Dr. Carr, Dr. Roderick, this is for you.)
I was even lucky in my working life. Several of my colleagues in the schools and offices where I worked taught me and nurtured my career as they too, became old friends. I watched Bob Bishop, a veteran teacher who taught across the hall from me during my earliest days of teaching, and I’d emulate what he did. Sometimes it worked for me, sometimes it didn’t.
I learned from Dick Price, my first boss, English department chair, who taught me the importance of humor in the classroom and its power in defusing unpleasant situations as well as motivating learning. Link humor with a startling depth of knowledge about your subject, and you could get kids to want to learn just about anything.
I learned from superintendents for whom I worked. Dr. Robert Y. Dubel was a master of communications. Dr. Stuart Berger was a model for holding onto deeply-held beliefs. Dr. Anthony Marchione was adept at gaining consensus from widely diverging groups.
Making the transition from the public to the private sector, I was eager to learn from the best around me. I’m still learning and I’m grateful for the chance to work with folks like Doug Becker and Peter Cohen.
I have stories about each one, but here’s just one. Mr. Bob Bishop (he was room 212 and I 213) had an overcrowded homeroom class and had to sit a student at his desk for the fifteen minute attendance-taking and announcements period.
One day, in boredom, the boy at Bob’s desk rummaged secretly through the drawers. In the back he found an inkpad and a stamp that read “bull - - - - t,” a gag-gift Bob had received and prudently put in the back of his desk, long ago forgotten. Before Bob could stop him, the boy had inked up the stamp and decorated his notebook.
The next day the boy came to class with a note from his father.
“Well, there goes my career,” Bob thought as he opened the envelope. “It was nice while it lasted.”
“Dear Mr. Bishop,” the dad wrote. “I couldn’t help but notice the decorations on my son’s notebook. He tells me he used a stamp that belongs to you. The next time he misbehaves in school, please apply that stamp to his forehead.”
Calamity averted. Sighs of relief exhaled. Smiles all around.
Who are your favorite teachers? If you haven’t told them, do so. Then share your stories here. Sad stories, funny stories, inspiring stories, ironic stories. We want to hear them.
Are you a teacher? Send me the stories that have made you laugh – or cry – over the years. Share these stories, and we’ll see why our favorite teachers stay with us forever. I’d be willing to bet that we remember them at least as much – maybe more – for their off-lesson lessons as well as for their planned-lesson lessons!
- Dr. Rick
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Single Sex Education
There’s lots of talk – once again – about the value of single-sex education. Do boys and girls benefit from being in classes with only other boys or girls? Some research indicates yes; some says no. This is typical of most education research. Reports clash with astonishing regularity and confusion. Oprah clearly thinks yes; her school in Africa is for girls. Many highly successful single-sex parochial and private schools think so, too. On the other hand, many once single-sex schools – especially colleges – have gone coed. What’s the right answer?
For what it’s worth, here’s what I think. It’s up to us adults to recognize what’s best for our kids, knowing that what’s right for one child is not the same as for another. Any parent with more than one child knows that. For some students, single-sex classes make good sense. Many children do, indeed, succeed with more ease when they’re free of the distractions of the opposite sex. Other students, however, blossom when in the company of the opposite sex.
I say if it’s right for a child, if it’s what she needs, it’s good to have the single-sex option. The wider the range of school options, the better. It’s what we expect when we go shopping for clothes and cars; why would we want any less from our schools?
Beware of anyone who tells you that there’s one way to teach all students, one method, one curriculum, and one research study that proves it. Show that person the door.
If there’s anything we educators have learned in the past few years (thank you, brain researchers, thank you Howard Gardner, thank you Mel Levine), it’s that all children are capable of learning, but they learn in different ways and at different rates. A superintendent friend says, “All kids can learn, but not in the same way and not on the same day.”
That’s why schools look so different today from when we adults went to school. That’s why teachers’ jobs are so much more difficult now, trying to reach every child, teaching in the way each child learns best. That’s why there are so many school options for families, single-sex schools being just one.
There are also home schools, magnet schools, and charter schools. Online schools, summer schools, and boarding schools. Schools-within-schools, international schools, and foreign-language schools. KIPP schools, schools with uniforms, and for-profit schools. K-8 schools from my long-ago youth are making a comeback. Freshman-only divisions in high schools seem helpful for many students.
And, oh yes, single-sex schools. The diversity is remarkable. The more we learn about the many ways children learn, the more we can expect different configurations of schools, classrooms, and learning environments. We should embrace these new configurations not run from them.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have high expectations from them. What should we expect from these schools, from the people who run them, and the students who go to them? We should expect that the adults who propose them have done their homework, know what kinds of learners will benefit from their schools, and can articulate what they hope to accomplish and how they hope to do so.
We should expect that teachers are chosen not because of seniority or some other artificial criterion but because of their talents, because they understand and approve of the philosophy of the school, because they’ve shown they can adjust their instruction and curriculum to fit the school’s mission, and because they can meet the needs of the students and families they serve.
We should expect students – and their families – to take seriously these new ways to learn. Parents should communicate regularly with teachers, know when assignments are due, when tests are given, and give their children the support they need. Every day. Students should learn quickly that the adults in their lives will be watching them, supporting them, rewarding them, and, when necessary, dishing out consequences.
Education and learning are too important and too diverse to fit into a one-size-fits-all box. How and what we taught in the past may have worked for our needs then, and may still work for many students today, but, for others, times and needs have changed. Single-sex schools (or even a single-sex class or two within an otherwise traditional school) may be the answer for some kids. So might some of those other options I mentioned. Just don’t expect one option to work for all learners.
I say let’s try as many as we can. What’s more important than our kids?
- Dr. Rick
For what it’s worth, here’s what I think. It’s up to us adults to recognize what’s best for our kids, knowing that what’s right for one child is not the same as for another. Any parent with more than one child knows that. For some students, single-sex classes make good sense. Many children do, indeed, succeed with more ease when they’re free of the distractions of the opposite sex. Other students, however, blossom when in the company of the opposite sex.
I say if it’s right for a child, if it’s what she needs, it’s good to have the single-sex option. The wider the range of school options, the better. It’s what we expect when we go shopping for clothes and cars; why would we want any less from our schools?
Beware of anyone who tells you that there’s one way to teach all students, one method, one curriculum, and one research study that proves it. Show that person the door.
If there’s anything we educators have learned in the past few years (thank you, brain researchers, thank you Howard Gardner, thank you Mel Levine), it’s that all children are capable of learning, but they learn in different ways and at different rates. A superintendent friend says, “All kids can learn, but not in the same way and not on the same day.”
That’s why schools look so different today from when we adults went to school. That’s why teachers’ jobs are so much more difficult now, trying to reach every child, teaching in the way each child learns best. That’s why there are so many school options for families, single-sex schools being just one.
There are also home schools, magnet schools, and charter schools. Online schools, summer schools, and boarding schools. Schools-within-schools, international schools, and foreign-language schools. KIPP schools, schools with uniforms, and for-profit schools. K-8 schools from my long-ago youth are making a comeback. Freshman-only divisions in high schools seem helpful for many students.
And, oh yes, single-sex schools. The diversity is remarkable. The more we learn about the many ways children learn, the more we can expect different configurations of schools, classrooms, and learning environments. We should embrace these new configurations not run from them.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have high expectations from them. What should we expect from these schools, from the people who run them, and the students who go to them? We should expect that the adults who propose them have done their homework, know what kinds of learners will benefit from their schools, and can articulate what they hope to accomplish and how they hope to do so.
We should expect that teachers are chosen not because of seniority or some other artificial criterion but because of their talents, because they understand and approve of the philosophy of the school, because they’ve shown they can adjust their instruction and curriculum to fit the school’s mission, and because they can meet the needs of the students and families they serve.
We should expect students – and their families – to take seriously these new ways to learn. Parents should communicate regularly with teachers, know when assignments are due, when tests are given, and give their children the support they need. Every day. Students should learn quickly that the adults in their lives will be watching them, supporting them, rewarding them, and, when necessary, dishing out consequences.
Education and learning are too important and too diverse to fit into a one-size-fits-all box. How and what we taught in the past may have worked for our needs then, and may still work for many students today, but, for others, times and needs have changed. Single-sex schools (or even a single-sex class or two within an otherwise traditional school) may be the answer for some kids. So might some of those other options I mentioned. Just don’t expect one option to work for all learners.
I say let’s try as many as we can. What’s more important than our kids?
- Dr. Rick
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Your first time?
Remember the first time you read a whole book on your own, without help from a teacher or parent? The first time you immersed yourself in a chapter book, say, without pictures (or very few, anyway), and felt so proud of yourself you toted the book around with you as a sort of proclamation of your achievement.
One of the joys of my life is reading to elementary school children. They listen with mostly rapt attention, and their characteristic fidgeting is more a sign of excited engagement than boredom - the exact opposite of middle- or high schoolers.
I always bring some of my favorites, books that are guaranteed to grab children’s attention and provide a hammy reader (me) with plenty of opportunity to act out scary, funny, or suspenseful scenes.
I used to do the same in my high school classes. Yes, I read aloud to teens - they liked it. There’s no age limit on listening to someone read. Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” was a great one. So was “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pockets” by Jack Finney. And, of course, the gorier parts of Shakespeare and Lord of the Flies, among others, proving that adolescents are not genetically averse to literature if it’s “acted out” shamelessly and without regard to other teachers looking in to see what the commotion is all about.
Today when I visit elementary schools, I come armed with Chris Van Alsburg’s books, my favorite of which is Two Bad Ants. Plenty of episodes to raise and lower the voice, to spin around (the garbage disposal scene), to shoot across the room (the electrical outlet scene), to say “Cool!” (the mountain of sugar) and “Ewww!” (the mouth drinking coffee picture).
I also love the books of my friend Jerdine Nolen. I love her Tall Tale series, illustrated by the wonderful Kadir Nelson. Jerdine’s Big Jabe, Thunder Rose, and Hewitt Anderson’s Great Big Life tell implausible and highly entertaining stories with just a hint of kid-appropriate morals to them. Kids love them and they’re fun to act out.
I’ve been told more than once that these readings have inspired kids to read on their own. “My first book!” they say.
I don’t know if my first book is in print any longer. It was called Half Magic, about a group of kids who find a magic talisman (I think) that answers their wishes half way. Wish to go back in time two hundred years, go back one hundred. Wish for a thousand dollars and you get five hundred. My memories are vague, but the ingenious concept is clear. I only half remember. Chuckle, chuckle.
What’s your earliest book memory? Did you start early, or were you like so many of my high school students who didn’t seem to be the least embarrassed to admit they’ve never read a “whole book” until they tried one of my many, sometimes desperate, recommendations.
What got you going? Was it the book itself? A resourceful teacher? A determined parent? A helpful librarian? A trusted friend?
What books would you recommend to young readers today? To older students? If you’re coming up blank, the Association for Library Services to Children, a division of the American Library Association, has a wide range of recommendations for students of all ages. Click here to check out their lists.
For younger kids? The Sylvan-created Book Adventure allows children (grades K-8) to create personalized book lists from more than 7,000 recommended titles, take quizzes on the books they’ve read at school or at home, and earn prizes for comprehension of the books they’ve read.
- Dr. Rick
One of the joys of my life is reading to elementary school children. They listen with mostly rapt attention, and their characteristic fidgeting is more a sign of excited engagement than boredom - the exact opposite of middle- or high schoolers.
I always bring some of my favorites, books that are guaranteed to grab children’s attention and provide a hammy reader (me) with plenty of opportunity to act out scary, funny, or suspenseful scenes.
I used to do the same in my high school classes. Yes, I read aloud to teens - they liked it. There’s no age limit on listening to someone read. Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” was a great one. So was “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pockets” by Jack Finney. And, of course, the gorier parts of Shakespeare and Lord of the Flies, among others, proving that adolescents are not genetically averse to literature if it’s “acted out” shamelessly and without regard to other teachers looking in to see what the commotion is all about.
Today when I visit elementary schools, I come armed with Chris Van Alsburg’s books, my favorite of which is Two Bad Ants. Plenty of episodes to raise and lower the voice, to spin around (the garbage disposal scene), to shoot across the room (the electrical outlet scene), to say “Cool!” (the mountain of sugar) and “Ewww!” (the mouth drinking coffee picture).
I also love the books of my friend Jerdine Nolen. I love her Tall Tale series, illustrated by the wonderful Kadir Nelson. Jerdine’s Big Jabe, Thunder Rose, and Hewitt Anderson’s Great Big Life tell implausible and highly entertaining stories with just a hint of kid-appropriate morals to them. Kids love them and they’re fun to act out.
I’ve been told more than once that these readings have inspired kids to read on their own. “My first book!” they say.
I don’t know if my first book is in print any longer. It was called Half Magic, about a group of kids who find a magic talisman (I think) that answers their wishes half way. Wish to go back in time two hundred years, go back one hundred. Wish for a thousand dollars and you get five hundred. My memories are vague, but the ingenious concept is clear. I only half remember. Chuckle, chuckle.
What’s your earliest book memory? Did you start early, or were you like so many of my high school students who didn’t seem to be the least embarrassed to admit they’ve never read a “whole book” until they tried one of my many, sometimes desperate, recommendations.
What got you going? Was it the book itself? A resourceful teacher? A determined parent? A helpful librarian? A trusted friend?
What books would you recommend to young readers today? To older students? If you’re coming up blank, the Association for Library Services to Children, a division of the American Library Association, has a wide range of recommendations for students of all ages. Click here to check out their lists.
For younger kids? The Sylvan-created Book Adventure allows children (grades K-8) to create personalized book lists from more than 7,000 recommended titles, take quizzes on the books they’ve read at school or at home, and earn prizes for comprehension of the books they’ve read.
- Dr. Rick
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Uninformed and Incurious 25 Years Later
We’ve been hearing a lot lately about how dumb we Americans are. Still. Twenty-five years ago “A Nation at Risk” was published, a report that shook the education community by telling America that our students were woefully uninformed and incurious.
When the report came out, I was an English teacher at a well-respected suburban high school, known – then and now – for its academic and athletic achievements, the high percentage of students who went on to post-secondary education (a good proportion to first-tier colleges and universities), and its strength in maintaining the real estate values of the community. I was proud of my work, fond of my students, and not the least bit surprised by “A Nation at Risk.”
Why was I not surprised? Here’s but one example. I taught a unit called “The Bible as Literature,” which examined the literary forms in the Old Testament: narratives, poems, even dialogue like a play’s. I was surprised when I realized that what I assumed were universal references – what E.D. Hirsch calls “core knowledge” – were anything but universal.
“The patience of Job” met with blank stares.
The “Great Flood” got the same. Noah, anyone?
Rather than examine literature, we had to begin with the fundamentals, learning instead common references and where they come from.
Today, twenty-five years later, six – going on seven – presidential elections later, is it any better? Since then, education has scored high on national polls about what we’re interested in. Hirsch’s books about “What Your First, Second, Third, etc. Grader Should Know” are widely read. Deservedly so. We have had half a decade of No Child Left Behind. Are we any better off than we were in 1983?
Jay Leno’s “Jay Walking” segments on his show are as dispiritingly funny as they ever were. On the excellent PBS series Carrier, a young seaman, presumably technically-savvy and educated enough to serve aboard the USS Nimitz, the most advanced warship ever, froze, his eyes staring into the middle distance, when he was asked who the Secretary of Defense, his ultimate boss, was. You could see his mind racing, as if he were on a lucrative quiz show. His colleague looked away, afraid he’d be asked too.
The hapless sailor, on his way to do his country’s bidding, guessed with “Condoleezza Rice,” badly mangling the first name of the Secretary of State.
Now it’s presidential campaign season again, and we’ve heard precious little from the candidates about education. We haven’t heard much from voters, either. Why is that?
Here are a few topics I’d love to hear voters and the distinguished Senators discuss and propose solutions for.
1. No Child Left Behind: Good intentions, even “bipartisan,” but what next? In a rush for “accountability,” we’ve concentrated on reading and math, a good beginning, but to the exclusion of many other disciplines. Time for some common sense, I’d argue. Hire the best teachers, pay them well, give them high expectations with incentives and consequences, then let them follow community-supported guidelines on what students should be able to do and what they should know (The answer for that floundering sailor is Secretary of Defense Robert Gates).
2. Teacher Training: Controversial, but can anyone with any common sense still say that there’s only one way to become a teacher: through the traditional teacher-training and accreditation route? What about all those private and parochial schools that don’t have the same credentialing paths as public schools, and still manage to turn out students who seem capable of holding their own in society? There should be traditional and alternative routes to the classroom that are supported – with more than just lip service – by government, teacher training institutions and teacher unions.
3. The Media: The media should focus their “education” stories on examples of inspired teaching rather than the heavy doses of endless and repetitious political wrangling that are as far removed from the classroom as Pennsylvania Avenue is from Main Street. What passes for much education reporting is nothing more than tired political stories.
4. The Role of Teachers: Presidential candidates have started “national conversations” on religion and race, among other worthy topics. That’s good. I’d like to see the same attention given to the role of teachers in our society. Can’t we make teaching the respected, valued, and honored profession it once was? Can’t we make learning as attractive as say, video-gaming? Candidates, you have a bully pulpit. Please use it.
Yes, each of these topics has been written about and orated upon for ages. I’ve been in the business for nearly forty years, and except for the neat, focus-group-tested new names (No Child Left Behind, no doubt), too much has stayed the same. Too many kids don’t know what “the patience of Job” means or don’t know who the Secretary of Defense is, even if they’re serving – patiently, with plenty of afflictions – on one of his ships. Teacher training and credentialing look pretty much as they did a generation ago. The media follow education controversy before education substance. Politicians – and taxpayers – all extol the nobility of teachers, but the profession suffers from neglect: careers used to span decades; now, it’s not unusual when a new teacher leaves around year five. What a shame.
- Dr. Rick
When the report came out, I was an English teacher at a well-respected suburban high school, known – then and now – for its academic and athletic achievements, the high percentage of students who went on to post-secondary education (a good proportion to first-tier colleges and universities), and its strength in maintaining the real estate values of the community. I was proud of my work, fond of my students, and not the least bit surprised by “A Nation at Risk.”
Why was I not surprised? Here’s but one example. I taught a unit called “The Bible as Literature,” which examined the literary forms in the Old Testament: narratives, poems, even dialogue like a play’s. I was surprised when I realized that what I assumed were universal references – what E.D. Hirsch calls “core knowledge” – were anything but universal.
“The patience of Job” met with blank stares.
The “Great Flood” got the same. Noah, anyone?
Rather than examine literature, we had to begin with the fundamentals, learning instead common references and where they come from.
Today, twenty-five years later, six – going on seven – presidential elections later, is it any better? Since then, education has scored high on national polls about what we’re interested in. Hirsch’s books about “What Your First, Second, Third, etc. Grader Should Know” are widely read. Deservedly so. We have had half a decade of No Child Left Behind. Are we any better off than we were in 1983?
Jay Leno’s “Jay Walking” segments on his show are as dispiritingly funny as they ever were. On the excellent PBS series Carrier, a young seaman, presumably technically-savvy and educated enough to serve aboard the USS Nimitz, the most advanced warship ever, froze, his eyes staring into the middle distance, when he was asked who the Secretary of Defense, his ultimate boss, was. You could see his mind racing, as if he were on a lucrative quiz show. His colleague looked away, afraid he’d be asked too.
The hapless sailor, on his way to do his country’s bidding, guessed with “Condoleezza Rice,” badly mangling the first name of the Secretary of State.
Now it’s presidential campaign season again, and we’ve heard precious little from the candidates about education. We haven’t heard much from voters, either. Why is that?
Here are a few topics I’d love to hear voters and the distinguished Senators discuss and propose solutions for.
1. No Child Left Behind: Good intentions, even “bipartisan,” but what next? In a rush for “accountability,” we’ve concentrated on reading and math, a good beginning, but to the exclusion of many other disciplines. Time for some common sense, I’d argue. Hire the best teachers, pay them well, give them high expectations with incentives and consequences, then let them follow community-supported guidelines on what students should be able to do and what they should know (The answer for that floundering sailor is Secretary of Defense Robert Gates).
2. Teacher Training: Controversial, but can anyone with any common sense still say that there’s only one way to become a teacher: through the traditional teacher-training and accreditation route? What about all those private and parochial schools that don’t have the same credentialing paths as public schools, and still manage to turn out students who seem capable of holding their own in society? There should be traditional and alternative routes to the classroom that are supported – with more than just lip service – by government, teacher training institutions and teacher unions.
3. The Media: The media should focus their “education” stories on examples of inspired teaching rather than the heavy doses of endless and repetitious political wrangling that are as far removed from the classroom as Pennsylvania Avenue is from Main Street. What passes for much education reporting is nothing more than tired political stories.
4. The Role of Teachers: Presidential candidates have started “national conversations” on religion and race, among other worthy topics. That’s good. I’d like to see the same attention given to the role of teachers in our society. Can’t we make teaching the respected, valued, and honored profession it once was? Can’t we make learning as attractive as say, video-gaming? Candidates, you have a bully pulpit. Please use it.
Yes, each of these topics has been written about and orated upon for ages. I’ve been in the business for nearly forty years, and except for the neat, focus-group-tested new names (No Child Left Behind, no doubt), too much has stayed the same. Too many kids don’t know what “the patience of Job” means or don’t know who the Secretary of Defense is, even if they’re serving – patiently, with plenty of afflictions – on one of his ships. Teacher training and credentialing look pretty much as they did a generation ago. The media follow education controversy before education substance. Politicians – and taxpayers – all extol the nobility of teachers, but the profession suffers from neglect: careers used to span decades; now, it’s not unusual when a new teacher leaves around year five. What a shame.
- Dr. Rick
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Welcome to Dr. Rick’s Blog!
Hi there – My name is Richard E. Bavaria. I’m not afraid to admit that I’ve been around the education block a bit and have experienced many things in this fulfilling field and life in general. I’ve been a teacher, tutor, school system administrator and a public speaker. Some even call me an “expert” when it comes to education (but that makes me blush).
You’re not going to find one type of blog post here. I am going to write about all things education from my past, the present and the future. You can expect hot topics of the day, my travels, my memories in the school system, my hopes for education in the future, my experiences as a tutor and anything else that involves education. I am passionate about the field of education and I want teachers, students and parents alike to feel the same way. My ultimate goal is for students to receive exemplary educations. If in some way, my posts here influence that, then I’ve done my job.
Disclaimer (because I have to): This blog is for the good of education, for students, for teachers and for parents, so I welcome and encourage your comments. However, I expect the same respect in your comments that I present in my blog. Please, no profanities, no derogatory rants, no name calling.
I am excited about this new adventure. My life has been filled with so many experiences it’s hard to believe I’m about to embark on a completely new one. Please come back and visit soon (I have a lot to say!).
Best,
Dr. Rick
You’re not going to find one type of blog post here. I am going to write about all things education from my past, the present and the future. You can expect hot topics of the day, my travels, my memories in the school system, my hopes for education in the future, my experiences as a tutor and anything else that involves education. I am passionate about the field of education and I want teachers, students and parents alike to feel the same way. My ultimate goal is for students to receive exemplary educations. If in some way, my posts here influence that, then I’ve done my job.
Disclaimer (because I have to): This blog is for the good of education, for students, for teachers and for parents, so I welcome and encourage your comments. However, I expect the same respect in your comments that I present in my blog. Please, no profanities, no derogatory rants, no name calling.
I am excited about this new adventure. My life has been filled with so many experiences it’s hard to believe I’m about to embark on a completely new one. Please come back and visit soon (I have a lot to say!).
Best,
Dr. Rick
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