Newsletter January 2011

January 21, 2011
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We strive to bring you the most helpful and up to date information every month, and this month's newsletter is no exception.
You can scroll down through the articles below, or you can click on a headline you like to go directly to that article.

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This Month's Headlines:

Helping Boys Get Organized
Good Grades = A Good, Long Life?
Comparison in Math Can Pay Off
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Helping Boys Get Organized

Experts are finding that more and more middle school boys are struggling with the organizational demands of school. Renowned child psychologist and author Michael Thompson, PhD, explains, “They flounder when they have lockers and have to move from room to room throughout the day.” While this isn’t exclusive to boys—girls too feel the pressure of having to transition from and carry books for multiple classes—the problem seems to be somewhat more prevalent in boys of this age.

Ana Homayoun, and an education consultant and author of That Crumpled Paper was Due Last Week: Helping Disorganized and Distracted Boys Succeed in School and Life, has worked with many high school and middle school boys over the years. Homayoun says these boys all were intelligent and capable, but just had a very difficult time with the organizational requirements of school. She believes that boys, like all children in general, need specifics when trying to organize themselves. That’s where parents come in—you can help your son do better in school by helping him get organized with the following tips. The only catch? Your son has to be on board too or all your efforts won’t amount to much.

Start at the Beginning

While it may seem obvious, start by looking at the main goals. Homayoun suggests you sit down with your children and ask what they want to accomplish, and even make a list. She says boys often are results oriented, so providing a tangible goal is a good way to get them motivated and invested.

Find the Right Fit

Even the most complex organizer/planner with multiple dividers and folders won’t work if it doesn’t address the particular concerns and challenges your child has. Remember that this is about your child meeting his goals, rather than following the kind of organizational system that works for you or others. Work with him to find a personalized solution that he will be comfortable using and sticking with for the long haul. For those who are reluctant, you can always point out that the more organized he is, the sooner he can move on from school work to his own interests and hobbies.

Take Small Steps

Homayoun warns of setting a too general and high-reaching goal to start with. For example, “getting straight A’s” may be both too general and may set up your child to feel like a failure if they make one small mistake. Instead, set smaller and more attainable goals, allowing you and your son to acknowledge progress, and build up to larger goals in more manageable steps. Homayoun suggests goals like keeping a set time of the week for homework and sticking to it every night, or something simple but crucial like making sure the homework planner is updated and referenced every day.

Keep Work Focused

When your child does finally sit down, organized and ready to tackle homework, do him the favor of removing as many distractions as you can. Move the cell phone, computer, TV—anything that may take him off track of his homework and studying. This may mean working in the dining room or other spot that’s removed from technology. Having a set place like this for homework can help set up a consistent routine and environment that makes it easier to sustain the organization you and son have worked toward.

Lastly, be gentle and forgiving. We all make mistakes, so if your son gets lost a bit don’t panic. Move back to basic goals, making sure the planners are up to date, papers are organized, et cetera. Sometimes it’s helpful to set up a weekly organization time, where you go through all the papers together and look at what due dates are coming up both short- and long-term. And don’t forget to give praise. It may sound silly, but we all function better when we are recognized for our efforts. The more you praise your son’s good habits, the more likely he will want to continue them, to please you and to make his own life more efficient and orderly.

Source: Williams, Julie. “Organizing for Boys: What Parents Need to Know.” education.com.

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Good Grades = A Good, Long Life?

It’s no secret that education and health are related. Studies have shown a correlation between the number of years spent in school with better health and wellness. But a recent study suggests an interesting caveat to this information. It seems that class rank, not just the amount of time spent in school, can also correlate to a better level of health.

The new information is a result of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, a research project that followed more than 10000 graduates from Wisconsin high schools in 1957. The results are interesting and suggestive of the long-term importance of education: decades later, students who finished in the top 25% of their class were healthier than their lower-ranking counterparts.

As the former students approached their early 60s, those in the top 25% were half as likely to have the health problems other, low ranking students had. Participants were asked to rank their health on a scale from “excellent” to “poor.” Top students gave themselves higher scores and were half as likely to report long-term illnesses such as diabetes, respiratory illness and heart disease.

Dr. Pamela Herd, the study author and associate professor of public affairs and sociology at University of Wisconsin in Madison said these findings deepened the understanding that health and schooling are directly related. “What we’ve seen all along in other studies is the link between attainment—years of schooling—and health,” Dr. Herd said. “Even among those who each had 12 years of education, the person who performed better had better health. That’s new.”

Herd now is trying to figure out how these two facets are related. Previous research shows a sort of snowball effect—people with higher education get jobs that allow them more income, thereby making it easier for them to live in safe neighborhoods, to eat healthy, exercise and be able to afford to go to a doctor. Furthermore, jobs that require a higher level of education often involve less manual labor and wear and tear on the body, and even less exposure to toxic fumes or materials that can cause heath issues. Educated people are believed to have healthier lifestyles as well; they are less likely to be smokers, or obese.

The question remains then, why do actual grades matter? A possible suggestion is that the characteristics that made a student successful—things such as proper study habits, reliability and responsibility—help shape better life choices. However, Dr. Herd revisited the personality surveys for these graduates, controlling for different variables, but did not find a strong connection to health status. For Dr. Herd, she’s less convinced that mastering school material is vital, and more convinced that the process of developing thinking skills and cognitive abilities is what matters. “The people who do better in high school…they may have actually potentially learned how to learn more effectively, and that could affect things like how much you keep up with the latest innovations on how to improve your health,” she explains. Herd closes by saying that while much of our health is beyond our control, these findings may be a sign of what we can do to help ourselves have a better, healthier future.

Regardless of the science behind the findings, we can all agree that it’s important for students to be successful in school, whether for their academic, social or physical well being.

Source: Rabin, Roni Caryn. “Do higher ranked students live longer? Graduation rankings may play a role in lifelong health and wellness,” well.blogs.nytimes.com.

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Comparison in Math Can Pay Off

In 2009, researchers at Vanderbilt and Harvard found that comparing multiple ways to solve math problems was an effective way to teach middle school students new mathematical concepts.

Assistant professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, Bethany Rittle-Johnson, explains, “We found that comparing different ways to solve a problem helped middle-school students become more flexible problem solvers and better understand the concepts behind the methods." Rittle-Johnson and colleague John Star, assistant professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education, found that comparing different problems solved by the same solution was not as effective as comparing different solution methods, suggesting that it’s best for students to learn more than one way to solve problems. Rittle-Johnson and Star feel students should be encouraged to work in this manner, discovering the pros and cons for each method.

In many math classes across the country, teachers show the class a particular procedure for solving a problem, having the students then review by solving a set of similar problems. The issue here, according to Rittle-Johnson, is that students don’t have the opportunity to look at other options for solving the problem, and often have a limited understanding of why they are solving a problem in this specific way.

Rittle-Johnson and Star’s studies included seventh and eight graders using two different ways to solve equations. What they found was that students were more accurate and more flexible in finding the answers to problems. They found the same results when they studied fifth graders. This finding seems to reinforce the idea that students can’t simply be told what to do, in a role of memorization and recitation, they need to actually understand what they are doing and why.

One place where the benefits of this concept can be imagined is with large, important tests like the SATs or ACT. When students take the math portion of these tests, they have to read and comprehend a mathematical problem and decide on their own how to solve it effectively. In tasks like these, it’s important that students understand what methods are appropriate in order to answer the question correctly. With no teacher leading them or telling them what method is best to use, they must rely on their own developed understanding of solutions. It can also be helpful for those who struggle in math, as it provides multiple ways of understanding the same concept. Sometimes explaining something in a different light is all it takes for a student to catch on.

Source: “It Pays to Compare: Comparison Helps Children Grasp Math.” sciencedaily.com.

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