Newsletter January 2012

January 25, 2012
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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:

New Year’s Resolutions Aren’t Just for Adults
Developing Critical Thinking Skills
Black History Month: Talking About Race

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New Year’s Resolutions Aren’t Just for Adults

It’s that time of year again when we all pause to take stock, ready ourselves for a new year, and, for many of us, make resolutions for a better 2012. The nature of the holiday sets us up for reflection and making new promises to ourselves to be healthier, happier and spend more time enjoying life.

New Year’s resolutions don’t have to be only for adults. Getting your child in on the new year reflection and commitment to improving is a good practice to start at any age. Of course resolutions can be made at any time, but this time of year is a valuable opportunity to turn the school year around. Since the school year is not over, coming back from the holiday break can offer students a fresh start academically, particularly for those who struggled in the first half of the year.

Younger students often spend the first part of year adjusting to routines and expectations, and new schedules, with serious learning picking up as the year goes on. Older students may be looking at testing, large projects or reports and finals coming up in the spring, so it’s a good time to reflect for all involved.

Here are tips to help your child set positive, reasonable resolutions for 2012.

Model Behavior

It’s been said over and over again, but children turn to parents for role models when it comes to behavior. If you want your child to start the new year with a new improved outlook, the best thing you can do is to do the same yourself. Talk about what things you’d like to work on this year, and how you’ll follow through on these changes. If you’re tackling difficult issues, don’t shy away from being honest about them—it shows your child you’re working hard at change too.

Ask the Teacher

Your teacher is a valuable resource to determine what areas your child may want to work on improving. Once your child has made goals, feel free to share them with the teacher. Not only will he or she be impressed with the efforts and intentions, but can also help your child stick with them. Teacher encouragement can go a long way, especially when backed by parental encouragement at home.

Choose Carefully

Make sure your children’s goals are tangible and reasonable; otherwise children may be setting themselves up for disappointment if they set too high a goal. Children, like adults, can have the tendency to think too big and get overwhelmed by all the things they “should” be doing. Help your child focus and narrow down his or her intentions. Try to make things as clear and concrete as possible. Instead of something like “be a better reader” aim for a tangible plan, like “I will read an extra hour twice a week to improve my skills.”

Help Out

Encouragement and help go hand in hand. You don’t want to do it all for your child, but do whatever you can to make achieving their resolution easier. If they want to read more, get them a library card. If they want to practice math, find some fun games that drive home different lessons. Remove distractions, offer snacks and assistance, whatever you can do to show your support.

Find Incentive

Even as adults it’s hard to change without some kind of reward on the horizon. This doesn’t have to be anything material or financial, but something that rewards a job well done and the commitment to stick with it. Extra time with friends, or a trip to a museum exhibit or special movie are things that remind your child that following through is worth it.

Small Changes Can Make Big Differences

Don’t necessarily expect something earth shattering from your child’s resolutions. They can be simple things that go a long way to improvement on the whole. For some students it can be as simple as committing to basics—get more sleep, eat healthier and exercise for better concentration, writing down homework and getting organized, asking for help when they don’t understand something, or working with a tutor to get an edge on a tough subject.

Source Lee, Meera. “Help Your Child Make Resolutions That Stick.” education.com.
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Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking is of those buzz words often thrown around in conversations about education. But what does it mean? It signals a shift in educational policy from rote memorization and recitation of facts, to understanding how to assess and approach a problem or question, and to use logic and knowledge to solve it. Simply put, critical thinking is about learning how to think, rather than what to think.

Critical thinking is something teachers work on developing early on with students. It’s a skill that crosses subject boundaries and is a part of everyday life—an important skill you can help reinforce at home with the following tips.

Questions Beyond Yes or No
Instead of asking questions that get you one-word answers, try to phrase things so that they are open-ended. This not only gets your child thinking more broadly, but also erases the pressure of having the “right” answer and allows them to approach a concept or problem more creatively and intuitively.

Sorting for Order and Connections

One important aspect to critical thinking is the ability to categorize, or to identify and sort things or ideas according to rules. For young children, a simple way to practice this is to group things according to various criteria, discussing how and why things go together. Another side of this concept is to look for patterns and relationships between subjects and events. Try to link what your child is exploring in science class to something on the news or Internet. Drawing connections within the many areas of life helps show children how interconnected things are—one of the basics of critical thinking skills—and help them apply knowledge from one area to another.

Strength in Numbers

One place where critical thinking is a natural by-product is in group work. When working with others, we are challenged to try to understand the way another person thinks or understands things. This provides a valuable opportunity to see things differently, and to understand there are multiple ways to consider or approach something.

Make Decisions

Allow your child to explore things, but also encourage them to take a stand and make a concrete decision. As parents, we try to protect our children from failures, but it’s important to allow them to make a bad or incorrect choice. The learning lies in reflecting on the choice—have your child think about what went wrong, what could have been done better, or easier, etc., in the future.

Critical thinking is not only an important part of academics, but also in our every day events, especially as we reach adulthood and have more responsibilities and needs to juggle and consider.

Source “Think About It: Critical Thinking.” scholastic.com.
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Black History Month: Talking About Race

With Martin Luther King’s recent birthday, and Black History Month upon us for the month of January, this time of year provides excellent opportunities to have frank, honest discussions about race with your children.

Race can be a tough, charged topic for many families, regardless of ethnicity, so it’s important to start talking with your child early on about racism, stereotypes, equality and diversity.

Many parents can remember cringe-inducing moments where children loudly exclaim less-than-PC-comments about others in public. But, experts claim that parents should not shy away or be embarrassed by these events, but instead take them as opportunities for education. For example, when a child asks about another’s skin color being different than his or her own, if parents shrink away from the question, children may take away the message that something is wrong with the person in question, or that noticing such differences is taboo and shouldn’t be talked about.

Instead, experts recommend that you use these kinds of uncomfortable moments as segues to education, and that you recognize that it is healthy and normal for children to start considering these differences. Tarah Fleming, director of the Berkeley Multiethnic Education Program, suggests parents encourage their children to explore race further by asking questions: What other differences do they see in their friends or peers? What else do they notice? Then, Fleming suggests you find a book or article that can help you teach your child more about the particular race, religion, or difference they questioned you about. Talk about stereotypes and why they are unfair, and how we should learn to love our differences. The key is to respond calmly, otherwise children may be hesitant to bring up the topic again.

As always, parents should also consider their own behavior. What kinds of ideas about race are they modeling, whether through their actions, things they say in passing, or stereotypes that they are perpetuating? Children absorb so much, it’s important to reflect honestly on our own beliefs and prejudices.

On the flip side, it’s also important as adults not to be offended by children’s comments. A great majority of the time, they are really coming from curiosity rather than any intentional meanness or racism. Cherly McGrew, and African American teacher in El Cajon, California, agrees. When a young Caucasian girl asked about her “chocolate” skin, she embraced it as an opportunity. “I think it’s important that teachers not get offended by children’s comments, but instead let the kids know it’s OK that they have questions,” she says. “I have a lot of literature in the classroom and I try to (talk about) different cultures.”

If you do become aware of biases or hurtful behavior on your child’s part, do everything you can to change and challenge these beliefs. For example, Pauahi McGinn, a San Bruno preschool teacher, had her students sing a Tongan song in class. When they laughed at the lyrics, she questioned them, eventually leading into a discussion about how it feels when people laugh at us because we are different. Turning the tables in this way goes a long way toward teaching compassion, and imagining ourselves in other’s shoes before we pass judgment. “I think the more you voice your opinions when people are biased, the more others will think before they are inconsiderate,” McGinn says.

Finally, it’s crucial for parents to embrace their own identity and to pass on knowledge of tradition to their children. When your children see you celebrating your own and other’s differences, it sends a powerful message that we are all connected and worthy of respect, no matter how different we may appear on the outside.

These kinds of lessons go beyond race and help your child treat other marginalized groups with the respect they deserve too. The same tenets of equality and respect can be applied to gay, bisexual or transgendered people, and people with handicaps, learning disabilities and other challenges. In a world that is so diverse yet so closely connected, this is a life lesson all children should be well versed in.

Source Petker, Elyce. “Open Communication Can Help Kids Develop Healthy Attitudes About Race.” 4children.org.