Welcome to A Joyful Place

Listening to the Dalai Lama

2009-10-08T10:15:00.002-04:00

I had the honour and privilege to attend a talk given by the Dalai Lama last Saturday at the Bell Centre in downtown Montreal. I was struck by his relaxed presence, his ease of talking to a crowd of 15,000 people and his playful attitude. Yet his message was powerful.

Some of the things he said that resonated with me included:

ü That we are all born with the same potential.

ü A more compassionate mind sustains the body’s immune system.

ü Too much anger affects the immune system.

ü When the mind is not settled, i.e. too much emotion stirred up then it is hard to think.

ü An experiment done with monkeys showed that those that were separated from their mothers were always in a bad mood and fought a lot.

ü A presentation at a seminar pointed out that people who used words like me, I, mine a lot were at higher risk of heart attack.

ü The most important factor for friendship is internal beauty not external beauty.

ü We are social beings and need a force to bring us together- that force is compassion.

ü The real cause of loneliness is anger, suspicion and distrust.

ü One element of compassion is recognizing that every one has an equal right to a happy life.

ü Real test of compassion is when you can extend it to an enemy.

He outlined the levels of compassion and talked about ways to extend this to all levels- individual, community, national and global. One day he was wondering about what is this global economic crisis about and he asked his friends to explain it to him. What he understood from them was that it was about greed and speculation.

It was indeed a special experience for me to be in that crowd and listen to the Dalai Lama talk so serenely about such an emotional topic. But the best part was that it was like hearing someone confirm my own thoughts and philosophies. All through the event I was being reminded of the values with which I promised to live my own life and convinced that I was on the right path.

Online Class

2009-10-06T16:41:00.003-04:00

I have a new online class at LVS Online-
Understanding and Helping the Special Needs Child.

New session is starting soon.
Registration for the November 2009 session is open at LVS Online ~ Where Learning Is Fun!
For more information, go to http://lvsonline.com/update

Remember that returning students receive a 20% discount!

Receive a $5 voucher for EACH new student you refer to LVS! Advise referrals
to mention your name and email address in their registration form!
http://www.lvsonline.com/refer.shtml

Instructor-led classes begin October 31st. There is limited seating
So head on over to LVS Online to enroll now!
http://www.lvsassociates.com/register/

One school at a time

2009-07-26T15:25:00.002-04:00

My mind is always churning up new ventures; even the ones I have going at the time I feel the need to review or at least keep them fresh. My new venture I am going to call One-school-at-a-time. This is inspired by the project I have been carrying out at one particular school and which I now want to develop into an on-going process and also to take it to all other schools- one at a time.

For the past 7 months I conducted a Social and Emotional Learning programme at a primary school here in Trinidad and I have been very pleased with the success. The two most crucial successes were that the entire school got involved and that they persisted with the programme for the two terms and are willing to continue. Also very heartening was the fact that the parents jumped on board with a day long workshop.
Here is an excerpt from the report of this first phase:

At the start of the programme teachers admitted that they knew very little about Social and Emotional Learning. The awareness of SEL as a crucial part of teaching and learning had certainly increased through the programme. At the end of the 2-day workshop teachers felt confident about their own understanding of SEL and were looking forward to implementing the basic lessons in the classroom.

The feedback sessions indicated that the students were responding positively and eagerly to the lessons. The students were developing good listening skills and were responding in more appropriate ways to situations in the classroom. Some students also reported improved relationships with their siblings at home. This contributed to the release of some of the pressure on the teachers to listen constantly to students, to address their emotional needs and to deal with behaviour issues.

An important aspect of the programme was building support among the teachers. They also learned to use the supportive listening skills to maintain their own emotional well-being throughout the programme. They too indicated improvements in their relationships and interacting with others outside of the school setting.

I have also started a project at a pre-school. We have only done a parents' workshop so far but we have outlined the sessions for teachers and parents for the upcoming school year.

I WILL fulfill my goal of incorporating Social and Emotional Learning into all schools in the Caribbean even if I do it one school at a time.

Plagirism- should we blame the internet?

2009-05-20T21:07:00.003-04:00

Sometimes I think the advances in technology are making us run around in circles. It is almost as if we are getting ahead of ourselves and can't seem to control the spiralling. In the effort to make things more and more advanced and high-tech we are creating more problems than we can solve with the very technology. Cutting and pasting is the order of the day for some.

Plagiarism is one of those things. It used to be that finding information in a text book or encyclopedia or at the library was a good and useful thing. Then as technology made it possible to make more and more information available on the internet there had to be laws developed to protect this information and the writer's rights. But it is increasingly difficult to protect something that is published on the internet. Despite the 'fair use' clauses it is almost impossible to stop someone from repeating what they read on the internet, no matter the source.

The necessity for plagiarism detecting programmes became a reality. But even these programmes have their limits and must be used with care. To me just about everything is written in just about every way on the internet now, so that anything that is run through one of these programmes will come up as already quoted on the internet.

Not only universities , but newspapers and other print avenues are challenged by plagiarism and how to manage it. Students and writers are being encouraged to make sure and put everything that they are quoting in the proper quotation marks. What other solutions can there be?Where will this, like all other technology problem, end?

Read an article on plagiarism at Cheating has always been around

Daily school recess improves classroom behaviour

2009-02-03T19:15:00.005-05:00

Sometimes I think we create controversies just for controversy sake, especially in our education systems. We create them; there is a big hullabaloo; fiery debates ensue then the issue dies and we move on to the next. Maybe it is done to give researchers something to work on. Might have to do with that 'publish or perish' maxim of university professorship.
One of these was about the value of recess in schools. Many school systems decided that playing during the school day was wasting precious time that children could be spending learning something. Of course, others espoused the value of physical exercise and the connection between physical and mental energy. So how did that hullabaloo ever end?

Here is an article that is reviving the issue. A good read though.
Science Daily

Online learning

2009-01-12T12:12:00.002-05:00

The internet is such a commonplace thing now that it seems silly to even write an article on online learning. Simply insert “online learning” in any search engine and you will find more than you can possibly read in any one sitting.

So yes, online learning is the way to go for millions of people. The convenience is probably the highest rated advantage. Imagine sitting at home and taking a course at any time of day, anywhere in the world. No travelling and traffic to contend with, no class schedules to fit your life around, etc. etc.

You can learn just about anything you want on the internet- from hobbies to graduate degrees.

Here is an easy-to-read summary of why so many people are turning to the internet for their education now: “15 reasons why students like online learning”.

http://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/benefits-of-online-learning.htm

And this is my blatant promotion of my own online classes. I teach a number of subjects at various sites:

www.universalclass.com

Courses include: Introduction to special education

Writing for academic purposes

Theories of child development

Social and emotional learning

The psychology of learning

Understanding developmental disorders

Introduction to counseling

Understanding the adolescent stage of development

www.jergroup.com

Courses include: Understanding the learning process

Social and emotional learning

Child development theories

www.coursebridge.com

Courses include: Social and emotional learning

www.lvsonline.com

Courses include: Child development

www.myicourse.com

Courses include: Psychology of learning

See, there is indeed a wide range of possibilities for teaching and learning online.

In addition to these sites there are also now a growing number of sites where teachers can host their own classes using the technology offered by these sites. One such that I am trying out is www.wiziq.com

Now you have no excuse for not taking a course online in your spare time.

Motivating Students

2008-12-08T22:25:00.001-05:00

Students do not like school. That is a fact. Or maybe they like school but do not like learning. Or worse yet maybe they do not like learning what is presented to them in the class as education. Until better can be done all young people have to go to school and teachers have to teach them.
The theory of motivation suggests four conditions that must be present for students to be motivated-:
* a supportive learning environment
* an appropriate level of challenge of tasks and activities.
* learning objectives must be relevant and meaningful
* a moderate or optimal use of motivational strategies.

Here is my list of suggestions for motivating students in the classroom, based on these conditions.

A. The Involvement of Teachers. The relationship between the teacher and student is crucial. Brain research and Social and Emotional Learning theory also tell us that basically the learning environment must be non- threatening and particularly free from fear.
1. Learn about your students' interests, experiences, career goals, etc. Talk with them about their lives and share some of yours with them.
2. Listen actively to your students. Encourage them to talk about their fears and anxieties, their dreams and visions, their everyday upsets and their chronic bad feelings (of invalidation, incompetence, feeling stupid, etc.)
3. Connect with them regularly- an approving look, a hand on the shoulder, sit near to them and walk around the class and stop at a desk occasionally and offer help and support.
4. Avoid threats and punishments (even in tone of voice). Avoid creating competition among the students, encourage cooperative working in groups. Avoid public criticisms and put downs.

B. Providing autonomy and making work relevant and meaningful.
1. Allow students to have choice in what they study, how they are evaluated, how they present work and topics for projects.
2. Give feedback as soon as possible. Feedback must be indicative of how the student has done, where he/she could have done better and suggestions for improvement.
3. Explain how the content of the curriculum will be useful to the students academically and/or personally. Use examples and assignments that relate to the students' interests.
4. Use variety in your teaching methods and your presentation, in the assignments and types of tests that you set.

C. Appropriate level of challenge.
1. Hold high expectations of your students always.
2. Help the students to set realistic goals for themselves- stress improvement not just test performance.
3. Communicate clearly what is expected of the students. Be clear with objectives and aims of the lesson and how the students' progress and performance will be evaluated.
4. Make sure that the work matches the students' ability and background and experiences. Set work that is not too easy nor too difficult. The work must be challenging enough, but the student must also believe that achievement is possible.
5. Increase the difficulty of the work as the year progresses and the students' performance improves.

Generally be enthusiastic about your subject and about teaching, Create an atmosphere in your classroom that is safe, open and positive. And let the students help to guide your efforts. Ask them what they like about the class and what they would like to see changed and how they would like to see the work be more interesting.

Alternative schools- will they ever work?

2008-07-21T16:24:00.005-04:00

The Washington Post, Thursday 17th July had an article which set me thinking, (not that it takes much to set me thinking). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/16/AR2008071601269.html Alan. M. Shusterman is planning an alternative school to be opened in the Md, USA area in 2009. Not that the idea of alternative schools is new either. But that is just what got me thinking again about educational reform. I am still looking for an answer to why the education systems around the world do not seem to be reforming, despite all the efforts and the huge amount of mental and emotional energy expended throughout the world. And I know I am not the only one who wonders this almost daily.

I looked at the article carefully to see what would be different about this school. According to Mr. Shusterman-: “students will set their class schedules, enabling them to learn at their pace and in their style. Teachers will act as advisers, not taskmasters” As far as homework goes, the School for Tomorrow as it is called, will have a home reading requirement and “encourage and support individualized student-initiated homework”. Other ideas presented include, ‘students will ally with teach to decide what and how to study”, and “ subjects such as maths and science might be studied together when it makes sense”, and “class periods won’t necessarily adhere to strict time frames as students take large chunks of time for individual and group projects”.

None of this is particularly new or innovative or unique. So I wondered how will this school be different from other attempts at alternative schools, (names like Summerhill and Sudbury come to mind), and why will this one work or perhaps more importantly why have the others not worked. It seems that if so many people share these ideas of how schooling should be then there must be some merit to the ideas. Why then the continued resistance to change in education systems globally, or to set up schools and learning in a way that makes so much sense to so many people? And why continue to go around in circles and run behind a system that is failing so many of our young people and teachers?

I tried to review in my mind why alternative schooling has not seemed to work yet. I have thought of four so far. One is that there are always too many students to the amount of teachers available. Put seven or eight hundred young people in one small space with barely a hundred adults to support their academic, social and emotional needs for so many hours a day just cannot make sense. Related to this is the lack of training that persists in every system. I have not seen any teacher training system anywhere that is not too heavily focused on pedagogy and the cognitive aspects of teaching and learning that it does not have enough room for adequately addressing the affective domain. Teachers enter the classrooms with little emotional space and training to deal with their students all day long. The competition amongst nations affects the quality of schooling. Wanting to be ranked highest in the world in maths or science drives a nation to create an education system that is all about testing and standardized learning. And maybe not the fourth reason but really underlying all of the above is the almighty dollar. That is the most complicated factor to unravel. How has greed messed with young children’s excitement to learn and creativity? Or maybe the question is why?

This led me to look for an interesting, easy to read history of education to help clarify my thoughts about what will be effective in reforming education. I found one that you may want to read – http://www.educationrevolution.org/history.html

Read my complete article on this at my website- http://www.ajoyfulplace.com/

Bad Behaviour and Academic Performance- is there a connection?

2007-11-18T19:04:00.000-05:00

Bad Behaviour and Academic Performance- is there a connection?

That is the question asked by two new studies reported recently. One of the studies claims that students who entered kindergarten with behaviour problems did as well as their peers in their academic work. The second study reports a delay in the development in the brains of children with ADHD and not a fault in the brain.

According to the first study, researchers analyzed social behaviour of more than 1600 children and could not find correlation with their academic performance in maths and reading. They do however mention that there was a correlation between math and reading scores at age 5 and 6 with academic success in grade 5.

In the second study as reported by Bendict Carey in the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/health/13kids.html?_r=1&ex=1353042000&en=8978d8eab97808aa&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin ), “government psychiatric researchers compared brain scans from two groups of children: one with attention deficit disorder, the other without. The scientists had tracked the children — 223 in each group — from ages 6 to 16, taking multiple scans on each child. In a normally developing brain, the cerebral cortex — the outer wrapping, where circuits involved in conscious thought are concentrated — thickens during early childhood. It then reverses course and thins out, losing neurons as the brain matures through adolescence. The study found that, on average, the brains of children with A.D.H.D. began this “pruning” process at age 10 ½, about three years later than their peers. “
Needless to say these reports have raised questions and more anxieties among child development specialists, teachers, educators , parents etc.
One of the big concerns is that the first study may sound as if it is implying that schools do not need to worry anymore about putting resources into behaviour modification programmes for young children, but should focus on improving their math and reading programmes instead; and maybe the behaviour problems are not as significant in the classroom. I think this is hopeful if it only gets the ‘experts’ to take another look at what they have been labelling as behavioural disorders and how they have been treating them so far. Hopefully now we may get more teachers in the class accurately and effectively addressing emotional needs of young children, and not just labelling every emotional distress cry for help as an emotional disorder of varying acronyms.

The second study may lead to the conclusion that children will grow out of the symptoms and effects of ADHD and perhaps different concession must be made for them, perhaps they will be treated as ‘slow learners’ instead. The hopeful part is that the medicating of children may decline drastically. This will be a relief to a lot of parents and educators and other specialists. And to keep hope alive, maybe these children will get the help they truly need with their learning challenges.

Teachers underestimate short boys' intelligence.

2007-09-09T22:29:00.000-04:00

Here is another research study that should be of interest to some of us. The headline says…”Teachers underestimate short boys’ intelligence” (Reported by The Guardian Education-online. September 4th 2007.)
The report states that two researchers Julia Smith of Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. and Nancy Niehmi of Nazareth College of Rocherster, Ny. U.S.A. analyzed test results and other data for about 9,000 boys in the US who started kindergarten in 1998. According to their results, kindergarten teachers systematically perceived boys who were shorter than average were less skilled in reading, mathematics and general knowledge than their test results indicated.
So now, according to this study, some kindergarten teachers are looking at their male students and making decisions about their abilities based on their height. The mind does not even want to go beyond the results of this study to imagine the far- reaching implications of this. According to the article, “…is troubling because it could put smaller-than-average boys at risk for being placed in remedial classes they don’t need or lead to self-fulfilling prophecies for boys’ educational trajectories”.
Must we now imagine the trauma short males will be exposed to from the very start of their school career. What is short anyway? Short in one culture may be tall in another, so hopefully this study may only apply to whatever is considered average height in these US school populations.
Questions that come to my mind include:
What can be the possible connection between a person’s height and how the brain works?
Is this applicable to girls also? Why or why not? Why was the study only focused on boys?
What’s a parent to do about his/her son’s height? (My mind runs away with this one with thoughts of genetic manipulations etc.)
It always seems to be that kindergarten is way too early to be doing any educational research on children. They are (or at least should be) too busy playing to be used to collect any data on academic performance.

Their report appears in the July/August issue of the Journal of Educational Research.
See Also
Information on "Exploring Teacher Perceptions of Small Boys in Kindergarten" is available from Heldref Publications.

Measure the length of your finger

2007-07-08T11:31:00.000-04:00

Measure the length of your fingers.

Every now and then there is an article or piece of news that is hard for me to determine whether it is a serious or joking matter. One of these is the piece of research that claims that the length of a child’s index and ring finger has a correlation with their math and literacy scores.

As reported by the Medical News (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=72170&nfid)...” In a study to be published in the British Journal of Psychology, scientists compared the finger lengths of 75 children with their Standardized Assessment Test (SAT) scores. They found a clear link between a child's performance in numeracy and literacy tests and the relative lengths of their index (pointing) and ring fingers.”

The article explains that scientists believe that the hormones testosterone and estrogen in the womb affect both brain development and finger length.

The researchers of this phenomenon explain that testosterone is associated with development of areas of the brain that have to do with spatial and mathematical skills, and estrogen with verbal ability"Interestingly, these hormones are also thought have a say in the relative lengths of our index and ring fingers. Therefore the finger length ration (index finger to ring finger) gives an indication of the exposure to these hormones in the womb and consequently a prediction of the numeracy and literacy abilities of the child.

Here is what the article reports…” When they looked at boy's and girl's performance separately, the researchers found a clear link between high prenatal testosterone exposure, as measured by digit ratio and higher numeracy SAT scores in males. They also found a link between low prenatal testosterone exposure, which resulted in a shorter ring finger compared with the index finger, and higher literacy SAT scores for girls.”

But what about high prenatal exposure of testosterone in girls? And something else seems to be missing here. If the girls have low testosterone and high literacy, does this also mean that boys will low testosterone will have high literacy?

There are several missing pieces here and I would need to read the entire research report to completely unravel the gender stereotyping of boys being better at Math and girls at Language and Literacy. In the meantime I have several questions playing around in my mind. What other factors could possibly affect finger length? What other body part ratios could we use to predict our child’s performance in school?

The researchers do warn that finger length measurements are not to replace SAT tests. (just yet, maybe?)

Lessons from my children

2006-12-09T08:37:00.000-05:00

Lessons from my children.

I always like it when my children teach me lessons that I probably won’t learn any other way. This latest lesson I am entitling ‘how to have a good life without a university education’. It will take a while for the lesson to be fully taught since they have only recently begun their process of life after high school so I will have to wait for some years to see how it all comes out.

Both my children are now university drop –outs and I am doing my best to look at it as a lesson in the making and not as the horrifying, end-of-the-world mistake that my own upbringing wants me to think of it as. My son, now 24, spent about 2 years at a university in the US where he lives and then finally gave it up. Throughout that time I watched him struggle with it and my heart went out to him. It was difficult for me being so far away from him and therefore not being able to have the influence I wanted to have on him. Perhaps that was a good thing- he got to learn his own lessons and make his own decision. One thing I was sure of, he was not in a field of study that suited him. I could see the mis-match. He is now training to be an electrician and so far he is contented and totally committed to it.

My daughter, now 17, on finishing high school this year, was not keen on returning for the Advanced level studies. I was okay with that decision. That much I was at peace with in my mind, she was not interested in the regular academic career pursuits such as medicine, law, etc. She has demonstrated excellent artistic abilities since she was 4 and we have supported her to develop that. So it was only natural that she follows that path. I encouraged her to sign up for a certificate programme in visual arts at our university. After much trouble to get her accepted and less than one month of attending the course, she literally cried and begged every day to drop out. It was not what she expected, nor wanted to do nor enjoyed. I had to give in. She wants very badly to be an Interior Designer. Ok. That I could learn to live with. The only lecture I allowed myself to give to her was a brief one…”I am only concerned that you have the skills that you will need to provide adequately for yourself for the rest of your life and that you are able to have a career that makes you happy.” But I did have to throw in a bit of mommy-ism..” I don’t want you to have to go through what I went through and take as long as I did to finally find financial and other security”.

Now I must work on what it is like to be a mother with a Ph.D in Education, teaching teachers up to post –graduate level, who is totally committed to supporting teachers and believes in education, to have not one, but both children be university drop-outs. Many times I will have to control my thoughts and my tongue and watch them manoeuvre their way through life, and trust that there is life without a university degree. I have to trust both that they will figure out how to create a life that is fulfilling to them, (as opposed to me), and that the world will be good enough to them to support their dreams and visions.

This is perhaps just another aspect of parenting, where we have to teach them well, build the foundation and then let them fly out into the world and make their own way. All the while we sit back at home, pray for their safety, trust in their good sense and welcome them back home every time they flit in for some “mommy-ing”.
I will follow this one closely and curiously. I hope I can be always available to give good guidance when it is needed and asked for, and just plain ole moral support at all times. In advance, I thank my children for giving me this opportunity to learn something about parenting and supporting young people and most importantly about trusting in their minds and not foisting our own dreams and goals on them.

And who knows! In ten years time they may probably be making more money than I ever could as an academic.

Raising Intelligent Babies

2006-09-03T11:43:00.000-04:00

Raising intelligent babies.

I have been curious about this title for a pre-school/nursery for a while now. Seeing the word intelligent always piques my interest. Seeing it associated with babies piques even more interest. I have been trying to organize my thoughts about this before I express them in print. Many questions come to mind, but the most forceful one is ‘how do you raise intelligent babies?’ Other questions include what exactly are they doing to raise these intelligent babies? What specific methods of child rearing are they engaging in? What are they doing differently from all other nurseries/preschools?

A part of me wants to march into there and scream at them that babies are all born intelligent, (except for physically brain –damaged ones) and that the important thing is to ensure that intelligence remains intact. My concern is that not many educators and care-givers know how, or have been trained in how to do that.

And it always brings me back to the connection between the emotional intelligence and the academic intelligence; or between EQ and IQ. The academic theory and practice of Social and Emotional Learning is one thing. I continue to promote emotionally intelligent teaching and emotionally intelligent parenting to all and sundry, despite the challenges of getting through the thick layer of unawareness, apathy, hopelessness and despair caused by the harsh societies we live in. On the other hand is the anxiety of parents to provide their children with all the latest “educational toys” in the hope that the child will not be left behind in the fast-paced global race to some elusive technologically advanced goal.
Alissa Quart writes in the July/August 2006 ‘The Atlantic Monthly’ about what she calls the Baby Genius Edutainment Complex and discusses the varying opinions concerning the value of all the educational toys and media programmes being pushed to parents today.

Knowing the society in the Caribbean and the patterns of child-rearing, I know that the work of raising awareness of even the simple fact that a child who is emotionally stable is a child who can function intelligently and can do well academically and socially is still a long, hard process. There is so much to be done to first of all support adults to work through their own issues of how they were parented and taught, before they have the available attention to provide the emotional safety for children to grow and develop as the intelligent babies that they already are.

I see how children are treated here. I see how the conditioning of our society has led to the idea that children don’t really need or deserve deep loving care and attention. Children are to be fed, clothed and sent to school. The rest is up to some divine intervention. As long as the child is not giving any ‘trouble’ then all is well, and no need to work at parenting. These are unfortunate patterns of thinking.

Hopefully the sign on this preschool indicates that someone/s are open to new ideas and change. Maybe they do understand the importance of emotional intelligence and are practicing social and emotional learning strategies.

Perhaps I will visit them soon and share some knowledge and expertise with them and offer some support.

Day- dreaming at parent/teacher conferences

2006-03-25T10:17:00.000-05:00

My mind has lately been wandering on the topic of human behaviour, particularly the ways we try to get children to behave.
How do we get humans to behave in a certain way , or to follow certain guidelines or norms pecular to a society and its customs? Has anyone come up with effective strategies for developing rational and appropriate behaviour patterns? Maybe the issue is who decides and how is it decided what is rational and appropriate behaviour.

The fact that there is so much punishment on all levels in most societies seems to indicate that humans have not reached that level of functioning. But sometimes I think that it could be that only the "punishable" is highlighted. It is likened to the request by some people for a newspaper reporting only 'good news'. Where are all the reports of rational, enlightening and encouraging behaviour?

One thing I have noticed is that many people think that they can -:
embarrass
humiliate
frustrate
frighten or even
anger someone into a particular behaviour. And even though for centuries, under many circumstances, this has not work, yet the practice continues.

Take the example of schools- year after year teachers complain about the students who display delinquent, disruptive, dysfunctional, aggressive behaviour or who are not performing up to academic standard. Parents are called in and given a lecture by the principal and/or teachers. The list of mis-behaviours is read out and the parent is spoken to harshly, almost like they are being reprimanded for being a bad parent. They are then threatened with suspension or expulsion of the child, reversal of some privilege such as sitting the final exams, or taking part in graduation,etc. Then the parent is severly warned and sent away.

The parent leaves feeling more discouraged, helpless, hopeless than when he entered the school. It is hard for that parent to think through the despair and to figure out how to help the child and how to turn around things. Heck! They have not even been supported to find the root of the problem in order to address it effectively. If the parent knew what to do he/she would have done it already. In short time the child repeats the mis-behaviour,parent is called again and the cycle continues.

As a parent I have sat through several of these "Parent/Teacher Days". And every one of them has been about listening to all the problems that the school is having with some of the students, and the school trying to shame the parents into being better parents. For me to get through the barrage I have to keep a mental list and sigh a relief every time that 'my child is not one of the guilty ones'. It helps to keep me from sinking into the hopelessness with the other parents. It is either that or go numb, shut down my thinking and feeling for a while - kinda like the students staring out the window or day-dreaming in class sometimes when they can't handle what is going on at the head of the class.

In the near future, (very near future) I would like to see programmes, efforts, workshops geared towards helping adults (especially those working with children on a regular basis) understand human behaviour and how behavioural patterns are installed and develop; and therefore how to effectively break them and eliminate them, i.e. how to really change behaviour. I'd like to see parents and teachers moving towards fully understanding the factors operating in the child's life and not only the short-term effects of these factors so that they can address the issues proactively with useful and reasonable strategies.

Perhaps we have to first decide what is reasonable behaviour to expect of any child.

Crushed Heart

2006-01-29T10:10:00.000-05:00

Crushed Heart

Shopping malls are great places to observe human behaviour, especially parents and their children. Observation of human behaviour should also lead to learning. I am not always sure what the lesson to be learned is when I find myself in “behaviour-observation” situations. Perhaps I do it naturally and trust that even if the lesson is not immediately obvious, it will reveal itself when needed.

Recently I was sitting at a table in the food court of a mall. The scenario- a child, (I would guess about 6 or 7 years old) sitting with an adult male who she referred to as Daddy. He was very quiet and barely looking at her as she played with a bag of small chocolate balls. Up comes Mommy to join them while she waits for the food.

I have to admit I was paying keen attention (minding their business as some would say) because I was intrigued by the father’s attitude and his refusal to engage in any way with either mother or child. The child continued chatting and making attempts to engage both parents in her childish play.

I missed a little bit of what preceded this exchange but here is what I observed:
Mother: Oh these are my brains, ok (as child lay a few of the balls on the table).

Then the mother proceeded to take out one ball and place it on the table. Her words to the child were, “ here is your heart”. Then she came down with a crushing blow with her hand to the little chocolate ball on the table. “ There. I’ve crushed it”

Any one else horrified with me? Until I can get past being flabbergasted so that I can process the depth and significance of this action to raising emotionally sound children, my thoughts revolve around how is this child learn about loving and caring, having empathy. And what is she learning about parenting?

As always I shake my head and think once again that when we are faced with teenagers and young adults who do not have the necessary social and emotional learning skills, we seek to place blame anywhere else but on the early years and the experiences and models these young people were exposed to. Some find it hard to relate the present behaviour patterns to these early experiences. They can’t see how the early childhood has anything to do with the teenager. In their words… they should have got over all that by now. Or, … they should know better. Or… they should learn how to ‘behave’. But who taught them?

When a child’s heart is so dramatically and obviously crushed by her own mother (even in jest or in the guise of play), and it is accompanied by a pleased-with-oneself expression, what marks are left on the child? I would really have liked to listen to that child and hear what she was thinking and how she was processing that action and those words. My best hope for now is that she is immediately able to shield herself in some way from the obvious hurt, even if it means pretending that it is not happening, or lying to herself that her mother doesn’t mean that, until she has some support to work through it.

My lessons may not present themselves for a while, but I am aware of the reminders of the importance of exploring a “client’s” early life whenever they present challenges that they are presently facing with family and other relationships. It is also a reminder to look deep and wide for the real causes of any emotional ill-health and dig them out at the roots, rather than trying to put a temporary plaster on a wound.

No end to this debate...

2005-11-21T19:29:00.000-05:00

No end to this debate…

I keep promising not to bring up the issue of corporal punishment anymore. That issue is just too controversial and is one of those with no end in sight. It should be up there with those issues that a lot of people refuse to discuss, i.e. religion and politics. It is also much like the debate about the differences between men and women. Let us not go there either.

But the issue keeps following me around. I did a workshop for principals last week and one of the participants wanted to know what I thought about corporal punishment. I was so tempted to pick up that baton and run with it; but rational thinking got the better of me and I decided to stick with my planned title- Leading with Emotional Intelligence. I secretly figured it would be underneath the proceedings of the day anyway, in some form or fashion. And it sure did come up a couple more times. Educators cannot talk about reforming schools without someone mentioning the “C.P.” word.

Then I saw a very interesting article on the internet. It was titled “Physical discipline makes children anxious and aggressive” and it was on the Natural Child Project site. (a very good site by the way). It starts off by saying “No matter what the cultural norm, children who are physically disciplined with spanking and other such approaches are more likely to be anxious and aggressive than children who are disciplined in other ways”. They were referring to some research done in six different countries to look at the effects of culture on the issue of corporal punishment and reported in Child Development journal.
The conclusion of the study as reported …

”More frequent use of physical discipline was less strongly associated with child aggression and anxiety when it was perceived as being more culturally accepted, but physical discipline was also associated with more aggression and anxiety regardless of the perception of cultural acceptance.

In countries in which physical discipline was more common and culturally accepted, children who were physically disciplined were less aggressive and less anxious than children who were physically disciplined in countries where physical discipline was rarely used.

In all countries, however, higher use of physical discipline was associated with more child aggression and anxiety.”

I wasn’t clear about some of the conclusions though, and I quote…"A particular parenting practice may become a problem only if parents use it in a cultural context that does not support the practice (for example, if they migrate from one country to another)." Now I know that there is sure to be much more to what was concluded and that the whole context must be in place. So until I get a chance to read the entire research report as published in the Child Development journal, I will reserve concluding that what is being said here is that it is okay to use corporal punishment in your own country if your culture is okay with it, but do not go live in another country and beat your children.

Reference. http://www.naturalchild.org/research/discipline.html

Punishment- what's the point?

2005-10-18T09:28:00.000-04:00

Punishment- what’s the point?

If you haven’t figured it out yet, you soon will be able to put the list together of my pet peeves with schools and the education process. They all have to do with the umbrella phrases I use- either Mental Health in Education or Social and Emotional Learning. Either way you choose to call it, it refers to the mind and the emotions and their connection to the process of learning and of course teaching.

So far the peeves I have revealed here are competition in the classroom and effects of emotions and emotional experiences on learning.
Another of my ‘favourites’ is the issue of punishment, especially corporal punishment. I am well aware of the mass of hornets that start buzzing around as soon as I say those words. But as with all other issues of Mental Health and/or Social and Emotional Learning we cannot leave our heads buried in the sand or elsewhere.

I will release the hornets with a few thoughts. We need to understand what is punishment and its real effects on our young people. There are still parents and teachers who believe that the only way to motivate students to learn is by threat of some form of punishment, either immediately or later in life or by instilling fear.

Some of the types of abuse that our children are being constantly subjected to in schools include:
Verbal abuse: insults, put-downs, or name-calling. We tend to brush these off as insignificant partly because the effects of these are not so obvious or instant. But each of us could think back to how badly we felt to be called a derogatory name or to be insulted or put-down.
Isolation/seclusion: We teach our children from early on not to play with a friend when we are not pleased with him. Teachers and parents use the practice of ignoring or isolating a child when he most needs attention and someone to help him through a bad time. “Time out” is convenient for adults when they are too busy or preoccupied to figure out how to really help the child through the emotional distress that is causing the disruptive or inappropriate or unacceptable behaviour at the moment.
Invalidation: Students receive subtle and not so subtle messages about their self-worth and academic potential from the school environment. Minority students are typically discouraged from having and pursuing big goals academically. Females are still not as encouraged as males to enter fields that involve Math and Science.
One of the real sad aspects of the issue of punishment is the way some adults have convinced themselves that the punishment is for the child’s good. Unfortunately this has been instilled in them when they were being punished and was the only way to resolve the pain in their minds and to continue to survive through it.

Using Multiple Intelligences Theory Wisely

2005-10-07T12:02:00.000-04:00

Multiple Intelligences

Blogs are good for ranting, so they say. I promised myself mine would not only be a rant (useful sometimes)but be a source of interesting information and prompts for rational thought. But with the way things are in our education systems around the globe, (not just in my little part of the Caribbean for sure) it is difficult, nay impossible, not to rant on a regular basis.
One hears and sees so many things in our classrooms and from the general public that makes us either cringe, shake our head in bewilderment, want to scream to make sure somebody hears and fixes things, laugh with joy, cry with pain or feel pride. The point being that education being what it is (not what it is supposed to be) is fraught with dilemmas and events.

It would take a multi-volume tome to outline all that needs to be thought about on a constant basis in educating our children. Some of us make it more bearable on ourselves by choosing one issue to focus on and advocate for, hoping that there are many others looking after all the other issues.

But I digress. My latest cringe moment came when I heard that one school was setting down a ‘law’ that every lesson plan written by every teacher in every subject must address all of Howard Gardner’s 8 multiple intelligences ( yes, I know he is working on increasing that number, but that is for another time). I want to hope that the implications of this are so obvious to everyone that I should not even be writing this here. But I know better than that. I do not think that that is what good ole Howard had in mind and I suspect he too would cringe if he heard this.

Outside of all the concerns about what a decision like that implies and causes to happen, my main worry is the fact that so often in trying to improve our education systems we go from one extreme of rigidity to another. Another concern could be how we impose structures and instructions on our teachers without the least amount of training and support. I admit I do not know what is in place in this school to accompany this directive. I am speaking generally here. Sometimes I get so flabbergasted when I hear things that my brain shuts off from overwhelm and I do not follow up and ask the right questions.

That is not the point either. I have seen enough and experienced enough to worry about the lack of insight that goes with hearing about a new theory and insisting that it be implemented in the school.

What should we consider when incorporating Multiple Intelligences theory into the curriculum?
1. Individuals should be encouraged to use their preferred intelligences in learning. Notice it says should be encouraged to use their preferred intelligence- not forced to use all
2. Instructional activities should appeal to different forms of intelligence. – again it doesn’t say every activity should include every intelligence.
3. Assessment of learning should measure multiple forms of intelligence- it still doesn’t say all the forms in any one instance.

Or as quoted from ERIC Digest (http://www.ericdigests.org/1998-1/multiple.htm Amy Brualdi:1996) “Many learning styles can be found within one classroom. Therefore, it is impossible, as well as impractical, for a teacher to accommodate every lesson to all of the learning styles found within the classroom. Nevertheless the teacher can show students how to use their more developed intelligences to assist in the understanding of a subject which normally employs their weaker intelligences (Lazear, 1992).”

I hope therefore that the powers that be in that school and all other schools take some time to understand the theory of Multiple Intelligences and examine rational ways to incorporate it into the curriculum. Also to explore some of the research and the cautions about going to the ‘other extreme’ with teaching to the multiple intelligences.

Here are some examples:

1. You don’t have to teach or learn something in all eight ways, just see what the possibilities are, and then decide which particular pathways interest you the most, or seem to be the most effective teaching or learning tools. Thomas Armstrong http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm

2. You won't always find ways of including every intelligence in your curriculum plans. But if this model helps you reach into one or two intelligences that you might not otherwise have tapped, then it has served its purpose very well indeed! Thomas Armstrong : Seven ways to approach curriculum http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/articles/7_ways.htm First published in Educational Leadership- 1994

Parenting is a Joy

2005-09-30T12:23:00.000-04:00

Without parents there will be no children, and so there will be no schools to make into joyful places.

My new book- This book is some of this and some of that- some information about child development, some inspirations for journal writing, some activities to make parenting easier and more joyful.
www.lulu.com/content/163915

Learning to Feel and Feeling to Learn

2005-09-17T23:37:00.000-04:00

That's the title of my new book that I have finally got published at Lulu. This is a compilation of what I have learned about Social and Emotional Learning and applying it in the classroom and to some extent in the home.

This is what I wrote about the book:

Why did I choose "Learning to Feel and Feeling to Learn" as the title for my book?During any experience in life accompanying emotions are stored in our memory along with the recorded information entering our senses at the time. If these emotions are not dealt with appropriately ( i.e. released by the body's natural healing processes), these emotions become locked in with the information. These emotions can then get triggered in a present day situation and act as a controller of our present behaviour. These triggers interfere with our ability to think rationally at the moment and so to pay attention and to learn. These triggers often have behavioural responses attached to them.These feelings that interfere with our good thinking and functioning are our 'emotional blocks'. Social and Emotional Learning is about recognizing these emotional blocks and effectively removing them.Learning and Feeling are intertwined. We must deal with one in order to enhance the other. Dealing with feelings is not easy nor is it quick. Or rather dealing with the behaviour patterns that have resulted from years of not learning to feel and feeling to learn now necessitates on-going,long-term change and support.This book begins the process.

This is indeed an invaluable resource for teachers and parents in all circumstances.
Available at www.lulu.com/content/157890

Feel free to review it and/or comment on the book. All feedback is welcome and helpful.

Mental Health and Education

2005-08-18T23:08:00.000-04:00

I have concerns about the fact that despite all the efforts globally to raise awareness of the importance of the affective domain in the classroom, the changes are still slow to come. I believe that if we examine the issue of mental health in schools from many angles and perspectives it will help us to understand what is happening and what is actually keeping back the progress. Why with all the programs that have been created and all the trainings and workshops being conducted in our schools are we still plagued with dilemmas such as increasing violence in the schools, unhappy and frustrated teachers, overcrowded classroom, unsolvable issues of special education, and such high levels of poor academic performance?

I have identified some of the factors that are impeding the work as follows:

In many societies there is not enough value placed on the emotions and emotional work. Emotions are dismissed as frivolous or something to be passed over as quickly as possible; they are ignored, shoved aside, even laughed at sometimes. Emotional work is not seen as crucial to survival as other things in our lives.
The length of time required for this work to take effect. Most schools are pressured for time. The process of change is a long term one. Many of us need quick fixes.
It is sometimes hard to acknowledge and understand that mental health issues also affect children. There is a false notion that only adults ‘suffer’ from mental issues, such as depression, stress, etc.
The notion that our early childhood experiences should have been buried and put behind us as we grow up and go out into the world. We should just ‘get over it’.
Lack of proper research and reliable data on most mental health issues and emotional work. What little research has been done has elicited such conflicting responses in the field that it is hard for the average parent or teacher to make an informed decision about the state of mental health in young people and how to cope with it.

Before we successfully address these dilemmas in our schools we do need to understand fully what a mentally healthy mind means, what internal and external factors affect that health, and the real connection between a healthy mind, a healthy body and intelligent functioning.

School and its effects- real or imagined?

2005-05-31T13:41:00.000-04:00

Someone recently expressed surprise that she managed to come out of the school system unscarred. I immediately replied to her that everyone who goes to school comes out scarred in some way- no one escapes it. We all manifest it or display it in different ways.
So I thought I would share some of the ways that we get hurt in schools and the effects of it. This is by no means an exhaustive list for two main reasons- I do not think that we could ever know all the ways that young people are affected by school since they are not always able to talk about it , and secondly the effects are changing due to changing tides and times.

Therein lies the first item on the list, it is hard to express ourselves and our feelings -young people are not allowed to voice their opinions and ideas in school. How many of us had great ideas about a myriad of things- how things worked, how to solve problems, what we wanted to really learn about, how to make things better and more fun in the classroom, how to befriend anyone in the school, etc, etc. Yet there was little room for us to speak up. Sometimes it was because we should not threaten the teacher's authority and knowledge; or we shouldn't "buck the system"; or children are seen and not heard; or there just wasn't time for exploring and figuring out and having fun while we learned lest we do not finish the syllabus on time to pass the required exam.
How does that affect us now? Do we always speak up when we should or do we squash our thoughts and words before we even finish the thought because that old recording in our minds still tells us it is not safe to speak up. Or do we shrug our shoulders with that old feeling of 'what's the use saying anything'.?

Few of us are fully aware of how smart we really are, or could acknowledge and act on the potential we have to be brilliant. Sure, we seem to be doing well. We have good jobs, we get along in society, we have friends and families. Occasionally we may have the opportunity to do something outstanding that makes us feel really good about ourselves and remind us of our capabilities. But instead of holding on to the reality that we can reach much further than we are at this present moment, we admire those who seem to be achieving way beyond what appeared to be their potential and silently wish that we could do the same. So many people say to me I wish I had the courage to do what you do. Or they express such admiration for my preserve and determination and success. And my response is always -anything I can do you can do too.

I notice how our young people's spirits are broken with each day that they attend school. They start off at the pre-school age anxious to go to school to learn and play with their friends and think that it is going to be fun. And by the time they are ready to leave primary school it is a struggle to get them out of bed in the morning, except on holidays. I call it emotional dulling of our children. They are disillusioned with learning . The hopelessness grows with each time they are cut down in school. The despair deepens with every experience of failure they are exposed to, even the subtle and indirect mechanisms by which that sense of being a failure is relayed to them. And with the dying joy of life and learning comes the cynicism.

Have you ever noticed how confused you feel in what should be a simple situation? Oh wait , no!! That is part of the problem. You are not allowed to notice how you feel. That would be too much to deal with. It is easier to push it aside and carry on as if you are over that already, as if it doesn't exist. No teacher in a class has the time nor attention at any given moment to support 20+ children to notice how they feel and cope with those feelings effectively. Heck, the teacher cannot afford to notice how he or she feels, let alone try to cope with it.

Consequently we have developed a school system that has developed all kinds of ways to squash, put aside, ignore, make fun of, any feelings that may dare to rear its ugly head in the classroom. Fortunately or unfortunatley, we are now learning so much more about how these feelings interfere with our good thinking and how the patterns of behaviour we have had to adopt to keep those feelings under wraps are not really in our best interest at the least. At the most those patterns are major deterrents to our progress in thinking well in our everyday life, making good decisions about every thing that affects our life, building and maintaining good relationships with all kinds of people, basically making the world more hopeful and safer for our young people.

Because the experiences happened in school , and we managed to get out of school in one piece, we tend to think that school experiences no longer have an effect on our lives. It is hard to understand the indirect effects. Suffice it to say at this point that every little piece of my mind that was taken up with feeling bad from day one of my life, is one little piece that is not available for good use today.
Think of how many 'little pieces' have been taken up by twelve years of sitting in a classroom and trying to learn.

Co-operation or competition?

2005-05-16T13:17:00.000-04:00

Such an unusual event took place this morning that I am still mulling over it and what it actually means. My daughter is doing an art exam , her first "big" exams as a secondary school student. She enrolled in this exam as an independent student, not with the school. This means that she had to find her way to the exam Centre this morning. Her teacher signed up 2 other students with her. When the three of them got to the venue there was a lot of confusion about the conducting of the exam, and there was no official from the examining body to assist them.

One student was accompanied by her art teacher who was able to make some phone calls. According to my daughter in her phone call to me, the art teacher came running back to them , told them that they were at the wrong venue, took her student and left. My daughter and her 2 peers were left to figure out how to get themselves to the new venue and how to represent themselves well enough so that they will not lose the hour of the exam time that had already passed.

Many questions remained in my mind-
Did the teacher not spare a thought about the other students' predicament?

How does a teacher function as a teacher without caring about all students in general? How do we interrupt the pattern of single-mindedness in a profession that is supposed to be concerned about young people in general?

Is the sense of competition so deeply embedded in us, especially in those who are entrusted with the task of seeing that all children learn well? If so, how do we end that vicious cycle?