Point to Words While You Read to Your Child

Of course, you are reading to your young children, but what you do while you read to them can mean that they will have higher reading skills later when they are a little older.  The article, “Pointing to Words Helps Children Read in Later Years, in the United Kingdom’s Telegraph reports that simply by pointing to words as you read, or referencing, to your children helps them to better understand the meanings of letters and words and, ultimately, how to read.  Shayne Piasta, a professor of teaching and lead researcher for the study, found that reading to children under age five this way improved their reading skills “one and even two years down the line compared to kids who didn’t.”

Related articles

• Preschoolers’ reading skills benefit from 1 modest change by teachers (eurekalert.org)
• Early focus on print promotes later literacy achievement (eurekalert.org)

 

Educator Insight: Challenge to Teachers with Challenging Students

Muriel Rand, professor of Early Childhood Education at New Jersey City University, recently addressed the challenges of many teachers who find it difficult to manage their classroom environments with constant attention-seeking behavior.  Rand submits that the ineffective but commonly used strategy of ignoring undesired behavior is simply ineffective when dealing with that kind of behavior, and unless the teacher couples this strategy with “increase[ing] the amount of positive attention that the child gets at other times,” the behaviors will continue.

In her article, “Are You Meeting Your Students’ Needs for Love and Belonging?”, on the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development website establishes that what underlies most attention-seeking behavior is the need for human interaction and affection.  This desire is so strong that many students who lack social-emotional skills and competence will engage in negative behaviors because this is the only way to address that need.  Even when a teacher is reacting negatively to inappropriate behavior, there might be “close, physical, and emotionally intense” contact by that teacher, thus, meeting the child’s need for attention.

Rand offers several suggestions for providing positive attention for the child:

• Schedule time to spend with the child by doing things like sitting next to him during snack time.
• Greet him warmly when arrives and spend an extra minute or two talking with him at the beginning and end of the day.
• Model and discuss appropriate ways to get your positive attention.
• Pair him or her with a child who has excellent social skills.
• Don’t use stickers and other tangibles; thinks of ways to provide rich interactions.
• Talk with him about his or her likes, habits, fears and hopes.

 

Son Struggling in School? Diet Supplement Might Help!

Two Juglans regia walnuts. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dianne Craft, special educator and owner of Child Diagnostics, Inc. in Denver, writes on her site about ways to help struggling learners.  Much of her work and success have come from her leveraging brain research with sound educational practices.  However, she suggests  in her article, “Essential Fatty Acids and the Brain,” that one of the first things that parents might want to consider is that some of the difficulties that many children have is due to a deficiency in their diet of the essential fatty acids.

This deficiency seems more common in boys and often manifests in both behavior and learning difficulties.  Craft cites a study that revealed “boys have a three-times higher need for essential fatty acids than girls.”  She asserts that this might be an explanation for the higher incidence of learning and behavior difficulties in boys.  In another study, “’Boys with lower levels of Omega 3 fatty acids in their blood scored higher in frequency of behavior problems,’ including hyperactivity, impulsivity, anxiety, temper tantrums, and sleep problems according to recent research done at Purdue University.”  Dr. Leo Galland, pediatrician and director of the Gessell Institute of Human Development in Connecticut, believes that using oils helps all struggling learners and those with behavior issues.

Here are some signs that may indicate a deficiency of essential fatty oils:

• Dry hair
• Dry skin
• Eczema
• White trail left on skin after scratching
• Very thirsty (always want to go to the water fountain)
• May crave butter or eggs

Craft’s article suggests that the first, and least expensive, thing that parents might want to try is to incorporate more Omega 3 fatty acids in their sons’ diets.

Related articles

• Omega-3 Essential Fatty acids (fitnesswellnesscoaches.wordpress.com)
• Sources of Omega-3 Fatty Acids (thehealthwish.com)

 

Educator Insight: Learning to Read with Nonfiction

A recent article, “Nonfiction Curriculum Enhanced Reading Skills in New York City Schools,” by Anna M. Phillips on The New York Times website reports promising results from a three-year pilot reading program for primary grades that followed about 1,000 students at 20 New York City schools.  The Core Knowledge program, a balanced literacy method, is based on a reading curriculum that emphasizes nonfiction texts rather than fiction.  “The study found that second graders who were taught to read using the Core Knowledge program scored significantly higher on reading comprehension tests than did those in the comparison schools.”

Not only did the students outperform their counterparts in reading, but they also outperformed the comparison students in social studies and science knowledge.  With so many elementary schools balancing their budgets by reducing science and social studies instruction, it appears that a balanced literacy method is an economical way to do both.

 

Disparities in Education and Punishment for African-American Students

NPR’s news program, PBS NewsHour, recently broadcast a show that focused on the recent release of the U. S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights findings that show, among other things, the following:

• African-American students are 3 ½ times more likely to be suspended or expelled than white students
• 70% of students arrested or referred to law enforcement for disciplinary problems are black or Latino
• schools with a high number of black and Hispanics are less likely to offer calculus
• in those schools that offer calculus, Hispanics may make up 20% of the student body, but  only 10% of the calculus students are Hispanic
• Of the students surveyed, 44% were black and Hispanics, but they were 26% of the students identified in gifted-and-talented programs

Featured guests, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan, explained these findings and their implications:

• The high number of suspensions and expulsions “show that we’re really not providing equal educational opportunity.”
• Disciplinary alternatives should be implemented to reduce the disproportionate suspensions.
• Zero-tolerance policies may need some revamping.

 

Being Poor Does Not Equal Poor Student Achievement

Harvard University professor, Paul E. Peterson, and Janice Riddell from External Relations for Education Next recently released an analysis of a paper by a Broader, Bolder Approach co-chair, Professor Helen F. Ladd at Duke University.  Peterson challenges the BBA, which is frequently heralded by education reform leaders and often calls for the redistribution of income and the providing of more support services for economically disadvantaged children outside the school day.  While he acknowledges a connection between income and student performance, he asserts that this connection is not caused by the low income but due to other factors.  He points to another study by the Brookings Institution (2011) that found that the impact “between family income and education success for children varied between negligible and small.”

In response to those who cite the growing reading achievement gaps from children from the lowest and highest incomes, he notes “that the achievement gap between income groups was growing at exactly the same time the federal government was rapidly expanding services to the poor – Medicaid, food stamps, Head Start, housing subsidies, and many other programs.”  Peterson believes that changes in the family structure over the years is the reason for the continuing decline in achievement.

Peterson points out that the things that have improved student achievement of the lowest income families have had the most impact.  School reforms, such as “merit pay, school vouchers, and student and school accountability, have been shown to have had equivalent or larger impacts” than things like “expanded social services, preschool, and summer programs…”  He reports that “Initiatives to improve teacher quality have the potential of raising student performance by 10 to 20 percent of a standard deviation.”

 

Lessons from Trayvon Martin: Some Rules for African-American Boys’ Survival

The nation is gripped by the tragic story of the Sanford, Florida teen, Trayvon Martin.  While we all watch to see how justice will be served in this case, many are up in arms about the perceptions formed about the reasons for his death.  On his show, Politics Nation with Al Sharpton, Rev. Al Sharpton speaks to Washington Post reporter, Jonathan Capehart, whose article about the things that he faced as a teenager in Newark, New Jersey.  This video of their exchange in Capehart’s old neighborhood enumerates some rules that you should share with all the young African-American males that you know:

• Don’t run in public so that the police won’t suspect that you have done something wrong.
• Don’t run in public with anything in your hands so that no one will think that you stole something.
• Don’t talk back to the police.
• “Don’t give the police a reason to stop you.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Related articles

• Lawrence O’Donnell Panel Condemns The Injustice In The Trayvon Martin Case (mediaite.com)

 

In Search of Black Male Teachers

It seems that the search for black male teachers is yet another area where our community is lacking.  Of all the teachers in America, write CNN reporters Allen Huntspon and George Howell, only about 2 percent are black males.  In their article, “Black Male Teachers Becoming Extinct,” Huntspon and Howell extol the casual benefits for African-American children of having those kinds of strong role models, but there are a number of reasons for the lack of black male teachers.  Among them is that it is difficult to support a family on a teacher’s salary.

Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, is hoping to make teaching more attractive to black males by instituting a couple of innovations.  RESPECT Project offers “incentives to teachers and school districts that will increase starting salaries and provide more professional development and training among other things.”  The Teach Campaign is designed “to recruit more African-American men to go into teaching straight out of college.”   Of course, we’ve got to get more of them to go to college, but these are steps in the right direction.

View this CNN report about the lack of African-American male teachers: http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=living/2012/02/21/howell-black-men-teach.cnn

 

HBCU Graduation Rates

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education recently compiled a list of graduation rates at America’s historically Black colleges and universities of students who entered an HBCU between 2001 and 2004 and earned their degree at the same institution within six years.

The findings are compelling.  Of the 55 top-ranked HBCUs for graduation rates, only four of them graduated more than half of their students:  Spelman College (79%), Howard University (64%), Morehouse College (61%), and Hampton University (54%).  The lowest ranking HBCUs graduated fewer than 20% of their students: Lincoln University (Missouri, 17%), Coppin State University (16%), Rust College (16%), Miles College (16%), Texas Southern University (11%), and University of District of Columbia (10%).

The reason for the declining rates?  Money.  “Many publicly operated HBCUs have seen a decline in state appropriations and cutbacks in state financial aid for college students. Private HBCUs have also faced cutbacks and difficulty in fundraising. This undoubtedly is reflected in lower student graduation rates.”

The Obama Administration has worked to strengthen HBCUs through its HBCU Initiative to help improve graduation rates:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/all/modules/swftools/shared/flash_media_player/player5x2.swf

 

The Case Against Pesticides Around Your Son

A recent article, “Pesticides Are Dumbing Down Our Kids,” by Leah Zerbe on the Rodale website suggests that the prevalence of pesticides in our environment is having a tremendously negative effect on our children. Zerbe reports on conclusions reached from three studies at New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine, the University of California-Berkeley School of Public Health, and Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. The negative impact of pesticide exposure can begin in pregnancy: “Children born to mothers with higher levels of pesticides in their body during pregnancy go on to experience lower IQ scores in elementary school…”

The researchers were able to link their results to organoposphates (chlorpyrifos, in particular), one category of pesticides that are common bug killers. The subjects of the study were approximately 800 women from different parts of the country who live in urban and rural areas. Not only were the pesticides found in the urine of pregnant women, but it was found in the umbilical cord babies. These researchers followed up with the children of the pregnant mothers when they were in elementary school and found that those who were exposed to pesticides while their mothers were pregnant showed poorer brain functioning. There was a seven-point reduction in IQ in the children with the highest exposure to pesticides when compared to those with the lowest exposure.

It appears that pesticides may significantly impair children’s health and mental functioning. Many experts believe that it may be a factor in the significant number of children with ADHD and, possibly, autism. Additionally, “many pesticides are believed to be hormone disruptors, and prenatal exposure could set people up for chronic diseases like diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and obesity.”

Not only is prenatal pesticide exposure a significant problem, the problem persists because children continue to be exposed when they eat nonorganic foods. “Chlorpyrifos has turned up on nonorganic apples, kale, bell peppers, and other produce…”

Zerbe suggests the following to keep pesticides out of your body:
• Be a budget organic buyer.
• Beat back pests naturally.
• Get a great, green lawn.