Note to Moms about Reading and Writing

Moms are the greatest recognized influence on student reading and writing development by the students themselves – even teenagers!

Last week I had the privilege of helping a 10th grade collaborative* writing class with their essays. Students were writing a 2-page, typed essay on how their reading and writing has developed over the years. Nine (9) out of ten (10) 10th-Grade students attributed their reading and writing development to their mom’s influence. No other person was mentioned in any of the essays I read: not the dad, not a special teacher, grandma or nanny.

What does this say about teaching reading and writing?

   •    Moms know their children.
   •    Moms know how their kids learn best
   •    Moms know what their kids are interested in and inspired by
   •    Moms teach reading and writing in love.


"A teacher affects eternity: he can never tell where his influence stops." - Henry Brooks
A mother affects eternity: she can never tell where her influence stops. (Translation for Moms)


*A "collaborative" writing class means that there were several students with learning and behavior disabilities in the class who were successfully tackling this 2 page, typed essay on their reading and writing development over the years.

To Dad’s – Father’s day is coming. You can find out how Fathers influence their children’s success.

Connecting the Dots - Learning History

History was a very dull subject in school for me that seemed to be all about the dates and other seemingly empty, meaningless facts, without any connections to anything “real” to me. As a grade-school student, I could not relate to it. For this reason, I had difficulty remembering the facts I was supposed to remember. 

But stories and movies online can help students relate new information to existing information about life: Connect the "dots" between your child’s understanding of life and the information given, in order to create a new understanding and ability to remember information better. For example, in reading about Ancient Egypt, first watch one or more short videos that depict how people lived their daily lives in Ancient Egypt.

• Use short you-tube videos to add sounds, sights, people and color to written words
• Make observations together
• From observations, make a word web (a group activity, brainstorming words related to a central topic) before reading*
• Discuss the vocabulary ahead of time. If you can, link pictures to the vocabulary.
• Read, discuss more, revert back to video images and information
• Make another word web after reading
• Maybe watch the video again and see if you can find the things in your word web in the video.
• To really solidify new vocabulary, use it again in creative stories or sentences.

The "dots" of learning are words, sounds, pictures, places, people doing things that students can relate to, and things that look like things they have seen before. The connection of words to ideas is not direct.  In true learning, these connections run through many or all of the other dots. 

Another way to make history more real is have students use the information in their own creative ways:

• Create plays  of what is happening in the story. 
• Write a song
• Write historical fiction 
• Have each student study one person from the times, and make a poster of that person with pictures and words for the hallway.

*The following website is a great place to find different kinds of graphic organizers to help make a word web: http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer

Improve Reading Fluency

Learning to Read can be hard work:  

For most kids, learning to read is a challenging task.  Think about how many school days are spent going over letters, popcorn words, spelling, and so on. But you have one thing at home that the school seldom can offer - special one-on-one time with a caring adult. 

The importance of reading fluently – with speed, ease, and putting the pauses in the right places (expression):

• To understand the reading, one must put the pauses in the right places.
• To remember what you are reading, there needs to be some speed and automaticity.

How do you do this?

My favorite, research-proven strategy to improve fluency is called “Paired Reading.” Read at the same time, side by side with your student with one of you pointing to each word. Part of slowness and hesitation in reading is caused by fear of getting the words wrong. Reading side-by-side at the same time takes the fear out of the reading. If the student hesitates, then they can listen to your voice and pick up the word without error – helping with errorless learning.

In fact, research says that, when students do paired reading with a better reader for as little as10 minutes per day, the result is an increase in their reading level and comprehension in a matter of weeks. This is a temporary intervention that may be needed for a short time, until student becomes more independent.

Repeated Readings: Another way to help with fluency is to have student practice reading faster. Time the student reading the first time (# of words correct in one minute). Point out the mistakes so they can work on the mistakes for the next readings. Maybe do paired reading (have the student read with a better reader). Have students practice reading the words to themselves or to a partner, who is listening for accuracy. Time the student’s reading again after a few days of practice.

I do Paired Reading and Repeated Reading with my English Language Learners. My goal for Level One learners is to gain about 100 words per minute. Why? Reading more fluently leads to students being able to remember what they learned while taking some of the work out of the task.

Reading leads to further learning.

More ideas to help with reading from Intervention Central: http://www.interventioncentral.org/index.php/reading-comp/236-reading-com-fix-up-skills

When You Have Tried Everything

What do you do?

Your young student is just not getting it. With at least one subject, you have reached the point of thinking and saying things like:

“In spelling we have tried everything! We sign the words. We write the words. We say them out loud. He can spell the words at home, but he cannot spell them at school.” For both you and your student: FRUSTRATION!!!

1st – Remember the number one thing – you, as the parent, are the most important factor in this child’s life. Not the spelling. Not the math. Not the skill for any academics. You.

2nd – Admit to yourself that learning is not, as Western educational theory held for years, a linear process. One does not have to learn A and B in order to do D. I think of learning as connecting the dots in 3D. A person can learn task D, E and F, or even M, before learning  A, B and C. Sometimes, his learning other tasks and skills yields coping strategies that assist in working around a disability. Examples:

• A student with a math disability can learn to use a calculator, and be allowed to use it in class. If your student does not have a disability, he may use one at home as an investigative tool.
• A student with a writing disability learns to ask a teacher or teacher’s aide for help with writing. Or this student uses a computer keyboard, a voice recognition program, or learns to write in text on a hand-held device.  
• Always be aware that there are options. Keep searching for ways to help your child that might work better for the time being.

3rd - How do you connect the dots?

• - exercise – including different kinds of movements like tumbling
• - sleep – A weary mind does not learn or remember, and mental connections form while sleeping  
• - art, music, social interaction, puzzles, and anything but television. 
• - work on skills using the 5 senses 

 
4th – Celebrate your achievements: When you meet a goal, whether it is educational success or simply reaching the time goal for your study period, then celebrate. Be happy! That was a lot of work for both you and your student, so you should both feel good about it.

5th – Your student may have high aptitude and interest in some areas, but have less in others. Remember that schools thought Albert Einstein was retarded because he was interested  only in mathematics and science. Read this interesting blog note: http://apieceofmymind-sarv.blogspot.com/2007/03/albert-einstein-failure.html

6th – Always remember that, just because your student didn’t get it right today, it doesn’t mean he or she won’t do it tomorrow. You may often have to remind your student of this too. Thomas Edison failed over 6000 times before he invented the light bulb. He said “I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”

Learn a Language

Help your child learn a language using resources online and in your own neighborhood.

For example, learn Spanish alongside your children.

1.     Hire a neighborhood Hispanic young person to teach you and your family one-hour per week.

2.     Make use of a Spanish-English, English-Spanish online dictionary. A google search helped me find one at http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/. You can put in an English word, ask for a translation and then click on the sound button to hear how to pronounce the word.

3.     Look at your local library online. My library has a link to BYKI or http://www.byki.com/, a free online language system that teaches 70 different languages. It has programs and materials to download for free online. But if you want to use the more deluxe version, you can go through a public library.

4.     My local library also has online CDs and books to borrow. There are several Spanish learning CDs and books. I downloaded one called, “Learn Spanish in Your Car.” Another is called Spanish Lyrics. It is a CD and e-book of songs with both English and Spanish Lyrics side-by-side assist your brain in making connections between word meanings. My children and I especially enjoy this CD.