Advanced copies are in! Order Answer Keys: Teachers’ Lesson Plans for Successful Parenting at retail and online outlets today! Our website is under construction, but it should be up and running by the end of the weekend (10/17). Get your copy (and one for a friend or family member) today.
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Parents often ask me how they can help boost their child’s reading and comprehension skills. There are tons of ways to help kids become better readers…reading aloud to them (at all ages) is one of the best. However, as kids get older, it is essential that they learn to choose reading material on their own. Here is a quick tip to help kids choose books that are right for them.
I hope you find this quick tip helpful. I would love to know what works for you at home or in your classroom. Happy reading!!!
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What About Principal Accountability?.
The bottom line is that principals have the power to create, change and drive the culture of any school environment. This includes the power to destroy and run it into the ground. Principals need to stand up and create professional learning communities within their schools.
At the same time, districts need to give principals and the freedom to run their schools and control over local decisions with regards to their budget and staffing decisions. If we are going to hold principals accountable for the culture of a school, and we should, we need to give them the tools to build a successful environment.
How is the culture at your child’s school or where you teach? Do you feel the principal plays a role in developing and nurturing the school’s culture?
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When I was young, time with my dad always equaled quality over quantity. He’s an orthopedic surgeon, and well, you know, people needed him in surgery and stuff. However, for all the nights he took call and for all the weekends and holidays he worked, the quality time my brothers and I spent with him was precious. I remember our special outings like they were yesterday. He would wake me up early on Sunday morning. Hand and hand we would attend mass in the hospital chapel and then sit down for breakfast in the cafeteria. I loved watching the doctors in their white coats and scrubs, stethoscopes hanging from their necks as they walked. We would rehash the week over pancakes and juice, chatting about this and that. He was (and still is) my “go to guy” for dilemmas and queries. It was our version of today’s “family dinner.” It just didn’t look quite the same. After breakfast we would go on rounds to each of his patient’s rooms. There were some I could visit and some I couldn’t. Either way, I was simply thrilled to be with my dad, no matter the place or circumstance.
Today I live a blessed life with a devoted husband and two wonderful, yet often mischievous children. And, while I would like to think our life together is as picture perfect as it was on Leave it to Beaver….it’s not. My husband often works 60+ hours a week and travels more than 70% of the time. My jaw actually dropped this morning when he announced, while chomping his egg whites mixed w/salsa (I kid you not), that he would be traveling the greater part of the next three weeks. Wow- that was an eye opener, especially since he’s been gone the past two!!
Now, I accept his schedule and I knew what I was getting into when I fell in love with and married my husband. Trust me when I say this isn’t one of those “please feel sorry for me” rants. I am just painting a picture of our family dynamic. That being said, it’s one thing for me to be okay with his travel schedule, but it’s a completely different issue for our children. They are young- almost 6 and 3. They don’t understand cutbacks, downsizing and what it means to have a mortgage payment. They want daddy, and they want him NOW!
Okay, so what do you do when June Cleaver isn’t around to make cookies and cry it out? As our school disaster preparedness director used to say, “You do the best you can with what you have at the time.” I offer the same advice. Here are some tips for keeping your kids connected to a parent that travels for work:
It would be great if we could all sit down for family dinner every night. It would be awesome if every working parent could pull into the driveway at 5:00pm at the end of every work day. It would be insane if both parents could be at every function, party, game and match. However, that is not how reality works for most families. Many of us thrive on some days and simply survive on others. We love our children fiercely, parent with the best intentions and do our darndest to bring up the best youngsters we can in today’s society, all while our spouse is out of the parenting picture.
I hope these tips help reduce some of the stress associated with a parent who is always out-of-town. I would love to hear your coping strategies too. Happy traveling!
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For the past few weeks I have noticed a disheartening trend. More and more people seem to be complaining about the lack of common courtesy in today’s society. Too many Facebook posts read something like, “Couldn’t the cashier be bothered to look up and acknowledge my existence?” Or, “What happened to customer service?” I can count on two hands how many of my friends have decided to no longer patronize businesses because the salespeople, or even worse, the owners of said businesses, are rude to them or other customers.
Road rage. Colorful hand gestures. The occasional roadside stabbing or shooting (we’ve had both in LA in past few months). People walking with their heads down. No one opening the door or holding the elevator. Cell phone interruptions in the middle of Sunday services. Blank faced, fast paced people scurrying down the street. What a total bummer.
In my opinion, the question to ask isn’t so much, “What happened to common courtesy?” but, “How can we bring it back?” Thus comes my experiment. It’s not so much an experiment as it is a challenge to everyone who is tired of rude and way past unkind and unfriendly. It’s a call to action. So, if you’re ready, here it is…
Do it for a week. See if it makes a difference. I bet that life will seem a bit happier and less stressful. We all want other people to be courtesy. We all want other people to be polite. The movement, however, needs to begin somewhere. Somebody has to go first. Why not make it you? Happy waving!
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There are many of you out there who may feel as though you spend more time in your car than you do just about anywhere else. I am one of those people. Between two different drop off times at three different schools (nothing is ever easy, is it?), after school activities, running errands for my husband and keeping up with my own schedule, I sometimes feel like I live in my car.
I also deal with lots of annoying timing issues. For example, I take this fabulous weight training class on Wednesday and Friday that ends at 11:30. I then need to pick up my daughter from Kindergarten at 12pm. This usually leaves me with about 15 minutes of flex time. It’s not enough time to exercise more (besides, who wants that torture?), I can’t get through the grocery store, and many times the bank is packed because it’s lunch hour. So, I’m stuck listening to talk radio in my car (thank goodness it’s Dave Ramsey) while I pick my fingernails and wait for school to get out.
Many of you are very savvy and have fabulous phones with texting, the Internet and a whole host of other fancy applications. My cell phone is the equivalent of a rotary phone. It’s a step up from two cans connected by a string. A side note is that I also HATE to talk on the phone and I don’t text. So, if you’re one of “those” people, this tip may not be for you, as I am sure you spend your flex time browsing the Internet and chatting w/friends. But, for those of you out there without a fancy phone and/or who do not find the phrase, “can you hear me now?” appealing, this one is for you.
Tons of us receive catalogs. Many of us order magazines. Some of us subscribe to trade journals, newspapers and other periodicals. A few of us might even pick up a novel for pleasure reading (side note- I just got done w/The Girl Who Played with Fire– Awesome!!). In many instances, these materials sit in a pile in the corner of an office or bedroom and collect dust. Months later we end up throwing them out because we never get around to reading them. This used to happen to me until I got “the bag.” It’s a sturdy canvas bag where I put all the stuff I want to read but don’t have time to look at right away. I keep it in my office or near the front door. This way, when I leave, I can grab it and throw it into my car.
I use it everywhere- waiting for school to get out, at the doctor’s office, while I’m waiting for my car to be serviced, etc. It’s genius! I love it! And heck, it makes me feel more efficient. Not rocket science, I know. But it’s a little something that makes my life a bit easier and keeps me from picking my nails and feeling guilty as I tweeze my eyebrows in the parking lot of my son’s preschool. What tips do you have? Happy schlepping!
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Today’s quick tip is for teachers, especially those teaching grade levels where you need to provide feedback and commentary on essays and general writing assignments. I taught middle school Language Arts, which encompassed grammar/spelling, writing and literature. I had approximately 120 students pass through my classroom door each day, AND I loved to teach writing. This meant that I was often overloaded with grading, and it was the type of grading that requires more than a simple answer key or the help of a teacher’s aide. In order to respond in depth and in a timely manner to all students, I used a streamlined way of providing them with general feedback. This way I could spend the bulk of time evaluating content, sentence structure, flow, how students organized their writing and grammar (I always made these comments by hand).
As teachers, I know we all want to install in our students a lifelong love a learning. Part of how we do this is by providing them with valuable, well thought out and pertinent feedback. I hope this tip will help you be more effective when providing student feedback on writing assignments. I’d love to hear your tips too. Happy grading!!
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If you’re like me, reading to your kids is important. If you’re also like me, free time these days comes at a premium. So, I figured out a great way to knock out a couple of books…reading to my kiddos while they are in the bathtub! I wouldn’t suggest this for small kids, but at 3 and almost 6, my kids are in a great place for this activity. They also loved it! I picked out a few of their favorites (Anything Fancy Nancy for McKenna Kate and anything about trucks for Mac) and read to them while they washed themselves in the tub. In retrospect, without even knowing it, I achieved a few cool goals: I exposed my kids to reading, I asked great questions to test for comprehension, I gave them a fun task they could learn to do on their own (washing themselves) and I helped them build their independence a bit. It was also loads of fun and we laughed a lot! Lastly, my kids have a tendency to splash around quite a bit. Since we don’t have a pool, they usually treat tub time as if they were swimming in an Olympic sized pool. They were much calmer while I read than they usually are together- bonus. Could this work for you or NO way??? I’d love to know. Happy scrubbing!
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