GenParenting

Parenting resources for all who love and care for children

Author: Kevin Myers

Student Report Cards

Student Report Cards

Parents try a wide range of strategies to ensure their children are putting in the effort needed to bring home a strong report card. Many parents offer incentives, special meals, trips, events, and even cash to get kids to put in the work for their grades. While these tactics may work in the short term, the real goal should be to build intrinsic motivation for kids to do their best. Research shows that these external rewards (also known as extrinsic motivation) may fall short in the long run. [Read more…]

Writing in the AI Era

Writing in the AI Era

As a school principal at a small school, I wear a lot of hats.  Educators in general do much more than just ensure kids are learning.  Schools take on the role of instruction, enrichment, parent support, wrap around services, field trips, college readiness, emotional growth, nutrition, and much more!  While I love doing this work, there are some tasks that are very time consuming and they take me into my office and away from working directly with my students and families. In recent years, I have used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help me with some of these tasks.  AI can write letters, emails, and memos for me; it can create schedules and lesson plans, and professional development slides.  And it’s the same in the classroom. Most assignments given to students can be done very quickly by using generative AI tools.  So why do kids really need to learn to do things on their own? [Read more…]

Growth Mindset: The Power of Yet

Growth Mindset: The Power of Yet

When my daughter was a toddler, one of her favorite videos to watch on repeat was The Power of Yet.  This Sesame Street song was upbeat and fun for her to dance to, but the message was great as well.  The singer was shown with a variety of muppets as they tried or practiced new skills; the message was that things may be difficult at first, but that just means we have not mastered them YET!  This is the idea behind having a a growth mindset, a very important skill or approach to life that we must teach our kids.  Without this mindset, they are likely to grow into teens and kids who cannot handle difficult situations or failure.

How to Help Our Kids Learn New Skills

Developing new skills takes time and kids need support to manage their emotions while they tackle new activities.  As parents, we want to be sure our kids can be successful, but we have to be aware that too much intervention will keep our kids from developing appropriately.  If our babies get frustrated with learning to use a spoon and we feed them to avoid the crying, we are robbing them of the time to learn that fine motor skill.  When they are learning to tie their shoes, they will get frustrated at those darn bunny ears, but if we don’t encourage them to keep trying, they will be 30 years old and still wearing Crocs and velcro shoes.  While these situations may seem silly, these are the early times when we are teaching a growth mindset.  As kids get older, the situations get more serious: learning to advocate for themselves, learning to solve problems on their own, learning to speak out against unethical or immoral acts.  As kids grow, we have to allow them to struggle as they learn new skills so they learn that failure leads to learning and success, not that failure leads to someone stepping in to do it for them. [Read more…]

Get Support for Your Child at School

Get Support for Your Child at School

Many schools these days share that they are a “PBIS school” or that they “Use the MTSS framework” for student support.  The use of these acronyms may leave some parents feeling lost or unsure about the programs that are in place for their children at school.  It’s important to know and understand the systems your child’s school uses so you can be informed when you are asking for support.

MTSS, a commonly used system for addressing student behavior and needs, stands for Multi-Tiered Systems of Support.  In this framework, efforts to support students are divided into three categories: Tier 1 (universal supports), Tier 2 (group supports), and Tier 3 (targeted interventions).  A breakdown of these tiers is provided below:

Tier 1: Universal Supports

These are supports and expectations that are in place for all students.  One of the basic elements of this tier is having a set of clear expectations for all students that are taught and enforced in all areas of the school.  Many schools use a set of expectations like, “Be safe, be responsible, and be respectful.”  These are recommended expectations because they are easy to understand and most student work and/or behaviors would fall into these three categories if they need to be addressed.  Schools also have explanations and examples of what meeting these expectations would look like in all areas of the school, including classrooms, walkways, and the cafeteria.  Tier 1 supports may also include a school token economy or rewards system, and there may be a set of both positive and negative consequences for meeting (or not meeting) these expectations.   Approximately 80-85% of students will be successful with just tier 1 level supports and interventions. [Read more…]

Why Does My Child Need Assessments?

Why Does My Child Need Assessments?

Springtime on any school campus brings a schedule jam-packed with activities, events, celebrations, and, everyone’s favorite, standardized testing. Right at the time when students can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel, they are hit from left and right with test after test, and assessment after assessment. Some forms of standardized testing start early, even in Kindergarten or first grade. My daughter is only in first grade, and at our last parent-teacher conference, we were shown almost 2 years worth of diagnostic and assessment data about her performance. [Read more…]