GenParenting

Parenting resources for all who love and care for children

Blog

Kids’ Learning with AI

Kids’ Learning with AI

I was born in 1981, which puts me just on the cusp of generations.  I’m at the tail end of the Gen X generation by some timelines and right at the beginning of the Millennial generation on others.  Some sociologists even label people born within a few years of my birthday as Xennials, a microgeneration to mark the small and transitional period during which I was born.  Personally, I feel that the other Xennials and I got the best of both worlds.  We experienced the care-free and independent lifestyle of the Gen Xers, but I got to live my teenage years as the world shifted into the fully digital age.  This means I also have a blend of characteristics from the two generations: independent and adaptive. I am also adventurous, creative, tech-savvy, and plugged into the idea that the world is accessible to me, both in terms of information and in opportunity. [Read more…]

image_pdfmake a pdfimage_printPrint

How to Parent Challenged Students

How to Parent Challenged Students

It is the dead of winter and students are locked up in classrooms with limited time to play outside due to unrelenting wind, cold, rain, or snow. Several students are recovering from viruses and flu. Many survive boredom by spending relentless hours playing computer games and visiting with their classmates online. Teachers are challenged with students suffering from cabin fever and mild winter depression.

Effective Classroom Strategies for Home Use

Here are 10 effective classroom management strategies that teachers use to calm students. These strategies are also effective for parents to use with their children at home.

[Read more…]

image_pdfmake a pdfimage_printPrint

Help for Troubled Students

Is Your Child Disruptive at School?

Each day, we drop our kids off at school or at the bus stop hoping they have a great day. No parent wants anything bad to happen to their children or secretly hopes that their child is not causing trouble all day. No parent teaches their child to be disruptive, to break school rules, or to defy authority “just because.” But as any teacher or school employee will tell you, there are kids in our classes where it sometimes feels like this is the case. We have students who cause disruptions from the moment they walk through the front doors. For some students, even the most simple and obvious correction of behavior erupts into defiance or argument.  As a parent, when the school communicates about concerns, how do you respond? [Read more…]

image_pdfmake a pdfimage_printPrint

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…]

image_pdfmake a pdfimage_printPrint

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…]

image_pdfmake a pdfimage_printPrint