GenParenting

Parenting resources for all who love and care for children

Why Do We Lose Our Minds?

Why Do We Lose Our Minds?

Two conversations this week made me question why it is as parents that we sometimes lose our collective minds. One conversation was with the parents of a 9th grader and the other was with the parents of a 6th grader. While on different topics, there was a clear tie that interlinked these two talks.

9th Grade Student’s Academic Progress Concerns

The conversation with the 9th-grade parents was about the academic progress of their child. Their child received perfect grades in the first semester of their high school career. The parents were not excited about this, however. They were upset because when they started to plan out the courses their son would take in the 10th-grade year, their student did not want to take all Advanced or Honors classes. The parents shared that this had already led to three conversations ending in tears. I asked a direct question of the parents to understand their frustration. “Why are you upset by this?” Their answer was that their child would never receive Valedictorian or the best scholarships if they did not take the hardest courses. [Read more…]

Ten Strategies to Ensure Student Success

Ten Strategies to Ensure Student Success

Our staff met these past few weeks to reflect on the many successes that we have achieved with our students this school year. [Read more…]

College and Career Explorations

College and Career Explorations

When children are preschoolers, they love to think about what they want to be when they grow up. Some want to be garbage collectors, doctors, princesses, and athletes. Whatever career passions children relish, it is important to reinforce these interests with relevant play activities and enrichment outings to learn more about various careers. Parents can help children visualize a plan for a career opportunity by encouraging their children to:

  • Communicate with folks in specific professions.
  • Research the educational and job requirements for potential careers.
  • Participate in field trips and community activities to learn more about specific careers.
  • Attend parents’ work activities and shadow parents, colleagues, and friends to explore various careers
  • Encourage children to help at work with duplications, mailings, and computer inputting if permitted by the company.
  • Secure community service volunteer responsibilities, internships, and paid jobs.

As children enter middle school and explore various careers, they must learn how to research various college and career academic requirements to ensure that they are taking the proper courses for a specific career. They can attend career exploration days, meet with college counselors, and attend college tours to learn more about academic preparations. The more children understand the requirements for specific careers, the greater their successes will be to prepare and plan for appropriate course selections.

Early College Options

Early college, or the ability to take college courses in high school, can save thousands of dollars in educational preparations and tuition costs later. Middle school and high school students can learn more about early college by contacting their local school district to determine which high school campuses offer community college courses at the high school site. Parents and students can also contact their local community college to learn which courses high school students can register for during and after the school day. Additionally, many state and private colleges offer summer and vacation break intra-sessions on different careers including computer coding, science and math academics, performing arts, and writing workshops.

Community Service Leadership Opportunities

As part of their high school graduation requirements, most high school students are required to participate in community service activities. Some students use this time to explore careers and provide community services at elementary schools, for youth sports teams, and at various social service agencies. During summer breaks, students may participate in an international business program or cultural exchange program in another country. Other students work at summer jobs or internships to learn about merchandising, computer coding, and legislative support services for a local legislator.

Much success supporting your children’s school leadership and career planning options.

Consider Children’s Needs for School Choice

Consider Your Children’s Needs for School Choice

When considering different school options, you can ask yourself the following questions about your child or collectively about your children:

  • What is my child’s personality type?
  • Does she prefer playing or socializing in small groups, large groups, or by herself?
  • Does she like to lead a group in various activities?
  • Would she prefer to watch others and then follow in small group play and socialization activities?
  • Is she easily frustrated when playing and socializing with others?
  • Does she get angry when things do not go her way?
  • What are her favorite activities?
  • Does she prefer outside or thinking types of activities?
  • Does she prefer paper and pencil activities or large muscle and interactive activities?
  • Would she learn best by reading with you, listening, or watching others?
  • What are her academic experiences?
  • Does she recognize letters and letter combination sounds?
  • Has she exhibited other pre-reading or reading skills?
  • How does she apply number sense in everyday activities?
  • What has the teacher said about her social, emotional, and learning skill development?
  • What concerns do you have about her academic success and learning challenges?

[Read more…]

What Does an Engaged Classroom Look Like?

What Does an Engaged Classroom Look Like?

This post is sixth of a series based on excepts from my book on Student-Engaged Assessment: Strategies to Empower All Learners by Laura Greenstein and Mary Ann Burke (2020). You can purchase the book from Roman and Littlefield for charts, examples, and worksheets on how to engage students to become owners of their learning successes.

How to Create Learning Goals from Academic Standards

In the classroom, clear and actionable goals are a good start to supporting student learning. Students can then deconstruct standards and big picture goals into their own individual learning aims and intentions. The level of challenge must be feasible for the students. If the goals are too easy, students will get bored and complete their assignment quickly. If the goals are too hard, students become discouraged leading to low-quality outcomes, or none at all. [Read more…]