#parenting teens Archives

Sep 12 2023

10 Strategies to Get Your Child Excited About Learning

Each fall most students return to school and are excited about their new grade level and teacher assignments. Some become anxious because school is challenging for them. Others may have a history of struggling to learn or functioning successfully in a classroom setting. These students need added intervention support to ensure that they will succeed in school. [Read more…]

Mary Ann Burke, Digital Education Expert

Mary Ann Burke, Ed.D., Digital Education Expert, is a substitute distance learning teacher for Oak Grove School District in San Jose, California and the author of STUDENT-ENGAGED ASSESSMENT: Strategies to Empower All Learners (Rowman & Littlefield: 2020). Dr. Burke creates digital language arts and substitute teaching K – 12 activities for teachers and parents. She is the Cofounder of the Genparenting.com blog. Burke is the former Director II of Categorical & Special Projects for the Santa Clara County Office of Education that supports 31 school districts serving 272,321 students in Santa Clara County. She is also a previous Director – State & Federal Compliance for Oakland Unified School District, the former Director – Grantwriter for the Compton Unified School District, and was the initial VISTA Director for the Community Partnership Coalition in southern California. Much of her work focuses on creating innovative digital trainings and partnership programs for teachers and families to support students’ learning. These programs were featured as a best practice at a National Title I Conference, California’s Title I Conferences, AERA Conferences, an ASCD Conference, the NASSP Conference, and statewide educator conferences.

Aug 29 2023

Recycling and Environmental Conservation

I am passionate about conserving resources and mindful recycling (or reducing waste). Each school year I want to help students become aware of what is going on around them in relevant and useful ways. My hope is for each child to connect with something that interests them as they become an advocate or steward for change and making a difference in their community.

Get Kids Excited

Initially, I get the kids excited about their learning environment by adopting a class mascot. Last year our class adopted sea otters. We learned that sea otters are important in managing sea urchins and keeping the ocean’s kelp forests healthy. Students were excited as they learned more about these topics:

Sea otters are aquatic engineers and balance harm to ocean environments.
Kelp feeds sea otters and absorbs carbon in the ocean.
Management of microplastics and single use plastics in the environment can reduce pollution.
Effective conservation strategies in the home, community, and the environment can have a significant impact on waste reduction.
Kids can make a difference in their communities.
Honey bees are important in balancing the ecosystem.

Learn About Recycling

Our end of the year project was to invent and create new objects on collage boards after collecting recycled trash at school and in neighborhoods. The students worked as teams to build a honey bee playground. They used plastic tape, food packaging, bubble wrap, cereal cups, straws, and plastic bags. As students worked on their projects, they learned it takes 20 years for a plastic bag to decompose and 200 years for a plastic straw. Now their next challenge will be to study products that can made from these byproducts. For example, I recently purchased a recycled purse made from cork and gave a friend a recycled cosmetic bag with recycled soaps.

Limit Waste

As we enter our next school year, what can students, parents, and teachers do together to limit the pollution and waste in our communities? Please share your ideas in the comments section below this blog.

Melissa Donahoe

Melissa has been an educator for over 20 years, and has spent the largest block of her teaching career in second grade, with additional experience in Grades 1 through 4.

After graduating from the University of Nevada with a Bachelor of Science Degree in education, with a dual degree in special education, Melissa traveled through Europe. Ms. Donahoe taught her first teaching assignment at a Department of Defense School in Germany. Following her husband’s military career, she also taught at a Title 1 school in Ft. Lewis, and finally landed in Silicon Valley, where she has taught for the past 16 years.

Melissa trained with the Noyce Foundation’s Writer’s Workshop. She has served as a Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) coach at her school, where she facilitated curiosity and a love for learning among her students.

Melissa developed a passion for biodiversity after visiting Monterey Bay Aquarium with her nephew. She adopted a sea otter mascot named “Loutre” and discovered her fascination with ocean health, imparting to her students the relationship between sea otters and their critical role in maintaining healthy kelp forests. Along with ocean health, Melissa inspires awareness among her students about microplastics in the environment. She is a follower of the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots program and believes that small changes at home can foster activism that leads to healthy life habits.

Melissa has a daughter who is a junior in high school and a son who is attending his second year of college at the University of Nevada.

Jun 06 2023

Long-Distance Moving with Kids

My world feels a bit upside down. Or at least sideways. I am part of the “sandwich generation,” trying to balance raising my family while caring for aging parents. My mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few years ago. In the next month, we will be moving halfway across the country to be closer to my parents.

Our family has had many conversations about the move, as we process the pros and cons of starting a new life in the Midwest. While my kids are excited about the big move, each of them has unique concerns.

Getting a Job

My oldest is excited to move close to family and already has a new job lined up. As the most extroverted of my children, his apprehensions about the move surround leaving close friends behind. It is important to help him to find ways to stay connected with old friends while he makes new ones in the coming months. We toured his new school on a recent trip to our new state, which helped him get excited about new opportunities and friendships. [Read more…]

Jo Baldwin

Jo Baldwin first considered teaching as a career in seventh grade after helping a cousin survive summer school homework. Jo’s high school English teacher also inspired her love of teaching and continues to be one of her mentors to this day. After graduating with a B.A. in English and a secondary teaching credential from Northern Illinois University, she moved to California and taught in a private secondary school and then a public middle school. Jo now spends her time homeschooling two of her children, chasing animals on her hobby farm, and writing children’s literature. She loves to travel and explore wherever life takes her, wander through used bookstores, drink strong coffee with plenty of cream, and use newly sharpened pencils. She agrees with William Butler Yeats’ viewpoint on learning: “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

www.GenParenting.com

May 23 2023

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.

9^thGrade 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…]

Phil Caposey

PJ Caposey is a dynamic speaker and a transformational leader and educator. PJ began his career as an award-winning teacher in the inner-city of Chicago and has subsequently led significant change in every administrative post he has held. PJ became a principal at the age of 28 and within three years was able to lead a small-town/rural school historically achieving near the bottom of its county to multiple national recognitions. After four years, PJ moved to his current district, Meridian CUSD 223, as superintendent and has led a similar turnaround leading to multiple national recognitions for multiple different efforts.

PJ is a best-selling author and has written 8 books for various publishers. His work and commentary has been featured on sites such as the Washington Post, NPR, CBS This Morning, ASCD, Edutopia, the Huffington Post, and was featured in a Global Leaders Forum thinkpiece alongside the likes of General Petraeus and General McChrystal. He works in the Education Department of two universities and in a myriad of capacities with the Illinois Principal’s Association including Principal Coach and author of the first complete stack of MicroCredentials offered in Illinois.

You can find him on most social media platforms with the handle @MCUSDSupe or his name PJ Caposey. His website www.pjcaposey.com also archives many speeches, blogs, podcasts, and articles for your review.