Parenting Archives - Page 13 of 29

Mar 03 2020

Helping Your Child Make Healthy Choices

Spring is a time for awakening, growth, and beautiful sunny days of blooming trees and flowers. It is also the time that our children are feeling excited about the final days of school and various spring events. We can help our children become grounded by asking them these questions:

How do you treat your friends and family?
What does your family or teacher tell you that helps you become happy and successful?
What are your accomplishments at home or school?
What is your legacy or your contribution to your family or classmates?
What type of support do you need from your family or teacher to achieve your legacy or contribution to your family or classmates?
Who has had the greatest impact on your life and how did he or she inspire you?

[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.

Feb 25 2020

Teaching and Parenting Middle Schoolers

Having taught middle schoolers for 10 years, I would say I had the privilege of experiencing and learning all about this this pre-adolescent age group even before my own children reached this stage in life. Whereas most parents would dread the middle-school-aged years, I have enjoyed and still relish my interactions with my own daughter, a 13-year-old middle-schooler. Here are some of the teaching and parenting principles that gave excellent perspective and insight for parenting my own children. [Read more…]

Jaime Koo, Encouraging Literacy

Discovering the joy of teaching while in high school, Jaime pursued her B.A. in English at Santa Clara University. She also received a teaching credential and a M.A. in Education Administration from Santa Clara University. Jaime taught English Language Arts at Rancho Middle School, motivating and inspiring young people to become effective communicators and contributors in their community. From being a Middle School English Language Arts/English Language Development teacher to becoming a stay-at home mom, Jaime is an education consultant who presents literacy workshops. Her workshops focus on a combination of her ten years of teaching expertise with tried-and-true experiences that she uses with her own children. Jaime is also a Teacher Consultant with the San Jose Area Writing Project. Jaime’s mission is to share effective reading and writing strategies with families to encourage literacy.

Feb 11 2020

Wonderful Experiences with Dad Across the Miles

Although Kinji’s dad works in Japan, my grandson thinks his relationship with his father is quite normal when he shares extended time with his father in the United States or in Japan. Between visits, their close relationship is maintained through regular FaceTime phone calls throughout the week. Ongoing phone conversations focus on:

Their daily life activities and Kinji’s new Lego creations
My grandson’s exciting adventures at school
Kenji’s participation in various afterschool programs including Karate and swimming
Math discussions on prime numbers, multiplication, and how to identify number patterns

[Read more…]

Joyce Iwasaki, Early Parenting

Joyce Iwasaki has over thirty years of educational experience working with diverse students in grades from preschool through high school. Joyce’s extensive background includes teaching elementary school, serving on early childhood advisory boards, and advocating for educational initiatives as a legislative aide. During her tenure as a legislative aide, she helped create legislation that allowed incarcerated mothers to keep their newborn babies with them while in prison. Additional legislation was enacted to allow incarcerated pregnant mothers to remain unshackled during labor and delivery. Ms. Iwasaki established and served as the president of an educational scholarship foundation for fifteen years. Her foundation awarded college scholarships to emerging student leaders who provided service to their schools and communities. Joyce is active in performing arts and cultural organizations. She also provides ongoing support to her daughter and family by raising her grandson in her home.

Feb 04 2020

Yikes! My Child Is Struggling with School

Winter report cards were just distributed and your child is struggling with various core subjects. Many parents feel overwhelmed when their child is not happy with the daily school routine. The report card may reflect many of these ongoing challenges. To clarify frustrations, consider asking your children these questions:

What frustrates you about school?
How do you get along with your teacher?
What can I do to help you succeed in the classroom?
What can you do to improve your relationship with your teacher?
What can we do at home to build your learning and resiliency skills?
How can we partner with the school to ensure your success?

[Read more…]

Mary Ann Burke, Digital Education Expert

Jan 28 2020

The Power of “No”

My daughter was always an eager, adventurous eater. Once she was old enough to be introduced to solid foods, there was no stopping the discovery of culinary delights! She slurped down noodles, chomped up her vegetables, sipped on bone-broth soups. She sampled foods from every cuisine including American, Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, Thai, and Greek. However, we started discovering that she complained about certain cookies, or Vietnamese noodles, or some but not all granola bars. Completely baffled, we asked her what was wrong with these foods and she said that they were spicy. Soon enough, she had her first ever PB&J sandwich. That’s when her face got red and swollen, her throat closed up making breathing difficult – she was experiencing an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts. [Read more…]

Jaime Koo, Encouraging Literacy