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Nov 29 2022

Safety Plans for High-Risk Kids

Safety Plans for High-Risk Kids

As our students become more anxious with home and school challenges, we find that we become fearful about their health and well-being. Some children will demonstrate their anxieties and stress by having nightmares, not eating, over-eating, sleeping too much, spending hours on screens, or isolating. As parents, it is our job to try and understand what is troubling our children and seek support when needed. We should not be afraid to ask for help. The longer we ignore or avoid a problem, the more frustrated and troubled our child may become. [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.

Written by Mary Ann Burke, Digital Education Expert · Categorized: Elementary School Parenting, Parenting Adolescents, Social-Emotional Health, Special Needs Parenting · Tagged: #parenting teens, #problem solving #parenting teens, Early Parenting, Educating children, family values, Parent Decisions, Parenting, parents as teachers, teachable moments

Nov 15 2022

Homeschool Time Management

Homeschool Time Management

Homeschool budgeting sometimes has nothing to do with math and money, but with time. Planning for the school day and year is crucial for the success and sanity of both teacher and students. At least for most of us. I have friends who are very unstructured in their homeschooling and their children seem to thrive. While I applaud them, I need a plan!

When I started homeschooling, my planning consisted of choosing curriculum and following the scope and sequence. I planned for the week and tried my best to get it done. If I didn’t, I felt like a failure.  Throughout the year, I got distracted by all the bright, shiny opportunities available. Weekly homeschool choir and drama? Ultimate frisbee? Cool field trip tomorrow? Sign the kids up and we’ll make it all work!!! [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

Written by Jo Baldwin · Categorized: Elementary School Parenting, Parenting Adolescents, Teaching successful students · Tagged: #problem solving #parenting teens, academic success, Educating children, family values, homeschool, parents as teachers, teachable moments, time managment

Nov 01 2022

Homework: A Guide to Inspire Learning 

Homework: A Guide to Inspire Learning

Last week we had our grandkids stay with us for a few days while their parents worked and traveled. Packets of homework and home learning projects were sent along with their clothing. As credentialed teachers, Grandpa and I decided that we could each focus on our strengths while guiding our grandkids to complete their assignments. I focused on language arts while Grandpa focused on math assignments. Our greatest challenge was to inspire independent problem solving while encouraging learning. [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.

Written by Mary Ann Burke, Digital Education Expert · Categorized: Elementary School Parenting, Parenting Adolescents, Secondary School Parenting, Uncategorized · Tagged: #struggling students, Academic needs, academic success, homework help, parents as teachers, teachable moments

Oct 04 2022

How to Improve Your Children’s School Successes

How to Improve Your Children’s School Successes 

As an elementary school principal, I provide guidance and resources to support our students’ social-emotional and academic successes. Our school also uses Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) to reinforce positive social behaviors and define consequences for problem behaviors. We focus on ensuring a predictable, consistent, positive, and a safe school environment for all students. By using a common language on school-wide expectations, less time is spent on discipline. More time is focused on instruction, building a positive school climate, and promoting positive interactions between staff, students, and families. [Read more…]

Rafael Zavala

Dr. Rafael Zavala became passionate about learning at an early age. As a child of farmworkers in the Salinas Valley, Rafael attended Santa Clara University for his undergraduate degree and completed Masters’ Degrees at Saint Louis University and Harvard. Most recently, Dr. Zavala completed his Ed.D. from San Jose State University.

Mr. Zavala started teaching in 2002 at Solidad Unified School District in California and later at Cambridge Public Schools and Malden Public Schools in Massachusetts. After returning to California in 2015, Dr. Zavala served in diverse administrative roles including Assistant Principal, Administrator of School Climate and Culture, and Administrator II of Personnel Services. Rafael became the Principal of Sakamoto Elementary School in San Jose, California in 2021.

A primary focus of his work is to ensure the equitable educational support services for all students by implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). Mr. Zavala firmly believes that when district and school staff collaborate to create effective tiered behavioral support strategies, students will succeed at grade level and beyond.

www.GenParenting.com

Written by Rafael Zavala · Categorized: Elementary School Parenting, Social-Emotional Health, stuggling students, Teaching successful students · Tagged: #struggling students, academic success, Educating children, parents as teachers, teachable moments

Sep 20 2022

Homeschool to Traditional Classroom

Homeschool to Traditional Classroom

As our son approached middle school, I realized that I was no longer equipped to teach him adequately in math and science.  Neither subject was enjoyable or interesting to me in middle school, except that time we took apart our science teacher’s lawn mower, cleaned it, and managed to get it running again.  He called it a unit on engines.  I think it’s called free labor.  Either way, it was memorable.  But I digress.

As seventh grade loomed around the corner for my son, I knew that I wanted someone who excelled in math and science to teach him.  I could either hire private tutors and shuttle him to those classes, or he would need to return to a traditional classroom where the teachers could handle his questions without having to google the answer.  We chose to find a school.

Since he had been homeschooled since kindergarten, I wanted the transition to a classroom to be successful, both socially and academically. I had been his primary teacher since kindergarten, and I had some educational concerns.  How would he adjust from a flexible homeschooling schedule to a traditional school day with several different teachers and formal grading?  Would we discover that he had major gaps in his learning that would prevent him from succeeding? [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

Written by Jo Baldwin · Categorized: Parenting Adolescents, Teaching successful students · Tagged: #parenting teens, academic success, Educating children, family values, homeschool, Parent Decisions, parents as teachers, teachable moments

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