teachable moments Archives - Page 21 of 45

Nov 17 2020

Navigating Politics with Middle Schoolers

A three-part reflection series on parenting middle schoolers during the pandemic on the home front, facing political realities with pre-teens, and practical considerations regarding school re-opening.

“Mama, Mr. Williams (the Principal) is totally unfair! For the Boys’ Junior Varsity and Varsity Basketball teams, he always announces their scores the next day during morning announcements and says ‘Good job,’ or ‘Great effort,’ or ‘Congrats on the win.” But when it was the Girls’ Basketball season, he didn’t say anything during announcements! Why is it like this?!” exclaimed my upset 7^th grade daughter in January 2020.

As the rest of 2020 unfolded, it seemed there was no escaping politics – gender equality, COVID-19, racial injustice, the Presidential election and its aftermath – it’s all accessible as soon as kids turn on the tv, listen to the radio, or log-on to the computer for classes. Innocuous as it may have seemed, that incident regarding basketball announcements was my daughter’s introduction into politics. The notion that her team received unfair treatment – that the Principal treated the boys’ team differently from the girls’ team – made my daughter question how the decision was made to include boys but exclude girls. Yup! That’s politics! So how do we navigate politics in a way that is appropriate and responsible with our pre-teens? [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.

Nov 10 2020

Simplified COVID-19 Daily Life

Since school closed in March, my life is much fuller and demanding as I help my grandson, Kenji, with his online learning each day. I have made the following changes with my family to simplify life and expand my time to support my grandson:

My new schedule for online learning is now 8:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. on Monday through Friday. My daughter and I alternate supervision of my grandson’s learning based on the demands of her job.
Kenji’s mother is the primary tutor for my grandson while I provide added supervision.
Although my household chores remain the same, I am far more flexible when coordinating our cooking and cleaning needs.
My work is now scheduled in my office after 2:30 p.m. and can be challenging to complete on busy days.
Our family still limits outside shopping and outdoor play. I used to take my grandson to the farmer’s market but we no longer enjoy those play dates. Our daily walks are now in neighborhoods instead of downtown. We enjoy looking at people’s gardens instead of participating in the hustle and bustle of our downtown shopping area. With the recent California wildfires, we must now monitor air quality to ensure that we only go outside when the air is relatively healthy.
Mental health continues to be a focus for our family as we keep our spirits up with lots of play and reading.

[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.

Nov 03 2020

Jaime Koo, Mama Best Friend (MBF)

The first of a three-part reflection series on parenting middle schoolers during the pandemic on the home front, facing political realities with pre-teens, and practical considerations regarding school re-opening.

Most people are bashful when it comes to tooting their own horn, but Friends, I am really proud of this recent acknowledgement – I’ve recently been conferred with the honorary title MBF, otherwise known as “Mama Best Friend.” You see, this designation comes from the notoriously difficult, the most critical and defiant, the extremely hard-to-please individual – yes, that’s right, my 13-year-old daughter. It has taken me a lot of hard work in these 13 years to earn the title, and to be granted this distinction during the COVID-19 pandemic is both extraordinarily humbling and extremely gratifying.

What did I do to receive such an honor, you ask? Well, we’ve come a long way, my daughter and I. Allow me to provide some examples: When trying to maintain discipline and order when she was a toddler, she would commonly shriek “I hate you” or scream “You don’t love me anymore!” Once, when she was 8 years old, she got so angry that she impulsively opened the front door and ran down the street. When she was about 10 years old, I was driving my daughters to a doctor’s appointment and so did not pay attention to her demands. All of a sudden, she got enraged and started repeatedly kicking the back of my driver seat, all the while screaming “Why aren’t you listening to me?” [Read more…]

Jaime Koo, Encouraging Literacy

Oct 20 2020

Recreating COVID-19 Holidays

October is an important month in our household. My grandson, Kenji, will have a birthday in a few days. Then we have Halloween at the end of the month. My grandson typically enjoys a birthday party with friends and celebrates Halloween at a school celebration. With COVID-19, we are redefining how we will celebrate the following holidays:

We will celebrate Kenji’s birthday with a small family party. He has already received a new larger bicycle for this event. Kenji will celebrate his birthday with his aunt and uncle and a special bike ride. We will then enjoy cake and ice cream as my grandson plays with his other gifts.
Kenji will wear his Halloween costume while attending his remote classroom on Halloween. Some schools will celebrate Halloween with a car parade at the school site while students wear their costumes. Other families will celebrate with their neighborhood pod of two to three families. Several families are decorating their homes and will host a Halloween party with their children. They may also Zoom with other school families and friends.
Thanksgiving will be a challenge as we may need to leave our home for a long-awaited construction project. We are looking forward to eating a take-out Thanksgiving dinner in our hotel room.
Christmas will be celebrated with a Christmas tree, gifts, and a visit with a couple of family members.

[Read more…]

Joyce Iwasaki, Early Parenting

Sep 08 2020

Student Leaders Seek Program Development

COVID-19 Leadership Challenges for College Ready Students: Part 1 of 3

In response to protecting students from Covid-19, many colleges will not be using SAT and ACT examinations as part of the college acceptance process. Schools will continue to be challenged on how they will grade students as they rely on more distance learning assignments. Even though some students will struggle on how they will demonstrate their leadership and community service, others will pursue significant learning activities through school-based, community, and project-based learning activities. [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.