Read Between the Lines: Developing a Culture of Reading

Developing a culture of reading at home and at school is going to be a game changer for students this school year. Teaching reading in content areas boosts overall confidence and performance. As we master reading skills and strategies, we become strong readers. We are also empowered to become more independent learners. We're equipped to solve novel problems and address age-old issues.

Did you know?

• The average U.S. citizen spends only 16-minutes a day reading outside school and work; down from 22-minutes in 2005.
• People age 20 to 34 read the least outside school and work: 6-minutes a day.
• People age 75 and older read the most: 51-minutes a day.

Apparently, with wisdom comes the uncanny tendency to appreciate and engage with the wealth of knowledge at our finger tips. This post outlines strategies for developing a culture of reading, so we can outperform yesteryear versions of ourselves.

Getting Started

• Research shows that independent reading can improve student achievement in language arts and other content areas. Let's begin with book choice. We want to teach students how to choose appropriate books. In addition to choosing interesting books, they need to understand how to assess text complexity. Is the book on grade level? Is the book below a student's reading capabilities? Explicit instruction on Lexile measures, grade level AR measures, DRA reading levels, or other relevant reading measurements is paramount.

• I usually find myself reading in the same place. On occasion, change of scenery is necessary. Maybe I'll read in a restaurant or near the reservoir in my car. (I hate bugs!) It's not uncommon to wake up feeling different. Just as we enjoy the freedom to express ourselves differently, to behave differently, it's important to make room for flexibility in learning environments. We want to afford students similar flexibility. Yes, this includes flexible seating for reading. Click here for flexible seating ideas for home and school.

• Success is in your routine. In setting a routine for independent reading time, start small. Situate reading time in the middle of the day, class, or block. Reading shouldn't feel like a punishment nor an after thought. Students are best poised to be intentional when we're intentional about constructing learning opportunities. It's not necessary to write answers to comprehension questions during every scheduled reading. In this way, we promote love of reading. (Or, is it love for reading?)

Reading Pedagogy

• When facilitating student transition from reading to learn... to learning to read, assessment comes first. Assessments, tests, exams. Oh my! Do these words make you cringe? Only in a fantasy world are we able to get on with the business of providing effect reading instruction without making time for meaningful assessment. Since we know how much reading counts, it's important to concretize the gap between where students stand and growth expectations. Assessment results give us information needed to draft effective reading action plans. The best plans inform instruction, goal-setting, and feedback via student reading log and student engagement inventory (here's another inventory).

• To remain engaged students must see incremental improvements in their own performance, so we have to design learning experiences that yield quantitative results. Several web-based reading assessment programs offer individualized reading options and performance data. Reading journal prompts yield qualitative results and insight into the mind of the reader. One cool way to take this approach up a notch is by placing sticky notes with questions about the text inside the book. Also, consider impromptu verbal questioning throughout the day to infuse reading and comprehension skill into everyday life.

• Cooperative goal setting involves getting buy-in. Student patterns reveal opportunities to improve reading engagement (e.g., resisting distraction, choosing appropriate texts, increasing stamina) and strengthen comprehension performance (e.g., building vocabulary, leveraging textual evidence, thinking beyond literal meaning). Let's aim for several small victories over time. Armed with relevant samples of student work and performance data, schedule 5 to 10-minute goal-setting conferences to get students on board with setting smart goals via questioning. Consider writing a goal card (maybe used as a bookmark) as a reminder for the student. See deconstructed sample goals here. (Read one educator's experience with setting smart goals with her students here.) 

Raising Readers

• Reading goals are most impactful when teachers provide ongoing, real-time feedback. It's worth noting that reading support strategies are different than reading feedback strategies. Reading support may involve strengthening phonemic and phonological awareness skills (e.g., sounding out words); whereas reading feedback involves praising student ability to attempt to sound out words before asking for help. Another example of support involves providing additional context to drive home word meaning; in a similar case, feedback would involve commenting on a student's use of an online dictionary to independently make sense of an unfamiliar concept.

• When setting reading goals for learners and planning instructional supports, think about the nonverbals. How does engaged reading look? What does a focused person look like? How do we respond to the environment when we're immersed in a text? Whatever your answers, it's important that you're not just observing students, that you're also modeling reading engagement during student reading times. Young people do what we do, not what we say.

• Student motivation to read is linked to both enjoyment and perception of growth.(I advocate facilitating the transition from external to intrinsic motivation, so the end goal would be that more emphasis is on reading for understanding than on reading to demonstrate understanding. Still, this is a different conversation that I'll likely address in a future blog post; you're invited to share your experiences and thoughts on this distinction.) Dissect the difference between student perception of growth and actual growth; keenness in this area is key to addressing low reading motivation.

I'd love to be a resource as you work to develop a culture of reading. Schedule professional coaching for yourself and private tutoring for your student by visiting je411.com. You're also invited to keep the conversation going by sharing this content, leaving a comment, and clapping back in a guest blog submission.

Back-to-School Secrets You Need Now

My clients learned a lot last school year: accomplished goals, demonstrated mastery, passed exams, earned promotions, increased engagement. I also learned a lot by joining forces with clients to help them confidently transition into more challenging environments. I've served as a coach, consultant, private tutor, and trainer. This year has been my most exciting and productive one yet.

My educators developed skills to reach more students and earn better pay. My students overcame the stress of high stakes learning environments to earn more credits and complete degrees. My adult clients achieved the personal and professional growth necessary to secure higher paying jobs and launch business ventures. My parents stayed the course in dealing with the challenges of children's learning disabilities and behavioral challenges. This post highlights one way educators, learners and their families can make the most of summer months.

Education Professionals
Self-care is the back-to-school secret for education professionals. Your commitment to self-care is inextricably linked to taking your role as an administrator, counselor, educator, or support staff member seriously. What do you enjoy doing? Which activities protect your peace? How do you re-energize? Really think about your answers to these questions. Write them down.

Now, check your calendar. How many of the things from your list are on your calendar? More than half? Less than half? All? None? Is your summer schedule just as hectic as it is during the school year because you're busy pouring into other people, wearing hats that actually belong to them (e.g., chauffeur, housekeeper, babysitter)?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with helping out family or friends in need. Kudos to you for being self-less. However... you thank me for this reminder by November if you analyze your schedule for opportunities to spend time with yourself. Get to know the new you. Read books. Listen to audiobooks. Write a book. Start the side hustle you've been mulling over. Take the trip you've been planning in your head. Do something for you every single day of the summer!

Adult Students
Establishing new habits is the back-to-school secret for adult students. Planning to be enrolled in classes during Fall Semester? On break for the summer? This is the time to establish new habits. The top two reasons students fail involve wrong people and wrong time.

Time management is a big one. Procrastination causes us to earn fewer points on assignments and exams. When we don't use our time wisely, when we set a schedule and fail to stick to it (or worse, when don't bother to plan at all), we forgo opportunities to develop deep understanding of content.

Avoiding peer pressure to engage in unproductive activities is the common approach to avoiding the wrong people. Another approach involves protecting our time and energy so as not to invest in others when we should be investing in ourselves. Some study groups may not be beneficial for you. In life, we want to give more; in study groups, we want to our gifts to be matched. Everyone must bring value to the table, or you're at the wrong table.

Parents and Caregivers
Investigating last year's pitfalls is the back-to-school secret for parents and caregivers of school age children. Last year's pitfalls include un-mastered content. What are your child's weak areas? Math is too general a response. Could he divide fractions, perform long division using decimal numbers, solve capacity conversion items, translate phrases to algebraic expressions? Reading is too general a response. Did she master the concept of theme, main idea, inference, summarizing? Is she weak in fluency, vocabulary, text complexity?

This high level of understanding of your child's (or children's) learning challenges comes from spending time with performance data. Studying last year's online grade book and testing reports, flipping through newsletters and graded papers, having candid and low-stakes conversations with students.

Parental engagement is one of the most important determining factors of student success. Stack the deck in your child's favor by addressing achievement gaps over the summer. Fall semester will be easier, family relationships will improve.

Every day counts. Every hour counts. If you commit to adopting the recommendation for your demographic, starting the new year will be easy peasy. If you struggle with commitment and accountability, if you're not sure where to begin in implementing the back-to-school secrets, then working with a professional ensures success over the short-run. You don't have to go it alone. Visit the website to learn about how I help clients confidently transition into more challenging environments.

You're invited to keep the conversation by sharing how you plan to make the most of summer months in the comments. Guest submissions welcome as well.

Equanimity Update: Student behavior goals

Can you believe it's already April?! Here in Jackson, Mississippi, spring isn't in full swing yet. Still, it's nice to have more sunlight and warmer days. It's also exciting to bring this semester to a close. I'm eager to see my clients' hard work manifest as higher scores, better grades, improved performance, and greater confidence.

What is equanimity anyway?

Recall, our working definition of equanimity: a noun that expresses what it means to experience life events with mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper - especially in difficult situations. Prior to writing January's blog, I studied the work of Dr. Tara Brach which highlights the restorative health benefits of learning how to sit in uncomfortable situations.

In reflecting on the concept of equanimity as it applies to professional development, I've spent a lot of time reviewing The Year of Equanimity in Education blog post.

1. Have I purposefully stood with children or left them to their own devices?
2. Did I recognize root causes of misbehavior or punish students who lack skills I haven't taught?
3. Am I accepting learners as they are or judging unorthodox pleas for support?

As oppose to shining a light on the bright moments, it's more effect to unpack the cloudy ones.We want to finish this semester stronger than we began, so I challenge you to write about one situation when you missed the mark. Sit with this exercise long enough to uncover one example for each question.

Here's my truth moment.

A student experienced three melt-downs in an hour. He is a lower elementary client with severe behavior challenges; self-control often requires more effort than he can muster.

The task was to write interrogative (asking) sentences. Given his history, I anticipated the task would be a challenge. His initial resistance was expected, so I left him to his own devices. The expectation was that he'd struggle as he'd done before, write the sentences, and we'd move on. So much for expectations...

The first scaffold involved writing asking words on the whiteboard; these are words we use to begin asking sentences. Still, the student opted to start sentences using his own words even after reviewing our list of asking words a few times. Surprisingly, this support failed miserably as well.

Via questioning, I learned that the student wanted to write declarative (telling) sentences instead of asking sentences. I smiled, said I understood, and confirmed that we had to write the asking sentences to move on; this response escalated the situation to self-harm. I was flabbergasted and hurt for him.

My spirit of perseverance took over. We were going to finish writing these six (or seven) sentences. Today. So, I dug deeper.

As I'm brainstorming strategies to end the session on a high note, he's throwing writing utensils, crying loudly, and kicking on the floor. The noise and distractions made it difficult to think, so I picked him up and sat him on my knee. He fought and struggled. I wrapped my arms around him and rocked him. I'm not sure why; I'd never done this before with a client. But, it worked.

He quieted himself during this time and his breathing returned to normal. I read over a document, and we remained in this position until he asked to write the interrogative sentences. Go figure!

I was pleased that he eventually completed the task. It wasn't good enough to complete the task. Next time, we'd need to complete the task within a much shorter time period.

Here's how I plan to end stronger.

Days later, the potential of a similar challenge swelled under the surface as we learned to sort spelling words in ABC order. I promised to end the session if he didn't choose to stay on task. Immediately, he cried that he wanted to stay and finish his homework. (My heart melted.)

I decided to incorporated my trusty star system to keep the student mindful of his behavior. He'd earn a star for unproductive behaviors. Three stars signaled the session would end. This client also had the opportunity to get rid of stars by choosing one of a few productive behaviors I'd explained and modeled for him.

Deep down students want to learn; they also want to demonstrate mastery. During our most recent session, the same client struggled with self-control and didn't give up on the task at hand. I was so excited for him, and his huge smile showed proof he was proud too.

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You're invited to clap back in a guest post, share feedback privately, and invite me to facilitate your next educator or parent training. Academic and character development training opportunities available. Schedule today: je411.com/schedule.

The Year of Equanimity in Education?

The beginning of each new year prompts many of us to reflect on trials and triumphs of previous years. Maybe you passed a test that's been holding you back at work? Or, you overcame a challenging personal situation? During reflection, it's also common to choose a new way of being, a new way of interacting with the world around us. If you're into making New Year's Resolutions, consider adding equanimity to the list.

Before last month, I'm pretty sure I had never heard nor seen the word: equanimity. If it's not already part of your vocabulary, I'm excited to share what I've recently learned: equanimity is a noun that expresses what it means to experience life events with mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper - especially in difficult situations.

Though this isn't a new concept, I enjoy learning new words to better articulate goals, to keep my cup full. Educators and parents are charged with the responsibility of facilitating positive change in learners, so we have to wake up and show up with a mindset that is ready for everything all the time.

I'm talking about changing behaviors and changing performance. Practicing mindfulness happens to be an effective strategy for coping with the expectation that we feel to do it all; it's a strategy for adjusting when a wheel falls off the wagon and the neatly placed pieces of our lives become strewn all over the place.

Curiouser and Curiouser

It was the definition of mindfulness I mentioned initially that pulled me to 'equanimity'. I wanted to learn more. Then, the more I learned, the more I wanted to introduce this concept to educators and parents.

During my Character and Content training, I talk about an instructional strategy we call incidental feedback. In short, incidental feedback may be described as our unprepared responses to students. Giving this idea a fancy name makes it easy to discuss, but educators and parents give incidental feedback to children. The language we choose when responding to them influences character development which influences learning outcomes. So, the gears in my brain began to turn...

Tara Brach defines equanimity as a heart that's ready for anything. (I love it!) Dr. Brach is a  psychologist who's approach to living a more positive life combines Western science with Eastern principles. She gave a talk that's available on YouTube (video below) that takes listeners deep into what it means to embody equanimity. She also highlights the restorative health benefits associated with building affect tolerance, learning how to sit in uncomfortable situations, giving ourselves space to have an open focus - as oppose a narrow focus.

When you think about an open focus, consider how much more effective people could be as educators, as parents, if we created space to brainstorm the best solutions even under pressure. How could we use this super power to improve our relationships with young people, with colleagues and family? How has unawareness, lack of mindfulness influenced student performance?

When we lack mindfulness, when we aren't intentional about abandoning the visceral responses and underlying thought processes that prompt us to react rashly toward others... students suffer.

It doesn't have to be this way. Dr. Brach gives us three elements of mindfulness: purpose, recognition, and acceptance. Adopting these elements requires rewiring of the brain; we're learning a new skill. As with any significant positive change in our lives, it's imperative to embrace the process. Think journey, not destination. We can move through the three elements via what Brach calls Duck Meditation; play the video to hear her simple yet powerful explanation of the origin of the name of this exercise.

P.R.A. or Pretend

There are times when I find myself facing resistance from a client. It's mind-boggling that people will invest in a service, seek advice from a professional with a proven track record... and not follow through. I'm equally puzzled that the value of free K-12 education seems undervalued (or inaccessible depending on the student). There's a disconnect.

Effective teaching and tutoring involve leveraging character development to affect cognitive development, and dealing with unproductive emotions is an unavoidable responsibility of educators and parents alike. Students' unproductive emotions have the potential to incite the same in us. When chaos spins out of control in the classroom or at home, it's contagious. If we aren't intentional, we may find ourselves sucked up in the tornado.

As we seek strategies to deescalate misbehavior or cope with uncomfortable circumstances, there's an important choice to make: P.R.A. or pretend.

1. Will we purposefully stand with children, seek help to get them through difficult circumstances... or will we leave children to their own devices, pass the buck for someone else to initiate intervention? 
2. Will we recognize the misbehavior or root cause of an issue... or will we blame and punish students for not having learned skills we haven't taught?
3. Will we accept learners as they are, where they are while supporting their growth... or will we judge and dismiss unorthodox pleas for love and support?

These are the questions I've reflected on since discovering Dr. Brach's work, and I hope you will too. When embracing equanimity, we position ourselves to become better leaders in our communities, classrooms, and homes.

You're invited to clap back in a guest post, share feedback privately, and come back to read about my equanimity journey.

Happy New Year!

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I'd love to facilitate your next educator or parent training.
Schedule today: je411.com/grit. 

Couponing for a Cause: Improving math skill with real world experiences

Before we begin this post, I have to make a confession: prior to writing couponing blogs and becoming a stay-at-home mom (now a homeschooling mom as well), I was a math teacher. A middle school math teacher. Yes. I know... quite terrifying. And you know what? I loved it.

Teaching math is my passion. It's so much a part of me, that when I began taking advantage of couponing deals, all I could think about was how valuable the experience would've been for my middle school students during my teaching days. You see, couponing hacks are all rooted in math. 

If you want to learn more about how to coupon, check out my FREE ebook that offers couponing basics for beginners. This couponing guide teaches readers how to invest 20 minutes a week and save hundreds of dollars a year on groceries. 

Below are six reasons it's worth the effort for math teachers to join the couponing community.

Fractions
Ratios, proportions, and unit price may all be written as fractions. In order to solve these kinds of problems (during a test and in the real world), we need to have a basic understanding of the properties of fractions. This can be challenging for many students, because understanding fractions requires us to generate a mental model of fractions operations. If fractions is a pain point for the students in your life, make fractions operations  more tangible through couponing.

Adding and Subtracting Decimals
When working with money, two places after the decimal represent cents (a fraction of a dollar). If an item costs $1.99, and the coupon takes off $1, it doesn’t make sense that the item would now cost $1.98. Lining up the decimal places when you add and subtract makes a lot more sense when you do it with money!


Unit Conversions
Couponing requires understanding of unit price. When you are trying to find unit price, items price labels may show different measurements. For instance, one bottle of soda gives volume in ounces but another shows volume in liters. In this case, couponers (and students) need to tap into their math skills to convert between the two units. A different example of unit conversions involves tripling the serving size of a recipe. Instead of purchasing 21 Tbsp of a grocery item, it may be necessary to convert this amount into cups.

Percentages
A coupon or sale may provide for a certain percentage off the price of a certain item. Couponing teaching learners to calculate discounts in this way: students learn how to determine the resulting price after taking 25% off a certain amount. Why use percentages worksheets, when couponing gives real world experiences? Would you learn more from percentages word problems or saving cold hard cash in real life? Calculating discounts and sales tax are opportunities to solve multi-step mixed operations with whole numbers and decimal numbers.

Ratios, Proportions, and Unit Price
As couponers, we're always after the best deal. If six rolls of toilet paper cost $3, and eight rolls of toilet paper cost $3.50, which is the better deal? You have to brake it down into how much one roll costs with each deal. This involves using proportions to find the rate in price per roll, which is the unit price.


Greater than, less than, or equal to
An app called Flipp scans grocery stores near you. Searching the app shows the cost of grapes at different stores, for example. This feature of the app provides an opportunity to defend decisions about which store has the best deal. This approach is especially useful for comparing decimals.

There are many ways that coupons can help children master math standards; these are six important approaches to improving math skill with real world experiences. If you have other ideas, or you just want to share how you were able to use these tips, I would love to hear about them. 

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Tiffany Thomas is a former math teacher and SAHM who loves finding good deals! She and her husband launched The Crazy Shopping Cart. They enjoy spending time with family, geeking out over sci-fi, and saving money.

#JEsupport is a #BizChampion

I have really BIG news to share this month. At the end of 2017, I set a new blog schedule. Since my commitments to clients, health, and home life kept me from blogging as much I would've liked last year, I decided to write less often this year.

Interestingly in December, I was moved to write my second book, Cultivating Grit: An approach to increasing confidence. This project required quite a bit of writing (editing and revision) to complete. Still, I re-affirmed the agreement with myself to post blogs bi-monthly (instead of keeping the monthly schedule from before going on hiatus). I expected to smash the goal of writing only six blog posts in 2018. Well, so much for that plan...

This isn't the rant of an unappreciative soul. It's exactly the opposite. I've been nearly bursting at the seams lately. Until a few days ago, I was unable to share this amazing news.

Jackson Education Support has been named a 2018 American Small Business Champion by SCORE, the nation’s largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors, with the support of Sam’s Club. We are so proud of this national recognition for our dedication to the success of our small business. Thank you for supporting the education firm and blog over the years and for helping us to achieve this distinction. This would not have been possible without YOU!

SCORE is rewarding us with a trip to a networking and training symposium, publicity and business mentoring. This summer, a judging panel of small business experts will select three Grand Champions from the group of 102 Small Business Champions, to be announced September 13 at the SCORE Awards Gala.

Jackson Education Support (JE) exists to support the development of more independent learners of all ages. This mission is accomplished by implementing personalized in-person and online solutions for individuals and organizations. Our approach is unique because we leverage character development to affect cognitive development. We infuse social emotional learning objectives and subject area learning objectives in order to increase confidence and improve performance. What's more is that our 96% success rate evidences program effectiveness.

I launched JE in 2012. That's nearly six years of invaluable professional and personal growth. Still, supporting the learning goals of clients and team members doesn't feel like work. An opportunity for growth accompanies each new challenge. Actually, the fun is in the challenge.

A Word from SCORE CEO & Sam's Club VP

"SCORE congratulates and celebrates these 102 American Small Business Champions, who represent some of the best small businesses in America,” said SCORE CEO Ken Yancey. “We are proud to reward these passionate and hardworking entrepreneurs...”

"Supporting entrepreneurs has been a part of who we are for nearly 35 years," said Tracey D. Brown, Senior Vice President of Operations and Chief Experience Officer at Sam's Club. "...The 102 winners celebrated through the American Small Business Championship are excellent examples of how innovation, persistence and knowing your customers can help an entrepreneur overcome obstacles and we congratulate them on their accomplishments.”

A Special Thank You for the JE Community

I would like to thank YOU for your continued support. We appreciate the opportunity to build relationships and broaden our impact on academic and character development outcomes. Jackson Education Support is committed to enriching our local and global community, and we look forward to many successful years ahead.

Specialty areas include character development, literacy, math, and science. We develop in-person and online solutions for educators, families, and learners globally. Read feedback and learn more by visiting je411.com. You're also invited to connect with us on social media!

                     

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To learn more about The American Small Business Championship

and to view the complete list of Champions, visit www.championship.score.org.

Educational Support: Shaping My Future

I am young enough to recall specific pivotal moments in life that influenced personal choices along my professional path. Yet, I am old enough to reflect on how those moments served as a springboard during my journey. 

Formal education was rocky for me in the beginning. School was not easy. I, like many children who have trouble learning, deflected by misbehaving.  I remember being labeled by teachers and other adults; my self-esteem shrank.  I vividly remember the pain these labels caused.

Fortunately, a fourth grade teacher saw past the superficial and encouraged me.  At first, I applied myself simply because I wanted to please her.  Oh, how I yearned for more positive reinforcement. I became attentive in school and soon found I no longer had a desire to misbehave.   My grades improved, and I passed to the next grade instead of being held back as others had predicted. Eventually, I embraced my mother's love of reading. I viewed books as an escape from reality. I read everything - whether age-appropriate or not - to my mother's chagrin. My mother encouraged reading by purchasing books and newsletters within her limited budget. When I was of age, I registered for a library card at local library. The more I read, the more curious I became about the world and what it had to offer.  I would - and continue to - get lost in books.  

I also received encouragement from my grandmother to do well in school.  Due to her limited 2nd grade education, she could not offer assistance with homework, but she offered support. My grandmother purchased school supplies and attended every school award ceremony. This was no small feat because my grandmother had serious health issues; it took Herculean effort for her to be present.  Later in life, I understood the value of my grandmother's support and encouragement, the value of seeing her in the audience as I accepted an academic award.  Believe me when I say this: I scanned the audience until I found her beautiful face!  Even then, I knew that disappointing her was not an option. She made sure that I had an opportunity to have what she was denied. I was motivated to strive toward her expectations.

Yet another teacher took an interest in me and went beyond the call of duty by exposing me to museums, art galleries and higher education. She would often spend Saturdays with me at Cambridge Commons and Harvard Square "teaching" in a way that many classrooms preclude.  Because of her, I experienced the classroom of life outside of my neighborhood school. This stoked the flames that had arisen from reading.  

Due to the encouragement, exposure to unfamiliar experiences, and educational support received, I developed the self-confidence needed to overcome (what I believe was) an undiagnosed learning disability. Educational support was vital to propping me up so that I could achieve successes and persevere in the face of failures. We know that failures are part of life, but students have to experience success. A record of success is the foundation which fosters the wherewithal to power through obstacles, to once again relish the sweet taste of success. 

Without educational support, my life could have been very different. For these reasons, I am so thankful for a structured educational services provider like Jackson Education Support. This firm provides the  encouragement, exposure, and academic support needed to build self-esteem and promote success among students and citizens. 

Don't let your child's natural-born flame to learn be extinguished. Contact Jackson Education Support to foster your child's life-long love of learning.

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A very special thanks goes to
guest blogger, Mrs. Pamala Feehan.
Pamala is a wife, mother, grandmother, and entrepreneur.
She has experiences as an instructor and director in academia.

Cure Unmotivated Readers

We know the benefits of reading, so let's challenge ourselves to make reading a fun experience for learners. If something is fun, adults are more likely to do it... So, why wouldn't this be true for children as well?

Though unequivocal differences exist, adults and children learn in similar ways. Both groups must experience motivation to learn. Whereas adults are more motivated by responsibility to family and career, young readers are almost entirely driven by intrinsic motivation. This refers to the "WHY" behind what we do and how we do it.

Read with purpose.

Setting explicit goals is one way to promote intrinsic motivation. Though effecting intrinsic (or individual) motivation seems a futile endeavor, research on human nature helps us create goals whereby learners choose to do the "heavy lifting". 

Bringing your child's reading goals into focus is well worth the effort. Get to know the child. Learn what drives them to take action. Keep reading to learn how...

Bring goals into focus.
Jeremy's teacher suggests that he read more often to build vocabulary and improve comprehension. Following a conversation with Jeremy, you learn he likes cars. He likes custom cars with "pimped out" add-ons, engines, and paint jobs. Your first thought is to buy a book about "pimped out" cars, and wait for his grades to improve.

However, a more effective approach involves setting explicit reading goals whereby Jeremy has input, attainment is uncertain, and short-term tasks are identified. To facilitate intrinsic motivation, these three criteria are integral:

1. Involve the student.
2. Ensure goals are not too easy and not too hard.
3. Develop a hierarchical plan with phases.

What do we know about human nature?

Learners are more likely to take ownership of a project if they have a say in how it unfolds. This first criteria is straightforward. However, we don't want to release children to their own devices without providing guidance.

Guidance with setting goals should be data-driven. That's to say, parents and educators want to examine performance data and set a goal that's neither too hard nor too easy. Human nature prompts us to avoid overly difficult and ridiculously easy tasks. The brain wants to solve a problem or resolve inconsistencies. As such, goal attainment should be probable, yet uncertain in order to achieve optimal levels of intrinsic motivation.

We're also hard-wired for immediate gratification. Since development of reading skill is a life-long process, we increase intrinsic motivation to read by emphasizing the short-term. An ideal approach leverages hierarchical goal systems to demonstrate how short-term tasks relate to a long-term goal. In this way, children visualize how puzzle pieces fit together to form the bigger picture.

How do we leverage goal-setting to make reading fun?

Jeremy's explicit reading goals as reported by the classroom teacher are to (a) build vocabulary and (b) improve comprehension. These are long-term goals. Let's transform the second goal into one that makes learning fun: improve comprehension.

First, we need input from Jeremy. What are Jeremy's ideas for building vocabulary? Depending on his age, he may have little to offer initially. Don't fret. Do research. Ask Jeremy to offer feedback on comprehension practice completed in class; observe his behavior at home for clues about activities that keep his attention.

Let's say Jeremy likes drawing or computer activities, so you challenge him to make comic strips that summarize each chapter of Cars on the Move. With this approach, Jeremy looks forward to reading about an enjoyable topic and drawing comic strips or building them online.

To recap... 

1. We involved Jeremy in developing an explicit, reading comprehension goal. 
2. Since he has the skill (but has not produced comic strips as summaries), it's reasonable to conclude attainment is uncertain. 
3. Comic strips are to be created for each chapter (rather than after reading the 24-page book), so we addressed the need for instant gratification. 

As with implementing any plan of action, remain flexible. Adjust. You may find it's better to create one comic strip frame every few pages. It may be ideal to switch from creating digital comic strips to drawing them by hand. Jeremy may suggest a different summary activity altogether.

Jackson Education Support promotes intrinsic motivation by involving students in setting challenging goals. Personalized learning plans leverage student interests to improve academic performance.

Access a more recently peer-reviewed publication on this topic here.

Plan For a Successful Year

This time of year, New Year's resolutions are a common topic of conversation. Many resolve to make better decisions. Commonly, resolutions involve establishing healthier lifestyles, finishing a few good books, spending more (or less) time with family and friends, completing an education or training program, or saving for the future. As we learn, we should do things differently... right? This cross-cultural colloquialism rings true to education approaches and, more importantly, to learning. Who can argue with Dr. Angelou?

Today's post is intended to encourage and inspire readers to reclaim your time in 2016.  Emphasis is on identifying and resolving ineffective parental engagement, instructional, and learning strategies by taking a closer look at your success plan.

Generally, successful people have schedules. These tools make the best use of time and prioritize chaos. With my parents and kids (not my biological parents and kids, but my clients) I've experienced a common phenomenon: though many have adopted some sort of schedule to balance curriculars, extracurriculars, and family time... schedule disruptions are a challenge. I struggle with this as well!

In light of Murphy's Law - if anything can go wrong, it will - keeping lists of tasks, events, meetings, people, and research topics is essential. Getting organized helps us respond to scheduling challenges more effectively; they work hand-in-hand.  Setting a schedule and adopting an organization structure help families recover from the emergencies and tempting opportunities that hijack our lives.

Organization that works: Schedule time to review your schedule and growing lists of tasks, events, etc. During the process, consider questions like these...

1. Is this event scheduled next quarter or next year?
2. What's keeping me from connecting with Mr. X?
3. How can I adjust to make progress on research topics?

Plan: First, update the schedule of events after reaching out to schools, teachers, parent organizations, social and athletic club sponsors, or educational service organizations. You may have missed that too-good-to-miss event, but nothing's stopping you from making next year's program.

Connect: Start making calls and drafting emails. Plan these activities outside of peak times when people are more likely to respond or make themselves available. For instance, it's best to connect with classroom teachers during the 2nd and 6th weeks of a 9-week period; they are more likely to have student data that you can leverage before it's too late in the term. Waiting until the week before midterms and final exams to access information on your child's performance has one primary challenge: teachers are more stressed. This isn't an infallible solution, but it's a good way to build a partnership. If you've tried these and experienced little success, show up. Consider other avenues leading to the same result. The take-home point here is to avoid derailment by remaining persistent and taking action early on.

Research: This is the first task to lose rank in the list of priorities. Parents forgo researching summer programs only to learn that enrollment for the-program-of-the-summer has a waiting list by the middle of Spring semester. Educators who forgo researching professional development opportunities early on become frustrated as deadlines pass and waiting lists grow. It's easy, in our fast-paced society, to favor immediate gratification over investing time and effort into researching effective and expedient ways to accomplish goals. To avoid this trap, schedule time to review your schedule... Yes, schedule time to review your schedule. Maintaining electronic schedules makes for easy implementation of these suggestions, because you have an editable record of what you've done, notes on how things went, and plans for the future. Use this data to make better decisions.

Jackson Education Support helps learners and families tweak organization structures and schedules related to improving academic performance, increasing confidence, and moving into more challenging environments. Personalized learning plans are developed to get clients on track - and revised to keep them on track - toward achieving short- and long-term goals. Learning plans involve varying degrees of parental involvement based on client need and family dynamic.

If you'd like to work with an educational support professional to make better decisions this year, schedule a free consult here.

Multisensory Practice During Winter Break

Of course you want your kids to have time off during Winter Break. But, their brains don’t have to go to mush just because they’re on a break from school. And, you still have to find things for them to do during break to keep them happily occupied.

Try a few new multisensory practice ideas each day to work on particularly tricky spelling words or math facts with your student. Pick one to three particularly tricky math facts or your child’s personal spelling demons to work on each day. Try lots of different multisensory practice strategies to practice throughout the day. Who knows, you might just find some new practice strategies that work well for your child when they head back to school that will make learning more fun. For all these activities, monitor to make sure your child is practicing with accuracy.

For kinesthetic learners, try practicing spelling words or math facts while jumping on a mini-trampoline, jumping rope, balancing on one foot, or tossing a Koosh ball. Try to keep a balloon aloft and recall one tricky math fact between each time you touch the balloon.

Tap into your child’s craft interests by having them write their spelling word or math fact out in neat large letters on an index card. Then, have them trace over the letters with glue and let it dry to create a smooth raised surface to trace over later. Do it again. But this time, put yarn over the glue for a different surface. Another time, sprinkle on sand or glitter to create a different tactile surface. Once these dry, use them to trace over with their finger for tactile reinforcement on another day.

Tactile learners also do well with tracing the spelling word or math fact on various tactile surfaces with their finger such as carpet, sandpaper, silk, fake fur, corduroy, velvet, their arm or leg, or even the tabletop.

Try building the word or math fact with Wiki Stix. Or, roll ropes of non-air-drying clay, and spell words or build math facts with the clay ropes. Consider modeling the dictionary definition of the word in three dimensions to go along with the clay rope 2D model.

For more visual learners, have your child pretend they have a white board just above and in front of their forehead and have them visualize writing their word on their mental white board. Encourage them to use different colors to emphasize particularly tricky parts of the word. Have them spell the word to you reading it off their mental white board. Then have them tell you what specific letters you designate are such as the third letter, or last letter, or middle two letters, or any other part of word by visualizing the spelling on their mental white board. Always end with having them spell through it front to back one final time before they’re done.

Write out the spelling word in large letters and then decorate the word with fun images that provide useful memory hooks.

Create a mini-story that goes along with your math fact and illustrate it.

In addition to enjoying fun multisensory practice strategies, many online programs such as those offered by Wings to Soar Online Academy in our Custom Path to Success Learning Plans sneak a lot of learning into activities that are actually a lot of fun. Our students enjoy working in programs such as Lexia, Headsprout, and Nessy to build their reading and spelling skills. 

Sign up for your FREE Just-Right Level Assessments to properly place your student and begin a FREE 2-week trial at JustRightLevel.com.

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A very special thanks for this contribution goes to guest blogger, Beth Ellen Nash, 

Intervention Specialist with Wings to Soar Online Academy 

where she helps dyslexics and other 'outside-the-box' learners 

gain skills and confidence to not just survive 

but thrive in school and in life.