Many parents, teachers and students struggle to give students direct and positive tools to deal with bullying. According to the National Center for Health, surveys show that 77% of students are bullied mentally, physically, and verbally. Also, adults intervene 4% of the time, peers intervene 11 percent of the time and no one intervenes 85% of the time. Here are some suggestions to help students deal with bullying as they experience it in their neighborhood, at school and in their activities:
Read the rest of this entry »
Confidence and competence: Understanding, setting and adjusting expectations
“What did you expect?”
That’s the question psychologist Carl Pickhardt asked his patient after he came in angry that he didn’t get a good paying job a year after graduating from college. In their session, Pickhardt tried to make the young man understand that he put himself in his current position. Even though he had thought about his future after college, were the expectations he set for himself realistic?
Read the rest of this entry »
Four ways to maximize a readers’ imagination
If you’ve been around kids recently, you’ve seen Twilight and Harry Potter fandom splattered on T-shirts, lockers, and notebooks. Reading teacher Cindi Rigsbee’s wrote about the delight it gave her to see kids so interested in literary characters in her blog, “Picture This: Helping Readers Flex Their Imaginations.” That was until she realized the kids weren’t advertising their connection to a character, but to the actors who play the characters.
Study: Minority youth more likely to be plugged in
The results from two Kaiser Family Foundation surveys found minority children spend approximately 4.5 more hours a day using mobile devices, computers, TVs, and other media than white kids. Experts theorize the percentage difference may stem from the fact minority children are more likely to live in dangerous neighborhoods that require them to stay inside. Minority children are also more likely to have working parents. Children may use media due to lack of personal engagement.  If we can encourage children in these families—as well as their parent or caregiver—to encourage educational and mind-challenging games and activities, we could turn this into an advantage as opposed to a disadvantage in low in-come neighborhoods.
Where Are the Male Role Models?
Over the last few years, we’ve been disappointed about the behavior of many men in positions of power. Arianna Huffington joked that if Lehman Brothers had been Lehman Brothers and Sisters, they never would have gone under. Seriously though, the S&L crisis, the financial crisis which sent markets around the world plummeting and the scandals of the last few weeks of some of our most influential political leaders, makes us wonder who is a good role model for today’s young men? Indeed, percentage of boys who go to college right now is 44% compared to 63% of girls who attend college. Many of these boys drop out, serve time in prison and the very lucky ones become like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Below are some ways that teachers, parents and students can begin to understand what is at the heart of responsible adult behavior. After the good fortune of being raised by four older brothers who are exemplary people, husbands and fathers, I want to share with you what they shared with me growing up.  I was fortunate to develop a strong sense of self, the ability to say “no,â€Â maintain strong boundaries and the fortitude to follow my dreams.
7 Tips on How Teachers Can Inspire Summer Reading
Rebecca Alber, in her blog “How to Inspire Your Students to Read this Summer,” says she wasn’t one of those teachers who was concerned with getting her books back or even back in one piece at the end of summer vacation. In her experience, many underprivileged students would say they had 15 or 20 books in their home: mostly ones they’ve read or that are for younger children.
Alber developed seven tips for teachers to inspire children to read, even in the poorest communities where literacy has the ability to one day set them free from constraints put on by poverty. LifeBound’s books are the nation’s leading resource in supplemental instruction—books on Leadership, People Smarts, Critical and Creative Thinking and our new book, Dollars and Sense: How to be Smart About Money are great summer reads for kids from fifth through twelfth grade. The following is an adaptation of Alber’s insights:
3 Theories on Why Students Should Attend College
A college education is sought after by more people than ever before. According to the New Yorker article “Live and Learn: Why We Have College” by Louis Menand, 68 percent of graduating high school students attend college and six percent of the American population is enrolled in college — which is a large percentage compared to a three percent enrollment rate in Great Britain and France. Ask most politicians, educators, parents, and students if there is value in a college education and expect them to know college grads get paid more than high school grads, get more job opportunities than those with less education, and gain more workforce skills than those who move directly to the workforce.
Summer Fun on a Shoe String
Guest Blogger: Nicoll Laikola, College Senior
School’s out and summer is here, but is it possible to have fun without a lot of money? Fortunately, summer is all about enjoying the sunshine, and most outdoor activities are free! Whether you’re into music, exercise, or relaxing, there is a cost-effective activity for you.
Many cities host free events during summer months. Local newspapers will have information on free concerts or county fairs and festivals. Depending on where you live, hiking or a day-trip to the beach can also be fun.
Sometimes as locals, we forget about all the things our state has to offer. Free museums, state parks, or places for sight-seeing are too easily overlooked. Going to a tourist booth or doing a Google search of activities in your area can yield great results for activities that you may not have done in years.
The pool is often a fun place to spend summer days. Communities sometimes have a pool that they offer free or cheap admission to for residents. For those who enjoy swimming, giving swim lessons or working as a lifeguard are great ways to pass the time and earn some extra money.
Read the rest of this entry »
Happy Memorial Day Weekend
The summer after my junior year of college, I had an internship in Washington, D.C. I arrived Memorial Day weekend and was fortunate enough to have an older brother with whom I was able to live for the summer while he was between undergraduate school and law school. On Memorial Day, he took me to Arlington Cemetery where hundreds of people who served our country were buried. White headstones as far as the eye could see anchored each honored person to those like me who stood with awe and humility in the midst of their memories. I stood quietly in front of the Kennedy’s grave and watched the eternal flame remembering the courage his leadership provided to our country at a time of such unrest. The Tomb of Unknown Soldier made me realize how many people have been lost in battle, unidentified, unrecognizable or unknown because they were not part of families who could mourn for them.
Students Use Technology to Change the World
At the 9th annual Imagine Cup competition, Microsoft called on students from around the nation to “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.” This year, 74,000 participants from high school students to graduate students responded to the challenge. Contestants had to use technology to address one of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, including reducing poverty and hunger, improving access to education, and ensuring environmental sustainability.
Winning projects included making portable devices to help visually impaired students take notes, a digital strategy game that challenges kids to improve the environment through clean energy, and a game to get rid of deforestation. Blogger Suzie Boss attended the showcase and had the opportunity to speak to several teams and mine their insights. Boss shares what she learned and how teachers can use technology for problem solving, teamwork and idea-generation in her blog article, “Students Design Games and Software Tools to Tackle Real-World Problems.”