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May 2009
Bright Child Still Needs To Master Basic Skills
May 26, 2009 12:00 PM Filed in: All Levels
| Skill Sets
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Dear Dr. Fournier: Every year, my son’s teacher complains that he “is the only child” having his kind of problems. Now in the fourth grade, his teacher insists he doesn’t know his math facts and has trouble spelling words he should have learned in the first grade. I spend every summer reviewing these with him. I know he knows them. My son loves history, science and geography. He followed the last elections with us and has his own opinion about the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has us recycling everything to save the planet. He reads constantly. When does the teacher decide to teach him?!? |
The Assessment: Your child conceptualizes and places details within the big picture. His knowledge is not just for knowing. He uses it to solve problems: recycling and activism in demanding this in your family. He is already aware that his backyard is but a speck on the globe among other countries. He thinks outside of the scope of what he learns. He uses knowledge for conclusions to take action.
Regardless of how bright your son is, there is something that neither you nor his teachers are able to control – his natural development. The skills that his teachers are concerned about are basic skills. Mastery of basic skills requires the accurate automatic retrieval of basic sequences.
Every basic skill is an entire sequence that once fully imprinted in your child’s mind, will always be retrieved correctly and automatically. The fact that your son has mastered his reading basic skills is an example of his capacity to master basic sequences.
Whenever a teacher talks about a basic skill, change this word to “sequencing.” If your child is having difficulty recalling math facts, change this and say “he is still developing automatic retrieval of a basic sequence that with repetition and time will be mastered.”
The problem is not that children are not able to learn these. The problems are in the teaching of these basic sequences:
If your child has not learned math facts accurately, then he/she will miss math facts over and over again for many years to come. However, then he will inappropriately be called careless. His grades will be used to justify that something is wrong with your child. Parents get called in to listen to often inaccurate conclusions such as he is not paying attention because he knows what is right on one day is wrong on another; he must have attention or memory problems so you should have him tested; he is the only one having this problem (every parent knows better); and much more...
Development of accurate and automatic retrieval of basic sequences is part of natural development. The only way to teach a child his/her basic sequences is to know which ones are already mastered and which ones are not.
What To Do: Focus on those not yet mastered. Have your child take three math facts and place note cards all over the house. Play with these and even make math problems with them. For example, we have 5 family members and 3 guests for dinner. How many settings do we need at the table? (5 +3 = 8.)
As for spelling, get a list of Dolch words (the most commonly used words when we read and write). Begin to teach these. When your son writes sentences or paragraphs, make a list of misspelled words. Find patterns and teach the rules to the patterns (for example, “sion” and “tion”).
Only parents can turn the tide of thinking that natural development can be assigned complete by a certain date. Refuse the myth that all children should be on the same page of a curriculum’s timeline that can do great harm, more so than good.
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Uniforms or Dress Code Teach Reasons, Respect
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Dear Dr. Fournier: Should all children have to wear the same uniform to school or should they be allowed to dress individually as long as they follow a standard dress code? |
The Assessment: In our work life, we all have different roles that define what we do for those we serve. People who focus on carrying out their responsibilities with excellence, initiative, and innovation do so based on service to others, not on how they look.
Most working adults either have a uniform or a dress code that intends to guarantee the employee physical and emotional safety needed for themselves and from others to concentrate cognitively on their job. Examples include a pilot who wears a uniform that designates authority and trust; a surgeon who wears pajama-like medical attire for comfort, yet it is sterile for health and safety reasons; and tellers in a bank, who generally follow the “banker’s blue” dress code including closed-toed shoes for women, even though most of us don’t see a teller’s feet.
We all have the choice of wearing the politically correct social attire for what we do in our private lives. For example, when you get an invitation that says “Black-tie,” women know to wear a dark or black formal or semi-formal dress while men know to wear a formal black suit, even with a bow tie rather than a standard tie. If the invitation says “Causal,” or “Business Casual,” that may mean beach clothes if it is to a pool party or khaki pants and a polo shirt for men and a sundress for women if it is a corporate party.
Finally, there are social norms that we learn from parents or intuitively as we grow. Examples include how we dress when we go to church, a graduation ceremony, or a park festival. We know they are different, yet within each category, each place has its dress code.
The idea that clothes are to be used as a way for children and adolescents to develop individuality is a poor excuse for not teaching children that attire has to do with those they serve or care for. On too many occasions, children brought up to use attire to develop individuality end up believing that what they want is more important than following the guidelines of what is considered respectful.
I have been to formal weddings where men showed up in blue jeans, a Bar Mitzvah where girls bared their midriff, a graduation where the graduates dressed as if they were heading out to a nightclub, and a church where some girls go in shorts that are almost non-existent. I once had a prospective employee show up to his interview in flip-flops and clothes that should be in the washer.
Some may read this and say this is their prerogative. While true, your attire should not speak louder than your intelligence.
As for dress codes or required uniforms, students – in the name of individuality – are constantly try to cross the lines. It really does not matter whether a school has a uniform or a dress code. It does matter that we teach them why it matters.
What To Do: Starting as early as possible, every parent and school should hold themselves responsible for teaching our youth that their bodies talk, and once their bodies speak, what your body says will be, “I command respect by giving respect.” That includes wearing a uniform or following a dress code.
It is amazing how students will follow the rules when they understand the reason for them. For example, in my Day School, students are not allowed to wear rubber flip-flops because of the chance they get caught on the carpet and someone ends up on the floor face down with no front teeth. Boys do not wear earrings because they are expected to dazzle the world with their mind and not with their earlobes.
Personally, I prefer uniforms. When I was required to wear one in ninth grade, I thought I belonged because of my mind power and not because of what I wore.
The development of individuality should be about respect for self and for others – not disrespect. This is the most important rule of attire: A school dress code or uniform is intended to keep your MIND on your MIND, not “How can I outwit the rule today to flaunt my body instead.”
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SAT/ACT Guideline Refresh
May 12, 2009 12:00 PM Filed in: High School
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Dear Dr. Fournier: I have told my 7th grade son that he must start now to get a scholarship and go to college. I have these guidelines from Princeton Review. What do you think of them? |
Princeton Review Guidelines:
Freshmen: Relax! You've got plenty of time. Freshman year should be about focusing on your studies, building your GPA, joining clubs, and figuring out what activities you like.
Sophomores: You've got some time before you have to get into intensive prep. Continue to focus on taking challenging classes, and consider taking SAT Subject Tests that correspond with your AP subjects. Also, take a practice SAT or ACT in the spring, and think about an SAT or ACT course.
Juniors: We recommend SAT or ACT prep in the summer, winter or the spring, depending on what works best with your school schedule. Juniors should consider taking the SAT/ACT by March/February (or sooner) of junior year, for the most stress-free timeline.
Seniors: You may already be done with the SAT or ACT, but then don't lose sight of the bigger picture: You need to complete scholarship applications and talk financial shop with your parents. Work on your applications, and follow up with your teachers about recommendations.
The Assessment: The Princeton Review schedule is well over a decade old and unfortunately, no longer adequate.
Eighth grade is the new “Freshman” year of high school. As such, I strongly recommend your son get moving in the eighth grade.
Getting into college with a scholarship will require him to not only have a good ACT or SAT, but to also demonstrate he is worthy -- a decisive, self-reliant, self-directed student that intends to be a leader in the future. That starts now, not in his junior and senior year of high school.
What To Do: Seventh grade: In English begin your transition from formal to academic language. Recognize the difference and become versed in the latter – reading and writing.
Take pre-algebra. In the summer, get the text for algebra I and complete it. Go into algebra I with a foundation for eighth grade. Take physical science or biology in eighth grade and pick an international language and make sure you can converse in it.
Eighth grade: Write down the subjects you will take in each year of high school. Once you have completed algebra I, get a practice book for the ACT and PSAT. As early as tenth grade, you can take practice tests in these (PLAN and PSAT, respectively) and decide which one of these tests you wish to pursue to enter college. I prefer the ACT. The rest of the test is academic language in English. The scientific reasoning on the ACT is a “reasoning test” that happens to use science. It is to see if you know how to read charts, use data, and come to valid conclusions. It is about how well you think and not about how much science you know. Ask the publishing company to send you your answers as well as a copy of the test you took. Highlight your correct questions and then learn the ones you missed.
Also in eighth grade, write the name of five colleges that you believe are best for your current career goals, knowing these may change. Call the admissions office and ask for the average grade point average of their entering freshman and average ACT or SAT score. Then ask what is needed for a scholarship. Set your goals for your grade point average at graduation and the ACT or SAT score you will aim for. Write the grade you will need in each of your courses in high school to achieve your GPA. Place this where you are able to see it daily. It is your scorecard to your future.
Begin taking your ACT or SAT in the summer before your senior year. That will give you more opportunities to retake the exam if you need to increase your score.
Finally, instead of taking AP courses to get out of taking college courses, insist in your junior year and senior year on taking dual enrollment courses in a college near you. AP courses teach you how to take a test. College courses teach you college courses! Don’t waste your high school time on electives that have the reputation of being worthless. Use your time in high school to learn what adds value to your life.
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Education Reacculturation
May 05, 2009 12:00 PM Filed in: All Levels
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Dear Dr. Fournier: My 3-year-old granddaughter is not in preschool, although all of her friends entered preschool at age 2. My daughter has exposed her to many things, trips to the zoo, children’s museums, art galleries, and such. She is what I call a normal kid, going to parks and playgrounds, riding MARTA (the subway system) to ballgames with her dad and just being a kid by playing at home and with friends. She is an extremely bright child and while my daughter has not pushed her to learn, she can count to 15, knows shapes, colors, and can print the alphabet extremely well for her age. Shouldn’t she be in pre-school and learning already? |
The Assessment: Your three-year-old granddaughter is already learning. Without pushing, yet with considerable exposure to learning tools (toys) and experiences, she is learning at her current natural developmental pace. Joyful and safe exposure with and by persons that love her uniqueness and are invested in maintaining and developing her desire to learn, as well as her learning, are doing an incredibly good job.
How many of us were able to count to 15, know shapes and actually have the fine motor dexterity to print the alphabet by the age of 3? Not me.
Why is it that if something is not broken, we are so easily convinced by fear tactics of pre-school marketers that our children should be there before they are ready or else they will be considered broken?
And let’s not forget the politicians who convince society they will save education by getting to innocent fun-loving, learning children at a younger age with accelerated curriculums, diagnostic tests and labels and medication. They’d rather do that than deal with saving high schoolers close to a dead end life because they were killed by the education machine a year at a time, each year being convincing they were dumb and dumber, that they would never need math, that proper behavior was expected and if not genetically present, alternative measures of punishment or alternative schools would be enough to finish them off.
Parents claim they want a normal child when Mom is pregnant - but they are lying. They, along with grandparents want a genius child as soon as they are born. This means that learning what is developmentally accessible to the child is demeaning as soon as anyone else says his/her child is learning “The Odyssey” in kindergarten!
What To Do: The new word is “green.” The joke is that green no longer symbolizes the holy sacred dollar. It means putting nature and what is natural back in its place. It means respecting what we abused when mesmerized by having “more of whatever we wanted, no matter the price.”
Now apply this to the children of our nation. They are the last bastion of our “greed,” in which we ask them to learn and do more at the price of their emotional safety, cognitive wellness and desire to learn. Can we begin to see that the old green, A+ hungry, accelerated curriculums are a black hole in which too many of our emotionally sick, medicated, diagnosed disabled, punished to the maximum, family-buster, uneducated youth have fallen and can’t get out?
Can we as a nation go to the new green with our children? It starts by getting away from more and going to what is RIGHT!
The President and his Secretary of Education can spend all the old green they want. They will continue to black hole our children until they spend money on re-educating and re-acculturating parents, grandparents and teachers that there is no greater natural resource we need to save than our children’s hearts and desires to learn, including those now in college.
What could you possibly want your granddaughter to learn by the time she is four that can’t wait until five?
The change starts with each of us. Green is the color of the day. Which green still drives you? That question is directed to everyone who has a chance of saving a child.
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