Mindset Matters

Mindset Matters

How many times have we heard someone (maybe even ourselves) say “I just can’t seem to focus today”.  Now take that for a minute into the classroom and imagine, if you will, what it’s like when some of the kids in the class are in that place.  The teacher is going along with the lessons and all the students seem to be paying attention and learning appears to be happening.  Then he turns back from writing something on the whiteboard and out of the corner of his eye he notices Billy staring out the window at the kindergartners on the playground.  Or he reaches for a book on his desk and when he looks up Nancy is making a face at Anne.  What happened?  Lost focus.

All in a nanosecond.  Surely the lesson wasn’t that boring.  No, it was, in fact, full of activities; it even had a video clip pulled up on the smart board.  So, is the message that our kids have a hard time just sitting for a second?  Do they have a hard time just “being”?   Yes, actually, that is today’s message.

It seems we’ve become so used to being entertained and stimulated each second of every day that we can’t just sit still anymore.  And it isn’t just the kids.  It’s many of us.  When’s the last time you just sat still?  You didn’t think of all the things you should be doing, you didn’t go over the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting, you didn’t make the grocery list in your mind?  Can’t remember, can you?  Neither can many of our children.

“So what?” you may ask.  Isn’t it more important to get stuff done and move on than just sit and do nothing?   Well, as it turns out, researchers have been writing about something called Mindfulness and how important it is for all of us, and especially for kids.   Simply put, Mindfulness is the ability to be completely (as much as we can be) in the moment.  It means being able to focus on the task at hand without thinking about all the other stuff we need to get done.  It also means being able to notice what’s around us and what’s going on inside us.

When’s the last time you drove down the road and noticed all the different colors of green?  When’s the last time you drove down the road and your kids were looking out the window instead of interacting with their technology?   When’s the last time you navigated your way by road signs and landmarks instead of your GPS?  The point is not to do away with our technology.  That will never happen – nor do we want it to.  The point is if we’re a little short on the Mindfulness scale, our interactions with the world may get out of balance.  Then we, and our kids, will be in danger of missing out on the who, what, and where all around us.

What do you think?

Numbers Count, Too

Numbers Count, Too

Last week we talked about calling things by their names instead of their categories, like calling it a seagull or a bluejay or a robin instead of a “bird.” Today we’re going to talk about something that’s just as important, but for different reasons. We know that language – words – are important because they allow us to communicate easily with people who share the same language. We don’t have to draw pictures to let someone know what we’re talking about. But the key piece is that we have to each know the language we’re using or it doesn’t work.

Numbers also let us communicate, and, in a sense, they’re better than words because they cross all languages. 4 is 4 is 4 no matter where you live. Addition and subtraction are addition and subtraction no matter where you go to school or what language you speak. The same is true for fractions, algebra, and calculus. Cool, isn’t it?

So what does that mean for our kids? It means that at a very young age, and all through our lives, we have the capability of learning a universal language. And we know the best way to learn any language is to use it. So, how about this? The next time your 3-year-old wants to help you and you’re trying to fold laundry, try counting the socks. Count Cheerios. Count cars in the parking lot. Count flowers in your yard. Count ceiling tiles. Count everything. And do it together.

Once we’re pretty good at the counting thing, move up to patterns. Help your kids see that the parking lot has rows and columns. Then show them that each row and column has the same number of spaces in it. Help them see that if they know how many are in one row, they know how many are in the next. (This is called arrays and forms the basis for multiplication.)Help them see the patterns in nature, too. Count the petals on a flower. Then look at a different kind of flower (don’t forget to name both of them) and notice the differences. Discover the patterns in tree bark. Look for patterns in vegetables. Pretty soon, your child will be showing you patterns everywhere. At the same time, you’ll be sharing an incredible experience with them, together discovering some of the most fascinating beauty in our world. And just think – it can all start with numbers.

Let’s Watch Our Words

Let’s Watch Our Words

As many of you know, among other things, I teach Humanities to junior high students.  That means I teach a combination of English and Social Studies which means my students spend a great deal of time working on becoming better writers.  Recently (the last few years), I’ve been noticing that it seems to be more difficult for them to write descriptively.  They tend to write stories, poems, and memoirs with simpler words than I would like to see them use.  As a result their writing includes many birds, flowers, cars, shirts, apples, and so on, instead of seagulls, roses, Toyotas, Polos, and Granny Smiths.

Over the years when I have asked my students to “be a little more specific” in their writing,  many of them have told me it would be a lot easier if they knew what to call everything.  That’s a little sad, isn’t it?

So, what does this all mean?  Have we been failing our kids?  Not at all. We’re providing the best lives and experiences we can.  But I think it does mean that we could do a little better in helping them identify the parts of their world.

We live not far from a beach where I love to walk along the water. I see a lot of parents with their children on my walks and I can’t tell you how often I have heard a parent say “look at the bird.”  Not “look at the seagull” or “the sandpiper” or “the pelican.”  Just “look at the bird.”  It’s good that the parent and child are experiencing the beach and all it is, but as that child grows, she is more likely to use the word “bird” to describe each and every bird she sees rather than distinguish one from another.  And that will impede her writing – and her reading.

We’ve been talking about writing but let’s talk about reading for a minute.  Many of my students start the school year saying they don’t like to read.  Often it’s because they have had to read books they didn’t like.  But that isn’t all that keeps them from loving books. Many other things affect their love of reading and one of the big ones is vocabulary.   If they don’t recognize the words they’re reading, they are much more likely to give up on the book; they’ll also be more likely to not want to try another.  And that means they won’t want to read at all which will have a huge impact on all the rest of their academic endeavors.

I’m not saying we all have to talk to our kids like we’re college professors.  What I am saying is if it’s a comfortable moment in the conversation or the experience (like playing in the waves at the beach) let’s identify that bird by its real name.   Better yet, if we aren’t sure what kind of bird it is, let’s get a bird book at the library and look it up together.  Or Google it together.  How cool would that be?  Not only would it extend the experience, but it would send the message that it can be fun to research.  What a concept!

So my suggestion this week is that we start to call a rose “a rose” – not just a flower.  And maybe that car over there is a Ford, and maybe that apple in the bowl is a Macintosh.

What do you think?

The Gift of a Lifetime

The Gift of a Lifetime

The year I was twelve my dad gave me a gift that changed my life.  Back then he had his own company and on Saturday mornings I went along with him while he visited his sites.  Then we would go out for lunch. I was allowed to order whatever I wanted, we would make father-daughter small talk, and then we’d go home.  But one Saturday it was different.  That day we checked out everything we needed to, picked a restaurant, ordered lunch, began to eat, and started talking about what we usually did - our favorite TV program.  He and I had a standing date to watch the Twilight Zone together every week, and although I was too young to understand all the science or the adult themes of the series, I loved our time with each other so much it really didn’t matter.

On one particular Saturday we were talking about the episode we had just watched that week about time being the fourth dimension when my dad put down his fork and asked me what I thought.   Now I need to paint a proper picture here.  My dad was pretty strict.  He was loving and thoughtful with my mom and me, but he also didn’t hesitate to make his expectations clear about how I was to behave and, often, how I was to think.  So, imagine my amazement when he asked me my opinion.  And, even more surprising, he waited for me to collect myself and share my ideas about, of all things, the fourth dimension. 

I don’t remember what I said or what he said back, but I’ll never forget the gift he gave me that day, my very first idea-driven conversation.  That day at lunch he treated me not only as if I had ideas, but that he thought those ideas were worth talking about.  For a tiny moment in my almost-a-teenager life, I was his peer, and we were discussing opinions and thoughts.  For that hour, I wasn’t a kid that didn’t know much; I wasn’t a kid that lacked the experience or education to have an opinion.  I was a person worth having a conversation with.

As I think about my students today, it occurs to me that the ones who seem most comfortable with ideas, who like stretching themselves to think and analyze, who think it’s fun to talk about current events, are the same students who tell me about how their parents watch the news with them or talk with them about world happenings.  It’s that pure and simple: validation for them as people with ideas and questions.  The message they receive at home is the same one we try to send at school; they are not kids unable to understand.  Instead, the message is “here you are, and I’m happy to hear what you have to say.”

I firmly believe there’s a correlation between that message at home and academic success at school.  I’m not a researcher, so I don’t have empirical data to back up my assertion.  I do, however, have many anecdotal accounts to support my theory.  So I’m going with that and here come my questions of the week:  Do our kids believe they have – and should share – ideas, or are they waiting for someone to tell them what to think?   Do they offer new information, or ask questions about current events?  Do they ask our opinion about things happening in the world? And, most importantly, do we ask for theirs?

My dad died a year after that lunch.  That was a very long time ago, but his gift of our conversation has informed all of my life.  It has given me the realization that listening to one another’s ideas – no matter how old or young the people are – is the foundation to understanding.  One more thing.  My dad’s gift has been a precious gem I’ve carried with me for decades; now I give it to you so you can give it to someone you care about. Ready?  Here it is: put down your fork and ask that person ….

What do you think?