Goal Setting and How It Can Help Your Teen!

Setting goals is a great way to gain a greater sense of control over your life and start moving in a positive direction. Research shows that setting goals enhances students’ overall experience in high school as well as improving their academic performance.

There are two types of goals. Long term and short term. Long-term goals are related to dreams for the future, such as college or career goals. Short-term goals can be weekly or monthly goals that can lead up to the long term goals. For example, by the end of this month, a student may want to improve their grades to a C or above. This will help them with college entrance, but one of the many goals that will help them achieve their long-term goals.

Teaching teens to set SMART goals or goals that are specific, measureable, achievable, relevant, a time-based will allow them to reach their goals more easily.

SPECIFIC- Goals that set a definite bar help you to be able to know if they were achieved

MEASUREABLE-allows you to easily figure out if you are getting closer to your target:

Example- I want to get over an 80% on my next three math tests.

ACHIEVEABLE :  Setting goals that are within your reach so that you can dedicate time and energy to the goal.

RELEVANT:  Goals should be important to you so that you stay committed.

TIME BASED- there should e a deadline for completion so you create a sense of urgency. 

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All You Ever Wanted to Know—Jargon Relating to Reading and Disabilities Decoded For Parents

Have you ever been in an IEP meeting or parent conference where the teacher or administration mentions certain vocabulary terms, conditions, and jargon that you are not quite sure the meaning and too embarrassed to ask? If this has happened to you, I hope the below glossary can serves as a simple, quick reference guide to clarify some of your questions.

ADHD- also known as Attention Difficulties with Hyperactivity. Children will often have a short attention span and tend to work on a number of different tasks at once. They will be easily distracted if there are a number of competing distractions. It is possible for children to have some attention difficulties without hyperactivity also known as ADD.

Auditory discrimination- Difficulties in identifying specific sounds and distinguishing these sounds with other similar sounds. This is common in students with dyslexia, hearing loss or partial/intermittent hearing loss.

Bottom-up- method of reading using decoding skills.  The reader has a good grasp on letter sounds and can blend words. It is essential that students with dyslexia are taught through he bottom up approach in order to ensure they are familiar with basic sounds and sound combinations (for comparison see top-down method).

Cognitive- this refers to the learning and thinking process. It is the process that describes how learners take in, retain and understand information.

Decoding- refers to the reading processing and specifically to the breaking down of words into individual sounds.

Differentiation- the process of adapting materials and teaching to suit a range of learner’s abilities and levels of attainments. Usually differentiation refers to the task, the teaching, the resources and assessment. Differentiation is the key to successful education of students with learning differences.

Dyscalculia-describes children and adults with difficulties in computation of numbers, remembering numbers or reading the instructions associated with number problems.

Dysgraphia- the difficulties in handwriting. Children with dysgraphia will benefit from lined paper as they have visual/spatial problems and may have an awkward pencil grip.

Dyslexia- difficulties in accessing print but also in memory, processing speed, sequencing, directions, syntax, spelling and written work. Children with dyslexia often have phonological difficulties that result in poor word attack skills.

Dyspraxia- refers to children and adults with coordination difficulties. Can also be known as Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD).

Emotional literacy- the extent to which children are aware of their emotions and feelings and particularly those of others.

Eye tracking- being able to read a line and keep eyes on track throughout the line. Children with poor eye tracking omit lines or words on a page.

Information processing- describes how children and adults learn new information. It is often describes as a cycle-input, cognition, and output. Children with learning disabilities can have difficulties at all stages of information processing.

Kinesthetic memory- refers to memory used for movement such as remembering exercise routines. Learning handwriting is an example of how young children use their kinesthetic memory.

Learned helplessness-refers to the cycle of failure that some children may experience particularly if they have repeated failures at the same time. The extent of this failure is reinforces by subsequent failures and it becomes a learnt response to a task.

Learning disabilities- a general term to describes a range of specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia. It is often referred to as LD and is note equated with intelligence. Children with LD are usually in the average to above average intelligence range.

Learning Styles- this can describe the learners preferences for learning such as visual, auditory, kinesthic, or tactile learning.

Long-term memory- this is used to recall information learnt and needs to be recalled for a purpose. Many children with dyslexia have difficulty with longer term memory, as they have not organized the information they have learnt and recalling it can be challenging.

Metacognition- process of thinking about thinking. This is being aware of how one learns and how a problem is solved.

Multiple intelligence- first developed by Howard Gardner in the early 1980s in his book Frames of Mind. Gardner provides insights into eight intelligences and shows how the educational and social needs of all children can be catered to through these intelligences.

Multisensory- use of a range learning modalities including visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile learning.

Neurological- refers to the brain associated factors—that is the difference components of the brain or brain processing how the components interact with each other.

Paired reading-involves the child and tutor reading aloud at the same time.

Peer tutoring- when tow or more children work together to try to learn from teaches other.

Phonological awareness- refers to processing of becoming familiar with letter sounds and letter combinations that make the sounds in reading print. There are 44 sounds in the English language and some sounds are very similar sounding. This is confusing and challenging from children with difficulties in reading.

Reciprocal reading- aim is to encourage the child to check his own comprehension. Small units of text are presented and the tutor reads aloud first and summarizes what has been read. The propose is that the tutor models the read aloud and think-aloud process in order to encourage the child to self-question and to actively obtain meaning from text.

Scanning- refers to the process involved when one is attempting to locate a particular word or piece of information on a page.

Specific Learning difficulties (SLD)- refers to the range of difficulties experiences in general that can be of a specific nature such as reading, coordination, spelling and handwriting. There are quite a number of specific learning difficulties and they can be seen as being distinct from general learning difficulties.

Top-down method- refers to the reading process in which the reader begins with context and background of the text and uses contextual coleus to help with reading. Reading for meaning is more important than accuracy in this method.

Working memory-this is the first stage of short-term memory. It involves holding information in short term and storing and carrying out a processing activity.

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A Must Read If You Care About America’s Future…….

 A Must Read If You Care About America’s Future…….

When I first picked up Amanda Ripley’s newest book at the library, yes, I actually use the public library often, I didn’t know that I was in for such an enlightening read! Although some of the information is not a surprise to me as an educator and an avid reader, I believe this book offers some highly valuable points that could positively influence teachers, parents, students, administrators, and politicians.

  In “The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way,” Ripley, an author and Time magazine journalist, focuses on what it’s like to be a child in the world’s new education superpowers: Korea, Finland, and Poland. She follows three Americans who live in these countries for a year. The amazing part is that none of these countries had the “smartest” kids a few decades ago, but they have increased the rigor in the classroom and parents have focused on the things that matter. In short, students are learning to think, design arguments, and problem- solve in order to thrive in a global economy.

Below are some of the ideas that I found most interesting!

Korea

• In America if students blame their failure on a math test on the test itself or their lack of innate ability whereas in Korea students see the failure as a result of not working hard enough.  Performance is believed to be a product of hard work.

• In Korea, only the top 2% of students get into one of Korea’s 3 prestigious universities.

• School’s only purpose is to master academic material and expectations are very high.

Research relating to Math

• The US is ranked 26th in the world in math. Affluence is not a factor. Korea ranked 2nd. Finland ranked 3rd and Poland ranked 19th.

• Mastery in math predicted kids’ future more than race or income.

• Other countries focused more on problem solving and math was taught in a more fluid way rather than each math class being separate from the next.

• In Poland, calculators were not allowed so kids would have to learn mental tricks to manipulate numbers. 

• In other countries, math is viewed more as a language to be taught just as a foreign language. The earlier the better.

• In the US, math was viewed as more an innate ability, you are either good at it naturally or you are not. 

Finland and Teacher Hiring

• All education schools were highly selective.

• Getting into teacher training was as prestigious as getting into med school in the US.

• All teachers earn Master’s degrees and are trained in public schools with three mentor teachers watching their classes carefully.

• In many American high schools, teachers do not even have to major in the subject.

• The class size in Finland, Korea, and Poland was greater than the US, but the teacher salaries were higher.

Different Parenting Styles that Lead to Raising Smarter Children

• “Korean parents saw themselves as coaches, while American parents tended to act more like cheerleaders” (107).

• They held high expectations for their children at home and in schools and saw education as their jobs.

• They would read to them nightly and quiz them on math at a young age.

• Parents who read to their young children daily performed better all around. 

• Volunteering in the child’s school did not increase student performance at all.

How Education Superpower Countries Viewed Education

• In Korea and Finland, parents, kids and teachers see education as a serious quest more important than sports or self-esteem.

• The US focused more on sports in school than any other country, but most kids in the US didn’t participate in high school sports so the beneficial skills of leadership and persistence only benefited a few while draining focus and resources from academics from all  (118)

• Teachers had more autonomy and chose rigorous material.

• Kids had the freedom to fail and didn’t take a lot of standardized tests, but took one major one at the end of high school that held real implications for their future. 

• Teens were expected to manage their time!

• US parents gave children less freedom.

• “Important distinctions were not about spending, local control or curriculum, but more about the purpose of school, which was for students to master complex academic material. Nothing else mattered much. (117)

• Differences in diligence mattered a lot and were the single best predictor of performance.

• High expectations were most important.

How to Spot a World Class Education

• Student engagement is the number one factor that increases student learning. Not class size, the amount of money spent per student nor test scores.

• Students know the purpose of what they are doing and can communicate this when asked. They are paying attention and interested in what they are doing and working hard.

• Parent involvement in PTA’s, raising money, and going to sports games did not correlate with raising smarter kids. The real work is done at home with reading every night when the child is young and talking about their day and the news in the world as they mature. 

• Allowing them to make mistakes and get back to work is also important.

• Little data suggests that more technology raises smarter kids. In most high performing classrooms, technology was not present in classrooms around the world. The “smartest” countries had higher teacher pay and equity by channeling more resources into the classrooms with the neediest students.

• Professional development should be customized to strengths and weaknesses of the individual teacher NOT feature hundreds of teachers sitting through a lecture. No countries do this but in Finland teachers watch each other more during training and while teaching

In all countries, teens played video games, tested in class and watch TV. The main difference was how seriously they took education. In Finland, Korea, and Poland all children had to learn higher order thinking in order to thrive in the world. “There was a big important contest at the end and the score counted. Their teachers were more highly educated, trained, and carefully chosen” (191).

In light of the Common Core Standards, I believe the US is taking steps toward improving our education system, but we have a lot more to learn from other countries in regards to providing the highest quality education as well as instilling the intrinsic motivation needed for our students to succeed. 

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Common Core Testing: Not All Bad!

Many parents, teachers and students hold valid fears about the new Common Core tests that will replace the CSTs but one benefit of these new tests is that they include many supports for those with visual, auditory and linguistic needs. Some of the tools are embedded in the online tests and others include printed materials or handheld calculators that may be provided by test administrators. Below is a list of universal tools provided to all students as well as documented accommodations that can be accessed with an IEP or 504 Plan. For more information you can visit

http://www.cta.org/commoncore.

Universal Tools:                                     Documented Accommodations            

                                                                 For Students with IEPs or 504 plans:

Embedded in online tests Breaks, calculator, digital notepad, English dictionary, expandable passages, global notes, highlighter, keyboard navigation, mark for review, math tools, spell check, strikethrough, writing tools and zooms

Nonembedded Breaks, English dictionary, scratch paper, and thesaurus

Embedded: American Sign Language, Braille, closed captioning, and text-to-speech.

Nonembedded: abacus, alternate response options, calculator, multiplication table, print on demand, read aloud, scribe, and speech-to-text

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