Dr. Rick's Blog

The Retention Question

DrRick.Blog.nospam@nospam.SylvanLearning.com (Dr. Rick) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:57:00 -0500

One of the most stressful decisions a parent must make is whether to retain a child for another year in a grade at school. We get this question here at Dr. Rick Blog often, and parents look – hoping against hope – for a quick and simple answer.

Well, to paraphrase H.L. Mencken, the “Sage of Baltimore”: “For every complicated question there is a simple answer, and it’s always wrong.”

If you think your child is a candidate for retention or if a teacher has suggested that you consider the option, there are several thoughts to keep in mind.

For some kids, retention is a good move. I’ve seen it work to help kids refresh and relearn. It can give these kids the extra time to acquire new skills and to develop self-confidence. For children who are “young” for their grade – late birthdays, for example – retention can be just the ticket. Many schools now offer, for example, “pre-first” grade specifically for these children, a transition time between kindergarten and first grade. A few months for a five-year-old can be the right period of time for catching up with other children.

For other kids, though, retention can be a hardship. I’ve worked with teens who trace their bad habits – academic, social, and personal – to their retentions as younger students. There’s much research that shows retained students are at increased risks of dropping out of school, of abusing drugs, and of behavioral and emotional challenges. There’s still an old-fashioned and out-of-date stigma that can go along with retention, and it can create negative attitudes about school and learning. That’s the last thing you want for your child.

For all kids, here are some thoughts to keep in mind when you’re considering whether retention is right for your child.

Meet with your child’s teacher. If she’s the one who recommended retention, talk frankly with her about her reasons. Get specifics. Do your child’s classroom behaviors – inattention, inability to follow simple directions, disruption, for example – show up at home, too?

Get lots of information and opinions. Talk with the school guidance counselor, with other parents who have faced this decision, with veteran teachers, even with kids who’ve been retained. Weigh their words, their results, their circumstances.

Consider the age of your child. Every parent with more than one child knows that no two kids mature at the same rate. Some kids simply need more time, and it’s a gift to them. If your child has a late birthday, is months younger than his classmates, and struggles to keep up, retention could be a wise choice.

Check out vision and hearing. Sometimes, the child simply cannot see or hear the teacher or his classmates. Have simple vision and hearing tests. More times than I can count I’ve seen a pair of glasses work wonders on young eyes.

Ask about teaching methods. Sometimes even the best of teachers have teaching styles that don’t mesh with all kids. Especially in elementary school, where kids can have the same teacher for most of the day, make sure your child responds and adapts to the teaching style of her teacher.

Get individual help. Often individual help, not retention, is the answer. I don’t know of any kids who don’t need some personalized help at one time or another. If you suspect your child needs help, get it early. Tutoring works.

Have your child assessed. A simple academic assessment, a few hours’ investment, can yield much information about your child’s strengths and needs. If you’re not convinced that retention is the solution to your child’s issues, have an assessment done.

Consider special services. Does your child have special needs? Could she blossom with special classes like basic math or gifted and talented writing? Lots of children are not performing well in class because they’re bored, having already mastered the skills and concepts. Ask the principal to consider cross-grade scheduling for some classes.

Establish and stick to study routines . Kids thrive on constancy. They need routines to help them feel safe, to be organized, to have structure. Make sure your family has pretty strict routines around study, meals, bedtime, play, and family time.

Be positive. Whatever your decision – it’ll be different for each child, for each family – be positive and upbeat about it. Show your child that your decision to retain or not to retain is for his benefit, for his success, and that your primary motivation is his success, happiness, self confidence, and safety. Then, work with him closely by setting goals together , rewarding him when he’s particularly motivated and successful, monitoring him, and supporting him daily.

Have you faced this issue with particular success? Have some advice to give? We’d love to hear it. Click on “Comments” below and share with us.

Kids Smoking

DrRick.Blog.nospam@nospam.SylvanLearning.com (Dr. Rick) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:30:00 -0500

Incredibly, a parent recently asked me, without any apparent embarrassment, at what age a teenager should be allowed to smoke. It’s a difficult question with an easy answer.

Never!

How many years have we heard the Surgeon General tell us about the hazards of smoking? (Since 1964, actually.) Is there anyone alive who doesn’t know the truth about smoking? That it causes disease, that smoke is full of dangerous and disgusting things, that the habit is expensive, that it turns teeth yellow, skin leathery, and breath foul? That even second-hand smoke is dangerous? Who are these people who still smoke anyway? Especially the fools who smoke around their babies and children? And why would a young person want to join such a creepy club?

But some do, we all know that. There are many reasons – peer pressure, wrong-headed role models, rebellion, a feeling of youthful invincibility among them – but it’s still up to us parents, teachers, and significant adults in kids’ lives to do everything we can to keep them from slow death.

Arguments that smoking is legal and that adults should be free to do what they want are, you’ll pardon the expression, smokescreens. Not to mention dumb.

Here are some thoughts about how to keep your beloved children from smoking.

Be motivated by love. You love your children, and you don’t want them to breathe poison. You wouldn’t allow them to drink poison, what makes them think you’d allow them to inhale it? You want them to be healthy, to grow to be strong, to have habits and attitudes that bless them with long, happy lives free from coughing fits and battles for breath.

Talk. Kids are naturally curious, so it’s always a good idea to talk with them about values, beliefs, and issues important to you. Listen carefully and respectfully. They can detect a sermon a mile away, so don’t give a sermon, live a sermon. If you don’t want your kids to smoke, then you don’t smoke. I know that’s easier said than done – smoking is a serious addiction, very difficult to break – but remember, you’re motivated by love. If you’ve broken the habit, tell your kids why. If you’re trying to quit now, tell them how difficult it is. If you’ve never started despite temptations, tell them how you dealt with it.

Have rules. You may not be able to monitor your kids when they’re away from home, but you can have strict rules about not smoking in your home. Ever. Anyone. Along with rules come rewards and consequences. With your kids, come up with appropriate results of good and bad behavior.

Stay calm. Kids love when their behavior can set us off. Don’t let that happen. You’re the adult. If you have to remove yourself from their vicinity while you calm down, tell them you’ll talk about this later. Say firmly, “Don’t leave until I come back. We have some talking to do.”

Be positive. Let your kids see that your love for them, your concern for their safety, and your desire for them to be healthy are at the heart of your words and actions. Nothing can change that. If this issue is going to take a while to settle, let them see you’re in for the long haul, a happy warrior unwilling to give up on them. They’ll get the message.

What are your experiences with keeping kids from starting smoking? We’d love to hear about them here at the Dr. Rick Blog. Share your experiences with us, won’t you, by clicking on the “Comments” button below.

America's Math Scores

DrRick.Blog.nospam@nospam.SylvanLearning.com (Dr. Rick) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:05:00 -0500

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called “the nation’s report card,” came out recently with America’s report card grade in math. The good news is that our kids are doing a teeny bit better in math, but the bad news is that there are still far more kids who are underperforming in math than who are doing well.

Since the national test was first implemented in 1990, the percentage of fourth graders, for example, who scored “proficient” or “advanced” in math has risen from 13% to 39%. Good but not good enough.

The percentage of kids at “basic” or “below basic” levels has dropped from 87% to 61%.

Again, good but not good enough. Sixty-one percent of our fourth graders doing math at only the basic or below-basic levels is, frankly, scary.

The skills for the 21st century that our future workers, thinkers, leaders, and citizens will need center around our abilities to think clearly and creatively, to analyze and reason, and to solve problems independently and with others. That’s math. (It’s also communications and people-skills, but let’s concentrate on math here.)

Look at the growth industries of the near-future. The Microsofts and Googles of the future will almost certainly have to do with the technologies related to alternative energy solutions. Those who can think creatively, analyze information, and work with others to find solutions to the world’s most pressing problems will be the ones who are in the most demand, the ones who are the most successful.

Here are some ideas to help us improve on that nation’s math report card. I’ve written extensively about each of these suggestions. Click on “Archive” to read more.

Get serious about learning. Especially math. Show your kids that school is important to you and to the family. Give your kids the great good fortune of coming from a family who values lifelong learning. Read my previous blog posts about how to set goals, take homework seriously, communicate with teachers, and reward students. If you suspect that your child is having difficulties, for heaven’s sake get help early. The company I work for, Sylvan Learning, has thirty years’ experience and a great track record in helping kids catch up, keep up, and get ahead in math. There are even free seminars for parents to catch up on “forgotten math.” You won’t be alone.

Start early. Show your kids how math is important in so many ways. Show how you use math daily – you use it more than you think. Play games and sports that require some level of math knowledge (scores, stats, record-keeping, score-keeping, measuring, etc.). Establish good math habits and attitudes. No fair complaining about “math was my least favorite subject in school.” Zip it. Don’t saddle you kids with your prejudices.

Practice. Practice makes perfect. You’ve heard me say this countless times. Make sure your kids get plenty of opportunities and time to practice their math facts and skills. Set up pretty strict routines for homework and study time. Reward good effort and results. Monitor homework. If your child says he has no math homework tonight, contradict him and assign some yourself. And, while working with your child during math homework time, use www.SylvanMathPrep.com an online math resource for students in grades 7-12 that provides students with on-the-spot math homework assistance. Work with your children to recall “forgotten” math concepts so students are ready to tacklemath throughout the school year.

Encourage study buddies. One of my favorite suggestions, as regular readers know. Your child should have study buddies to help him get ready for tests, to make sure homework assignments are done on time, to compete with, to celebrate with.

Get involved. Stay in contact with the folks at school – teachers, guidance counselors, administrators, other parents – to ensure your child is on track. Expect excellent teachers and current, reasonable, trend-free curricula.

Look to the future. Show your child how her education now, especially math, will affect her future employability, earnings, and success in the work world. Show how math is important in your job and how you use it every day.

Set a good example. Another favorite theme of mine. Let your kids see you doing math – measuring, balancing your check book online, shopping, looking for the best bargains, planning trips and vacation outings, etc. Speak of math’s importance. Don’t speak of how you hated your eighth grade math teacher.
Have high expectations. Just as you have high expectations of the math teachers and curriculum at school, have high expectations of your child. Let her know that her grades in math are important to you, that you’re going to be monitoring her homework and grades.

Set goals. With you child, set the goals you expect him to reach every month, quarter, semester, year. Decide together what appropriate rewards and consequences should be.

Keep it up. Maintain a rigorous homework and study schedule, with plenty of time for practice. Turn off the TV and other screens. No “multi-tasking.” Make sure there are plenty of breaks, plenty of opportunities for fun, plenty of family time, too.

It’s not hard to argue that many of us Americans don’t value or respect learning. Take a look at what we spend our money on, what we watch on TV, how we spend our time, how our attention spans have shortened. It’s up to us adults to lead our kids to a future that allows them to be successful, fulfilled, and, yes, smart.

Your Child's Study Area

DrRick.Blog.nospam@nospam.SylvanLearning.com (Dr. Rick) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:50:00 -0500

A reporter was recently looking for tips on how to “furnish” a child’s study area. Did I have any tips for her?

My response was that a child doesn’t necessarily need her own private “office.” In fact, I often think that the younger the child is, the better it is for her to be doing her homework in the family room or on the dining room table, where Mom and Dad can keep an eye on her progress, her mood, her challenges, and her successes.

But as kids get older, they want – and maybe need – the privacy and quiet of their own space. If this is the case in your household and you’re considering a personal study area for your child, here are a few ideas to guide you. The final arbiter, of course, is you, the parent. If the study area doesn’t work out, if it devolves to a disorganized mess, if it doesn’t help her to meet the academic goals you’ve agreed upon, then change the rules. Back to the dining room table, my dear. Ever the optimist, though, I’ll concentrate on these tips.

Minimal distractions. This is key. Especially for older kids, middle- and high-schoolers, a space that’s as free from distractions as possible is necessary. She’ll be studying, reviewing her notes, writing that term paper, preparing for her speech in Social Studies. She’s going to need a space that’s removed from the household hubbub, but not so far removed that you can’t monitor her by stopping in regularly to see how things are going.

Comfort. A comfortable chair is a must, but not so comfortable that she’s going to fall asleep! The best is chair is comfy, straight-backed, and attractive.

Neatness. Insist on it. This is a place for work, not play. There should be enough room to spread out – space for notes maps, notebooks, texts, etc. The materials on the desk should be necessary and organized. It really IS more difficult to get anything accomplished when your work space is a mess. (And don’t fall for that old chestnut, “It may look like a mess to you, but I know where everything is!” That’s just a lazy person’s excuse for, well, laziness.) When you check her nightly homework, insist on neatness, too. If you think it’s messy, so will her teacher.

Plenty of light. The old rule of thumb is still true – left light for right-handers, right light for left –handers. The light should fill the entire work space and not shine directly in her eyes. Tired, red eyes are not conducive for learning.

Adequate storage. She’ll need plenty of space to keep stuff – pens, pencils, supplies, calculator, ruler, index cards, highlighters, etc. This is important so she won’t be racing around the house looking for her stuff. Those inexpensive plastic baskets (label them) make good organizers.

Display areas. I like the idea of having a place to display favorite pictures, meaningful quotes, A+ quizzes and tests, thoughtful notes and cards, and other inspirational or humorous items. This personalizes the space. If adults can do it in cubicles, why can’t kids do it in their study areas?

Organizers. Anything that helps her organize and keep the area neat is good. I like sturdy hooks, colorful files, and wall pockets, for example.

Planners. Don’t forget the mandated planner/assignment book to help keep her organized. This doesn’t have to be an expensive electronic device. A paper one is just as good. Whatever you choose, show her how to use it.

TV or cell phones. Turn them off. Homework and study time is for just that, homework and study. I do encourage a few minutes at the beginning of this time for her to call her Study Buddy to clarify an assignment or to ask pertinent questions. A few minutes are all that’s necessary. Then it’s down to work. No multitasking allowed. Occasional short breaks after an agreed-upon period of time are allowed. Music is optional and probationary. Some kids really seem to concentrate better with some music in the background. If grades fall and goals go unmet, then the music goes.

Decorations. Let her have a hand in picking out styles and colors, but the true purpose of the study area is study. Let her put the stamp of her personality on her space, but, as always, you’re the final arbiter.

I’d be interested in what YOUR study area looks like. Send me a description of your homework/study space and tell why you like it and how it’s important to your learning. Click on “Comments” below to share.

Helping with Math Homework

DrRick.Blog.nospam@nospam.SylvanLearning.com (Dr. Rick) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:08:00 -0500

Helping your child with homework is a delicate balancing act. Guiding, encouraging, supporting, and organizing are different from being suckered into doing the homework yourself. When you do the actual homework (you’d be amazed at how many parents confess to doing just that), no one learns anything. Except maybe the child, who learns that you just may be useful after all. Math homework offers its own unique challenges.

No, there are other much more valuable things you can do to help your kid learn his math and become a more-or-less independent learner in the process. Try these.

Practice, practice, practice. You’ve read my blogs. You know the value I put on practice, persistence, and effort. Talk to any kid and ask how excellent athletes, musicians, actors, and other performers got to be so good, and he’ll be able to tell you – practice, and plenty of it, is key. (How many thousands of miles does Michael Phelps swim each year? Listen to him talk about practice and focus.) Same for practicing for math. Think of it as Phelpsing. The more practice the better. It’s important for your child to work on math problems each night at home.

Organize. Another of my favorite themes. Help your child organize his time , his study space, his study supplies, his routines. Help him create a quiet, comfortable, well organized space that’s as free from distractions as possible. Show him how to keep a planner and assignment book. Math in particular – because of its daily practice – needs an assignment book. Help him recognize what part of the day is best for studying – right after school? Later at night? Early in the morning? It can be different for each kid. If he tells you he doesn’t have any math homework, assign it yourself. That’s allowed.

Don’t put off homework. Make sure your child does his math homework the night it’s assigned. He should go over his class notes nightly, while the content is still fresh in his mind and he can identify questions he’ll want to ask tomorrow in class. If he needs the encouragement and structure, have him go over the notes with you. On the nights before tests and major assignments, make sure he schedules extra study time. Extra study gives extra confidence. Additionally, as students prepare for tests, leverage the 2,000 instructional videos and self-tests on www.sylvanmathprep.com. Take advantage of the two-day free trial.

Get help if you need it. Everyone needs a little help now and then. If you suspect he needs it, get your child the help he needs now. Putting it off only makes a little problem grow into a big one, especially in math, where skills build on one another. Teachers stay before and after school to help kids, and the company I work for, Sylvan Learning, has excellent math tutoring for kids wanting to catch up, keep up, or get ahead. It even has “Forgotten Math for Parents” seminars that can help families at homework time. Check them out at www.sylvanlearning.com.

Review. Go over the skills he’s learned each week. (Or daily, if you need to.) I’ve discovered that when you ask a child to explain what he’s learned, he reinforces those skills. Nothing like teaching something to make you learn it even stronger.

Read the math book. Too many kids skip over the words in the math book, concentrating only on the number problems. Make sure he’s reading the explanatory words, too. The best math texts have helpful examples, practice exercises, and explanations.

Get a study buddy. Another one of my favorite learning strategies. When two or more motivated kids study together, they increase their opportunities to learn from each other in “kid speak,” to ask immediate questions, to challenge each other, to encourage each other, and to celebrate with each other. No reason why learning can’t be fun and social, too.

Monitor daily. The final step in the homework process is your checking the work for timeliness, neatness, and completeness. You don’t have to be an expert in the subject, but it’s good for him to know you’re going to be checking it. You’re allowed to give your own pop quizzes, too.

Use math around the house. Use every opportunity to “speak math” around the house (cooking, measuring), while playing (keeping score, understanding stats), while watching TV (count the commercials with the youngest math learners, if you can count that high), while eating in restaurants (help with figuring a 15% or 20% tip), or while driving (figuring out mileage or distance).

Work with the teacher. Ask for suggestions to help at homework time and for help with dealing with math strategies that are different from the ones you learned while you were learning math many years ago. Be careful of confusing the child.

Math homework time does not have to be stressful. Show your child that his learning math is important to you, that you’re going to be involved in his learning, and that you’re going to have high expectations. He’ll rise to those expectations.

Encouraging Healthy Habits in Kids

DrRick.Blog.nospam@nospam.SylvanLearning.com (Dr. Rick) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:57:00 -0500

We teachers and parents share enormous responsibility in teaching our children healthy habits, values, and attitudes about their lives – school, learning, relationships, and their futures.

The best time to set the foundations for these healthy habits, values, and attitudes? Common sense, backed up by a ton of research and centuries of philosophy, tells us that earlier is better than later.

And that doing is better than telling.

So, here are some tips about fostering healthy habits in children. Because this is an education blog, I’ll focus primarily on healthy school habits. But the same underlying theme is true of all kinds of habits, physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual.

Be a positive role model. You knew this would be first, didn’t you? Remember, doing is more powerful than telling. Let your children see you reading for information and for the pure joy of the experience. Let them see you doing math as you run your household, your business, and figure out the tip at restaurants. (You’re not allowed, ever, to say, “I can never figure this out.” You may say, though, “Let’s do this together. What’s 20% of $38?”) Let them see you writing to communicate, to express your opinions, to say thank you. Let them be a part of your family’s religious heritage and beliefs.

Be active. Limit your children’s “screen time,” the hours spent in front of any kind or size of screen – TV, video games, cell phones, etc. There’s nothing wrong with any of these, but, let’s face it, we can all tell when kids are over-indulging. Spend some family time playing games, both indoor and outdoor games.

Set goals together. With your children, decide what goals will be important this school year, this semester, this quarter, or this week. (For some kids, day-to-day goals make sense.) Decide together appropriate rewards. And consequences.

Organize. Help your children organize their space, their things, and their calendar. Show them how to minimize distractions. This can be one of the greatest gifts you’ll ever give them. Disorganized kids running through the house in the morning as they dash late to school turn into disorganized adults running through the house in the morning as they dash late to work. Don’t condemn them to that.

Check their work. Periodically for some kids, nightly for others, monitor the work they’ll turn in the next day. Don’t accept sloppy, careless, unthoughtful, disorganized work that doesn’t live up to their potential or meet their and your goals. Trust your instincts. If it’s not good enough for you, it won’t be good enough for the teacher.

Communicate with teachers. You don’t need a daily conversation, of course, but keep up-to-date with teachers, guidance counselors, and coaches. Meet with them at conference time, email them when it’s necessary, read their pages on the school’s website. Show them that you’re involved in your children’s progress. They’ll appreciate the support.

Be firm. Especially with habits like tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs, there’s no room for anything but firmness. You won’t allow it. Explain the dangers, harms, and your feelings. While you’re at it, talk about peer pressure. Know their friends and classmates they’re hanging out with.

Give earned praise. Kids love to be praised (adults do, too), but they can spot hollow praise or an empty compliment faster than they can make a mess in the kitchen. Acknowledge their effort and accomplishment, not just their potential. I’ve taught many a kid with “great potential” who never turned in assignments or showed any initiative in class.

Review the time commitments of your teens. Study time should exceed part-time jobs or socializing. If you’re not happy with their report card grades, if you suspect they’re not reaching the goals you set with them, you’ll have to reconsider their out-of-school time commitments. Don’t succumb to their blandishments. You know you’re right.

Enjoy your kids. It’s not always easy being the adult, but like most things in life, it’s easier and more pleasant to be positive than cynical, angry, or discouraged. Besides, if you can’t find anything positive about helping your kids, anything to make you smile and laugh, then you’re in the wrong job!

Top 10 Reasons College Students Should Study Abroad

DrRick.Blog.nospam@nospam.SylvanLearning.com (Dr. Rick) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:18:00 -0500

I'm a travel nut. I firmly believe that travel will expand our minds, help us understand other cultures as well as our own, and give us experiences that simply cannot be found at home. Throughout my long career I've encouraged students to travel as much as they can -- as students, as adults, professionally, and personally. I strongly support the increasing numbers of colleges and universities that promote, and even mandate, study time abroad. I've written about the beneficial effects of travel on language-learning in “The Importance of Language (Part 1)” and “The Importance of Language (Part 2).” http://www.drrickblog.com/post/2008/10/14/The-Importance-of-Language-(Part-1).aspx and http://www.drrickblog.com/post/2008/10/16/The-Importance-of-Language-(Part-2).aspx

Today we hear from guest blogger Michelle Fabio, who shares ideas about study abroad. Not surprisingly, she's an advocate for many of the same reasons I am. Get the travel bug, and watch how lifelong learning takes on universal meaning. Quite literally!

Welcome, Michelle.

Top 10 Reasons College Students Should Study Abroad

If you're on the fence about whether you should apply to a study abroad program, it's time to get off the fence and jump into the application process. Why?

Quite simply, studying abroad is one of the most rewarding, enriching, exciting opportunities available to college and graduate students--and here are the top 10 reasons why you should study abroad:

Learn and/or practice a language.
It's no secret that learning a language requires lots of practice and that full immersion is the fastest way to become fluent in a language. Whether you're looking to put your second language into use or learn a new one, studying abroad offers a great chance for language practice in its natural environment.

Immerse yourself in a different culture.
The United States is a diverse country to be sure, but what would be like to live on a different continent where not only the language is different but also the basic culture, foods, clothing, perhaps even predominant religious beliefs? Studying abroad can help you find out and become more understanding and accepting of various cultures.

Earn educational credits.
The vast majority of study abroad programs offer the opportunity for you to earn college or graduate school credits; in fact, it is essential that you look for programs through which you can gain credits. Not only will you be still working toward your degree, you will also remain eligible for financial aid. You may also be able to take courses that wouldn't be available at home.

Learn new things about yourself and your country.
Living and learning in a new culture can make you realize that you had skills, talents, and personal traits you never even knew you had as you learn to adapt and solve problems in your new setting surrounded by new people.

Use your study abroad location as a travel starting point.
If you like to travel, your study abroad experience can provide you a great starting point for day trips and longer visits to new places over breaks from school. And if you don't particularly enjoy traveling alone, chances are good that you'll be able to find a travel partner as study abroad students often enjoy traveling as well.

Make international friends.
Study abroad programs attract students from all over the world; you will have a good opportunity to make lifetime friendships as you all will be in similar situations--far from home and living in a foreign land. Even better, the Internet now makes it very easy to keep up with your international friends no matter where you all end up after the program.

Make international contacts for future networking.
In the same vein as the above reason, studying abroad provides a great opportunity for you to make contacts in the professional realm for after you graduate from school, especially if you are interested in working in that country. And even if you eventually look for a job in your home country, employers will love your international experiences as global relationships gain increasing importance.

Gain a broader, more worldly perspective.
There's nothing that quite matches the experience of being on the outside looking in; by studying abroad, you'll get a different perspective on your own country's values and beliefs by seeing them through the eyes of others who didn't grow up in the same culture.

Assert your independence.
You're probably already living a fairly independent lifestyle anyway if you're considering studying abroad, but this is just one more step on the road to adulthood. You'll be far away from family and friends and really, truly making in on your own. Be proud!

Relax a bit.
Most study abroad programs are known for their more relaxed atmospheres than American university settings, so you can use your study abroad time to take a break from regular life--and still earn credits in the meantime to boot. Even if you find yourself in a rigorous program, you'll still be out of the same old-same old routine; changing it up will probably make you more energized to return to your home school.

Guest post by freelance writer Michelle Fabio, About.com Guide to Law School, who also writes about how to choose the best online master degree program for you.

Tutoring Works

DrRick.Blog.nospam@nospam.SylvanLearning.com (Dr. Rick) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:22:00 -0500

Regular readers of the Dr. Rick Blog will recognize this bit of advice I’ve given innumerable times: If you suspect that your child is having academic trouble in one or more subjects, get help right away. Don’t put it off. Little problems grow into big ones. The last thing you want is for your child to fall behind in school and his confidence to deteriorate. Low confidence leads to negative feelings about school.

Low confidence. Yuck. We all know what that leads to.

Where to go for help? There are plenty of teachers who selflessly and without much credit come to school early and stay late to work with students who need extra help. There’s a special place in heaven for them. There are National Honor Society high school students who can help. And there are professional tutors who specialize in providing the extra leg-up students need from time to time.

The company I work for, Sylvan Learning (www.sylvanlearning.com), is the nation’s largest – and in my humble opinion the best – tutoring company. It’s celebrating its 30^th anniversary this year and has helped close to two million students catch up, keep up, or get ahead. I’ve seen it work. I wouldn’t stay here for so many years if it didn’t.

Yes, tutoring works. It’s worked for centuries. An expert in a particular subject works individually with a student. The tutor watches the student’s progress each minute of instruction, recognizes when the student hits a rough patch, and smoothes the way, answering questions and providing help immediately.

Every classroom teacher wishes she could do this with each of her students.

If you’re considering tutoring but don’t know what to look for, here’s what research from the U.S. Department of Education says. It specifically studied tutoring in reading, but the results are just as meaningful in math and other subjects.

Research is key. Tutoring programs that incorporate research-based elements produce improvements in reading achievement. Reading skills like word recognition, passage reading accuracy, spelling and comprehension made significant progress.
The effects are broad. Tutoring can also lead to improvements in self-confidence about reading, motivation for reading, and behavior.
Work with the classroom teacher. Tutoring works best when it’s coordinated with the classroom instruction. No surprise here.
Tutors need training. Tutors who receive intensive and continuous training are more effective than tutors who don’t. Again, no surprise. If you’re looking for a tutor, ask about the training he’s received.
Sessions need to be organized. Structured tutoring sessions, designed with students’ needs in mind and well-rehearsed by tutors, work best.
Monitor carefully. Look for strong reinforcement of skills and progress, a high number of learning experiences in which the student moves from being fully supported to working independently, and plenty of explicit demonstration.
Frequency matters. The research recommends frequent and regular tutoring sessions, with each session lasting up to sixty minutes. More sessions a week result in greater gains. As I’ve often said and written, learning – like sports or art – takes practice. The more, the better.
Interview your tutor. Before hiring a tutor, check out his or her credentials, experiences, ideas about learning, track record, and fondness for kids. Lots of people know math, for example, but not everyone can teach it.
Ask to see results. Expect to see periodic results, your child’s work progress, examples of work, and improvement in school.
Ask your child. How does your child feel about the experience? Can you sense her confidence improving? Does her attitude about school seem to be improving? A good tutoring experience can turn a kid around.

All of us parents, teachers, and significant adults in children’s lives want the very best for our kids. We want them to enjoy learning, to get the best instruction from teachers who love children and who love to teach. We want to give them healthy and useful attitudes about learning that will serve them well all their lives. We want our children to have the great good fortune to come from families who value lifelong learning.

When a child encounters a speed bump along the way – what child doesn’t? – it’s up to us to get help right away and be informed about what help is best.

Talking About School

DrRick.Blog.nospam@nospam.SylvanLearning.com (Dr. Rick) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:11:00 -0500

Regular readers of this blog know that I strongly believe in daily – or near daily – parent and child conversations about school. These conversations begin as soon as your child goes off to kindergarten, and they continue until she walks across the stage at graduation twelve or sixteen years later.

Easier said than done.

Why is it so difficult to talk to kids about school, especially the older ones, the reticent teens who make us feel like inquisitors? Maybe we take the responsibility so seriously we spook ourselves and our kids? Maybe we start too late?

Here are some useful tips I’ve gathered over the years from my own experiences and those of parents and students with whom I’ve worked.

Find the right time. As soon as he gets home from school is probably not the best time to start chattering about How Was School Today? Take it easy. Let him know you’re glad to see him, and let it go at that for a while. There needs to be some school-free time for most kids. Once the two of you have discovered the right time, build a routine around it. Snack time and treats are good components for a relaxed and free conversation.

Be a role model. I’ve noticed how kids like to hear stories about our own experiences, as long as they don’t become often-repeated sermons. They learn conversation skills from watching and listening to us, so let’s be good role models for them. Talk about what went on in your day – a challenge you rose to meet, an assignment at work that stretches your skills – and watch how they pay attention. They might, just might, relate it to their own experiences. They learn to talk by listening to us. They learn to listen when we listen carefully.

Converse. It’s a conversation, not an inquisition. Keep the tone light, subtle, and informal. Show interest. Listen actively with eye contact, no interruptions, and a concentration on feelings as well as words. Make them feel as if there’s no one else you’d rather be with at this moment. Ask questions later.

Show your values. These are good times for kids to learn our values. Without preaching, show how you admire persistence, effort, honesty, respect for others, and a sense of humor. Tell him he’s smart, but insist on seeing his homework.

Let them come to you. Sometimes the best strategy is to play it cool. If they’re not interested in talking when you’re interested, let them know you’re available. Adults with kids are always on duty.

Ask specific questions. Specific questions, rather than general ones, will get better, more interesting, more helpful responses. Ask, “Did you have a good day?” and you’re going to get a yes-or-no answer. Ask, “How’d auditions for the school play go? Tell me about your song,” and you’ll get a different response.

Use other information sources. Sometimes you’re just going to have to get information from other sources, like the school newsletter, PTA meetings, and emails to teachers. Don’t consider this a failure of communication with your child.

Monitor. When you are talking, listen carefully for special topics of interest. Problems in math class? Get help. An emerging interest in a sport, music, or some other extracurricular activity? Encourage it. Behavior problems in class? Address them with the teacher.

Keep talking. They’re listening. Really, they are.

Talk to other parents. Ask them what their secrets are to keeping up useful, friendly, nurturing conversations with their kids. Chances are, you’ll learn that it’s a trial-and-error process for them, too. No one has The Right Answer. Share success stories with one another.

Are Learning Styles Bunk

DrRick.Blog.nospam@nospam.SylvanLearning.com (Dr. Rick) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:41:00 -0500

For over a generation we educators have heard much about students’ learning styles. Some students are visual learners, some are auditory. Others are kinesthetic, tactile, interpersonal, linguistic, or social. There’s been research into these different ways of learning for years, and the works of Howard Gardner, for example, have changed the way teachers teach and schools are run. They’ve become dogma. (I’ve often poked fun at myself and my colleagues at education conferences that at the name of Gardner all knees should bow, to paraphrase the Epistle to the Philippians.)

There’s something intuitive about this research. Every parent of more than one child knows that no two kids learn alike. Teachers have known the same thing forever, and we’ve adjusted our lessons and approaches long before “learning styles” became a mantra in education circles. (Why do you think teachers brought to class apple pies to cut into halves, quarters, and eighths to teach fractions? They were adjusting their lessons for “visual learners” before the phrase was born.) Common sense and daily practice told us that not all kids learn in the same way.

That same common sense and daily practice told us that not all kids learn on the same day. We knew that some kids took longer to get to certain “benchmarks” than others, but eventually, with the right teaching and practices, kids could get there. Patience and persistence have always been teachers’ best friends.

Learning style research and popular books were game-changers in schools. Curricula and teaching centered around learning styles. We even taught kids to “identify” their own “preferred learning style.” Lots of kids can tell us their learning style, but they can’t add three digits, identify the three branches of government, or use an apostrophe correctly. Maybe we went a little too far.

Now I read an opinion from University of Virginia cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham in The Washington Post that “Student Learning Styles Theory is Bunk.” (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/daniel-willingham/the-big-idea-behind-learning.html) He posits that “the theory of learning styles doesn’t really celebrate the differences among children. On the contrary, the point is to categorize kids.”

Hmm.

Perhaps he’s right that “there just doesn’t seem to be much evidence that kids learn in fundamentally different ways.”

I’ll let the university researchers fight among themselves and conduct more research projects and gather more data and hold more symposia.

In the meantime, actual teachers in classrooms with actual children continue to recognize that children come to us with an infinite variety of interests, backgrounds (“prior knowledge”), needs, talents, and personalities. Professor Willingham concedes that not all kids are the same, nor should they all be taught the same way. So what does all this arguing tell me?

It tells me that we may not have all the “labels” correct, but the fundamental truth – not all kids learn in the same way or on the same day – is still evident every day.

It tells me that education research always has and always will continue to give us theories that we praise one day and debunk the next. (I survived teaching in open classrooms.)

It tells me that if it’s a science at all, education is an inexact one. Researchers like to think it’s a science, and they tell us that “data will make us free.” But for us folks in the schools, it’s more an art. In fact it seems the further you get from children, the less art and more science you encounter.

It tells me the truth lies somewhere in the middle, as always. Teachers need to know the research to give them general guidance in their daily practice. Researchers need to investigate what practices seem to work best. But we all need to recognize that, because of childhood’s fleeting nature, our time with children is short. It demands common sense, affection, a search for truth, and, yes, patience and persistence.

Be it ever thus.