The Innovative Educator

Students Unite to Provide a Platform for The Missing Voice in Ed Reform

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:18:00 +0000

Join The Student Union
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheStudentUnion

Education reform has been a hot topic this week in general and in particular it took center stage in our nation’s State of the Union address. But there’s an important voice that has been missing from this conversation. That is the voice of students. There’s been a lot of talk lately about the need to hear student voices in the education reform conversation.

Here are some of the articles I’ve read and written on the topic this week.

Youth Rights, Dignity, and the Anti-Democratic Values of Public Schooling

Learning Revolution. Are you ready?

#SOTU Inspired A Replacement For Standardized Tests | Edudemic

Education: not ready to listen?

Do we really want to listen to our children?

Listen to the students before it's too late.

Hey Mr.Knowitall, 2 Weeks Detention…For Talking Seriously About Education

I Feel Sorry for Kids In School. Every. Single. One.

There is now a place where young people who want their voices heard can come together to connect, communicate, collaborate, create, and come together to strategize on ways to transform learning in our country. These young people are writing books, publishing in online spaces and magazines, organizing protests, and more. They want adults to start hearing what they have to say before it’s too late. They welcome supportive adults to the group as well. The role of adults in the group is to listen and spread their message to other adults who care about children.

If you care about our shared future and want to help our youth, please invite any young people you know to join this incredible group called "The Student Union" at http://www.facebook.com/groups/TheStudentUnion.

Education: not ready to listen?

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:39:00 +0000

Guest post By Adora Svitak | Cross posted on Adora's blog

Editor's Note: This is the third post published at The Innovative Educator on this topic. The first post was Do we really want to listen to our children? The second post was Listen to the students before it's too late.

The customer knows best.” It’s an adage seemingly old as time (for us young’uns, anyway). While it’s not always the case (as anyone who has worked an intense over-the-phone customer service job before may know), it’s certainly always valuable for businesses to listen to what clients are saying–whether surveys, market research, or feedback cards, many businesses have some structure in place to listen to their customers. And public feedback can have an important impact–Bank of America cancelled its $5-a-month debit card fee before it even began due to customer backlash.

In almost every area of the private and public sectors (think of representatives meeting with constituents or city hall meetings), there are ways for “customers”–those receiving the services or being represented–to make their voices heard. So why should education be any different?

Education? you might think. Surely there are those school board meetings or PTAs? But a crucial voice is missing in education: that of the student’s. How often do classroom teachers ask students to provide them with feedback on how their teaching could be improved so students learn better? When was the last time administrators sat down with students and gave them decision-making power or at least input–no, not just over the theme of the Homecoming Dance or how to decorate the school for the holidays, but important issues like curriculum, required courses, or assessment?

I’m asking these questions because of an email from a prestigious education membership organization that my mom recently received in response to talks about a potential book I was hoping to write (that would bring issues of student voice, reciprocal learning, and education technology to the forefront). It said that based on their research, the education community “is not yet ready to receive the message from a student.”

If the education community is unable or unwilling to receive a message about education from a student, I think we have problems. We’d find it unacceptable if our representatives suddenly started refusing to meet with constituents or if companies like Bank of America kept on charging ridiculous fees despite public uproar. Yet we accept that education doesn’t want to hear from students? We are the “customers” of our nation’s schools. It’s in our interest to learn in the best way we can–many of my fellow students have plenty of wise insights that I think could help change education for the better–but that simply won’t happen if the adults in the room are covering their ears.

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A prolific short story writer and blogger since age seven, Adora Svitak (now 14) speaks around the United States to adults and children as an advocate for literacy and education transformation! Adora just started The Student Union a group she started to bring student voices to education reform. She believes “Students + education leaders = positive change If you’re a student with insights to share about your education or education leader (teacher, policy maker, educational service district administrator, librarian, media specialist, whoever can have an impact on kids’ education), ask to join”

Parents Debate the Ban on Cell Phones in Class

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:20:00 +0000

Guest post by Lisa Cooley | Cross posted at The Minds of Kids

An interesting conversation took place this morning between my daughter, her two middle-school-age friends, my husband and I. It was about cell phones in school; the general complaint from the girls was about the ban on using cell phones, even at lunchtime.

The conversation turned to the ban in classrooms, and my husband, who I have apparently failed to bring up to speed on cell phone issues, brought up what he felt to be an issue of common courtesy: that kids should have cell phones turned off when in class, and their attention turned to the person who is trying to teach them. Reasonable, right?

My riposte: if a teacher can't hold someone's interest enough to keep their eyes away from their iPhones, what are you accomplishing by banning them? At first he was held up by the common courtesy thing, but I hammered away at the whole give-and-get-respect thing, and if he wasn't a quivering mass at the end of it....

Nah, he wasn't a quivering mass; he still holds that until the great education transformation,when all kids are pursuing their passions in and out of the classroom, we should still ask kids to be courteous to the teacher by leaving cell phones off.

A lot of people haven't yet considered that when kids sneak peaks at their phones, when their fingers itch for the keypad during a lecture, it isn't a story that begins and ends with teaching simple manners. Yes, we need to expect common courtesy, but we also need to read the signs when we don't get it.

The message is that what kids are being asked to learn doesn't interest them. The attractive immediacy of connecting with their friends matters more. Contact with the living, instead of the dead material they are supposed to be learning, matters to them.

So what, my husband asks, if half the class is distracted by the other half that are texting away?
Why does that other half have to be in a class that doesn't interest them?

Unfortunately our whole system of education is based on kids learning stuff they don't care about. Oh, sometimes there is a connection between kids and the content; a stopped clock is right twice a day, too. You can't defend a system because once in awhile a kid is genuinely engaged.

The first job of education is to find out what learning trajectory kids are already on. Ideally, it'll happen so soon in their educations that they won't grow up completely negative and pessimistic about the relevance of anything that might happen in the classroom.

If they don't seem to have a learning trajectory, it really isn't rocket science to find it.

Not only do we need to design schools that allow kids to connect to learning that matters to them, but we need to allow them to do it with their cell phones. I'm not an expert in how, but there are some good minds who are, (See Lisa Nielsen and Willyn Webb, who wroteTeaching Generation Text) and kids probably could come up with some ideas of their own. This is one of those things that also falls into the category of "not rocket science."

My husband's reaction is a very easily understood one. When we look at a problem or issue (especially in education), we don't always look under the hood and see what's really wrong; sometimes an issue seems clear, and we take it for granted that we have a good grasp of it. We don't associate the problem (a simple avoidance of classroom rudeness) with another problem (we're not producing learners).

It seems excusable for adults to be rude to students in big ways (i.e. an institutional disregard for what they believe to be important), but not OK for them to be rude to us in little ways (fiddling with cell phones in class).

There are lots of problems in schools that can be associated with a disengaged student body. This one not only has a solution, but one that has potential to teach the teachers as well as the students. Don't make kids power down when they go to school. Allow them to power up and pursue their learning with the technology that our generation provided and made irresistible to them, and that they love.

Lisa Cooley is a parent, violin teacher, glass beadmaker, school board member, and school change agitator from central Maine. She blogs at http://mindsofkids.blogspot.com

Help NYC Public Schoolers with GrayMatter

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Guest post by Jeremy Meyers

Last year, my friends and I were NYC public high schoolers who needed resources for our own educational interests. Soon after we learned that many of our friends at different high schools similarly needed resources to ace AP tests, research microbes, and attend debate conferences. We had to made due without the materials we needed for our classes and extracurriculars and then focused our time on creating GrayMatter so that other innovative students like ourselves would be able to get the resources they need to learn.

GrayMatter enables anyone to help NYC public high schoolers get resources they need for school. All they have to do is visit www.graymatter.it to contribute to a project of choice, and get photos and thank-you notes from the students you reach.
Above: Screenshot of GrayMatter’s website. Choose a project to donate to and give--it’s just like an online shopping cart. Current projects are requests from NYC public high schoolers, and we look forward to reaching more students in the future.

An innovative teacher seeks creative ways to impart her knowledge onto her students. However, as students grow older, moving into secondary and higher education, they need to be innovative for themselves. As students develop into unique people, they develop unique ways of learning along with unique goals and interests. Sometimes those interests aren’t represented in the curriculum or in the selection of existing after-school activities, especially with budget cuts demanding larger class sizes and fewer extra programs. Innovation on the part of students is required.

Expressing these unique interests requires resources and funds. Tausif of Staten Island learned this when he realized that his school couldn’t afford to quench his yearning to enhance his knowledge of the bass. Tausif soon realized he had to be innovative to embrace this interest which was gradually becoming a passion. He turned to GrayMatter for help. Other students who have used GrayMatter have similar stories and came to the same conclusion: schools are not capable of catering to individual needs, aspirations, and interests. GrayMatter channels students’ innovative ideas and interests into an effective way to bring them into reality.

Jim, president of a community service club at his high school in Brooklyn, wanted to improve his club’s reach and leadership by attending a regional training conference. His school couldn’t provide him with the funds necessary for himself and a fellow officer to attend. Jim visited our website, www.GrayMatter.it, signed up for an account, and created a project by writing an essay about himself, his school, and how participating at the conference would impact himself and his club. After Jim’s project was approved by a the club’s teacher advisor, our team reviewed it and posted it on our website for anyone to contribute to.

So far 19 donors have contributed almost $400, all of which goes to Jim’s project (and none of which goes to support our organization). When Jim’s project is fully funded in the next few weeks, our team will use its funds to pay for the two students to attend the conference. As they attend the conference, the pair will take pictures and upload these pictures and a thank you note to the donors on our website. GrayMatter enables anyone to become a philanthropist and directly see the impact they have made and the educational innovation they have sponsored.

Please help these students in need: www.GrayMatter.it/projects
Like us on facebook: www.facebook.com/GrayMatterfdn
Follow us on Twitter: @GrayMatterfdn

Listen to the students before it's too late

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:25:00 +0000

Our country has made many advances when it comes to human rights, equality, and discrimination. Women and minorities are allowed to vote and own land. Salaries of men and women are coming more into alignment. People of different races are given the freedom to marry and states are moving toward giving marriage equality to couples of same sex. We still have a way to go when it comes to discrimination, but we are making progress in a number of areas with the exception of one group that is making no progress at all.

This group’s rights are being horribly violated. They are being denied the right to have a say in matters directly affecting their daily lives. They are being forced and coerced into doing things they don’t want to do and are having harm inflicted upon them in more and more ways. They are having their belongings confiscated from them like prisoners and are banned from things that free members of our society have access to. Those who stand up and speak out are often drugged into compliance. They are being silenced and told their voice does NOT matter, they have no say, and our nation is not ready to hear them. They are our nation’s second class citizens.

The group being discriminated against is school children.

Ironically, the refusal to hear and consider the voices of children, may very well be what leads to the demise of the public schooling institution as we know it. Kids are smart. In many ways, especially when it comes to technology and social media, kids are often smarter than the adults who are trying to control them. Students are using social media to connect and take a stand on a variety of issues. They are staging protests and boycotts. They are telling educational software providers that they hate their product. They are starting their own student-led schools and they are uniting to opt out of high-stakes tests.

Now there’s a new way for students who want a voice in ed reform to have one. High school student, international speaker, and author, Adora Svitak has formed a new group on Facebook called The Student Union. This group is designed to bring students (and adults who support them) together on issues that affect them. In many cases these will be the issues where they have been silenced for far too long.

The first issue they are uniting on is this:

Adora Svitak
Alright, how about this for a first topic:

Technology in education.

Students, how do you want to see technology being used in education? How is it being used (badly or well) in your current learning environment?

Here are some of their conclusions. Adults should be listening.

Technology Implementation in Education

1. Replace expensive schoolwide solutions like interactive whiteboards with more easily accessible, properly functioning technology (laptops to check out/bring your own device)

2. Live streaming and recording classes so that students are not hampered by inability to come to class in-person/can watch lessons again any time. (Ustream, Livestream, YouTube, etc.--all free).

See all responses are here.

Adora was inspired to start the group after a series of rejections by education organizations who were shutting her out of the ability to take part in the education conversation. Can you imagine that? Educators and educational institutions are telling students that they have no place in the conversation about matters affecting them. I’m not surprised by this as my own efforts to include student voice in the education conversation have frequently been dismissed. Most recently in the conversation of teacher evaluation I have brought up the point that students must be included in this conversation. Below is a typical reaction this idea receives:

Lisa --in a perfect world I would love to have student input as formal components of the evaluation; but it's silly to merely lambaste an approach for a specific school district culture because student input is not formally incorporated.

Lambasting an approach for a gross omission is not silly. What is silly is to even consider any approach to teacher evaluation that doesn’t incorporate students. Sadly, I stand in the ed reform minority. In the national conversation about teacher evaluation, you rarely hear students mentioned.

The silencing and discrimination against students is is not by accident. It is by design. The students know it. They want to be heard but feel helpless in a system that refuses to consider them as these two high school students shared on The Student Union.

Blake Copeland ‎
If only the teachers and administrators would include students in the process it would accelerate the whole process and make it smoother. The schools do not see the students as an untapped resource like they should.

Ethan Perrin
A while back a bunch of students and I were frustrated with the curriculum of our social studies and English classes so we wrote a letter voicing our concerns. Not even a class discussion followed, though we requested it.

It is no longer acceptable to leave our, capable, brilliant, creative, and passionate students out of the conversation. They have a voice and a right to be heard. If the adults in the world won’t bother listening, there is very little stopping students from taking matters into their own hands. There are people already doing this like Dale Stephens whose Uncollege movement is providing the world with an alternative to the often over-priced and inadequate services offered by colleges whose diploma is no longer the key to employment. Students know today’s industrialized model of school where they are ranked and sorted by their ability to compliantly memorize and regurgitate will do nothing to lead to their success in life. Families across the nation are supporting their children in leaving school at higher rates than ever before and finding that they can have very successful lives without school.

There is nothing stopping students from taking ownership of their learning when it comes to secondary school as well. While all the adult ed reformers and unions are fighting over how to analyze, rather than inspire, today’s youth, the students may very well take matters into their own hands and leave behind a system that doesn’t value THEIR voice and THEIR success. If you want to be a part of this solution, join your friends at The Student Union.

Do we really want to listen to our children?

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:08:00 +0000

If you’ve been listening to the conversation about ed reform you may have noticed that there is one group whose voice is missing. That group is students and it’s not for lack of trying. Students want to be heard and they have a lot of smart things to say, but adults are often reluctant to listen. The problem is pervasive and overt with many organizations having no remorse or misgivings engaging in such practices.

Until now, these activities went largely unnoticed. This is no longer acceptable. It’s time to blast these doors open. Identify institutions that are engaging in discriminatory practices. Take a stand and tell these organizations that age discrimination is not okay. We can no longer leave out the most important stakeholders in the education reform conversation. Not only is this not okay, but students, educators, parents, and anyone who cares should boycott organizations that engage in such ageist beliefs. It is outrageous that such discrimination and silencing is targeted at the very people they should be serving.

One such student who has been blatantly discriminated against is Adora Svitak. A prolific short story writer and blogger since age seven, Adora (now 14) speaks around the United States to adults and children as an advocate for literacy and education transformation! In response to this discrimination, Adora has started The Student Union. This is a group designed to bring student voices to education reform. She believes “Students + education leaders = positive change.

We need to be concerned because if somebody like Adora, who has credibility through years of working in the public eyes, is denied of access to share her voice, what about other students who have equal brilliant things to say about their education? Many of them have been told their voice doesn't matter, does not deserve to be heard, or is not wanted. These young people are often shut down before a struggle can even begin. To be clear, this is not about Adora not having a place to speak, this is about all the children don't have a place to speak. Adora has not been rejected because of her ideas, but rather because of her age. A class of people, not a person has, been dismissed. Adora's story is a concrete demonstration of the unjust and harsh reality that our adults have created to shut our children out.

To follow is the type of discrimination taking place within the organizations that inspired Adora to start her online student activism group.

Scholastic
Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education and media company, has a corporate mission supported through all of its divisions of helping children around the world to read and learn. They are focused on encouraging children to learn to read and love to learn, helping teachers carry out their important jobs and supporting parents in their role as their child’s first teacher.

Discriminatory act: Scholastic contacted Adora for a picture because they wanted to use her TED speech in their paid website program, but they refused to consider any of her book ideas. They unabashedly shared this as their reason: We don't work with child authors.
Response: It is hypocritical and unethical for a children’s book publishing, education, and media company to refuses to work with the people they say they say they are serving. A publishing company that is sending a message to young people that they are not worthy of being considered as authors is discriminating against their very audience, not based on quality or message, but based on age.
Call to action

Boycott: If you are a reader of books, support companies that support children authors. Scholastic is not one of them.
Facebook: Let them know student voices matter at their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Scholastic

Sample update: Scholastic should stop discriminating against children. We believe you can be an author at any age. Why don’t you? What will it take to get you to lift your blanket policy against working with children authors? We’d love to read a book by Adora Svitak and other young people. Stop censoring children.

Twitter: Send them a Tweet at @Scholastic

Sample Tweet: Tell @Scholastic to stop discriminating against students & start working w/children authors. #thestudentunion https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheStudentUnion

ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)
This educational leadership organization with 150,000 members says they are dedicated to advancing best practices and policies for the success of students. Their members are professional educators from all levels and subject areas––superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of education, and school board members.

Discriminatory act: Adora proposed a book idea to ASCD after speaking at their conference. The book would bring issues of student voice, reciprocal learning, and education technology to the forefront. Adora was told that the project was not something that ASCD can pursue because based on their research, the educational community is not yet ready to receive the message from a student.
Response: Any member of the ASCD should know that they belong to an organization that believes it’s members are those who aren’t ready to hear from students. If you are an educator that doesn’t want to hear from children, you are in the wrong profession. If you are an educator that does want to hear from children, and you are a member of ASCD, you should know that you belong to an organization that condones the silencing of and discrimination against students.
Call to action

Membership: If you are a member of ASCD that is offended that they believe you are not ready to hear from kids revoke your membership.
Contact: The 2012 ASCD Annual Report is title “The Value of Each Voice.”
Let them know whose voices they are missing.
Write to President of ASCD is Sarah Magana Shubelor. Exec. Director/CEO is Gene R. Carter Snail mail: 1703 N. Beauregard St. | Alexandria, VA 22311-1714 USA
Facebook: Let ASCD know student voices matter at their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ascd.org

Sample message: Ready or not young people have big ideas about education reform and the ASCD should not silence them. Stop age censorship and discrimination and give authors of all ages an opportunity to share ideas and lend their voice to the important conversation of education reform.

Twitter: Send them a Tweet at @ascd. Tweet abt them using #ASCD.

Sample Tweet: #ASCD thinks adults aren't ready to hear student voices re: #edreform. Tell them they're wrong! #TheStudentUnion https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheStudentUnion/

Children*s Festival
A world-renowned festival of performing arts for young audiences, the Vancouver International Children's Festival has been educating, entertaining and inspiring young audiences since 1978.

Discriminatory act: After posting Adora’s teaching video, her mom contacted them about having Adora present at the festival. They responded saying, “At this point we do not invite children authors but that could change.”
Response: It is absurd that a children’s festival does not invite or allow children to present. It is outrageous that an organization whose mission is to educate, entertain, and inspire young people also discriminates against them. This organization is happy to take ticket money from children and invite them to attend, but they don’t want to do business with them.
Call to action

Contact: The Children’s Festival (http://www.childrensfestival.ca/contact_us.php) and let them know you will not be attending if they continue to discriminate against young people. Tell others to do the same.
Facebook: Write on the Children’s Festival wall on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KidsFest.

Sample message: The Children’s Festival should stop making policies that discriminate against children. Age should not be the solitary factor in the refusal of a person to present. Stop the discrimination. Change your position. Let Adora Svitak present.

Twitter: Send a Tweet to @vicf and let them know that children should not be discriminated against.

Sample Tweet: Tell @vicf they should change their position & stop discriminating against children. Let Adora present. #Thestudentunion

Schools
Our tax dollars go to support institutions of learning that are entrusted with our most precious resources. These institutions should be responsive to those whose tax dollars they are collecting. The government should not overstep its bounds when it comes to educating children.

Discriminatory act: Most schools are governed without considering student voice. Rules are made for students, but they have no say in them. Classes and teachers are chosen for students whether they like it or not. Teachers and schools are evaluated without the insights or input of the very people they were created to serve.
Response: Schools should be incorporating students into the decisions that govern them. They should also give students input when it comes to what kind of job their teachers are doing. Students should have a say in what they learn, how they learn, and who they learn from.
Call to action

Tell: Tell schools how you feel.
Facebook: If students are dismissed, they can start a Facebook group for their school to unite, share their ideas and how they might implement them. Join other students around the world to share ideas about student rights and ed reform at The Student Union.
Twitter: If your school is not honoring student voice Tweet about it. Use (or create) your school’s hashtag and #TheStudentUnion. Tell your school student’s deserve a voice.

Sample Tweet: Students at #YourSchool deserve to have a voice. Who will support us? #TheStudentUnion

Adora Svitak is not alone. There are students being brushed aside and shut out of education conversations by the adults in schools and organizations around the world. This is no longer acceptable. Students want to be heard, acknowledged, and included in the conversations that affect them. Are you ready to listen? If so, join Adora and other students and those who support student voice at The Student Union.

The Hottest Posts This Week!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 10:13:00 +0000

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog this week. Below you’ll see the top weekly posts along with the number of pageviews. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you. If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired, share it with others and/or leave a comment.

10 Reasons Cell Phones Should Be Allowed In School...

Aug 24, 2010, 21 comments 2,078 Pageviews

A Dream to Be Free At Last From State Standardized Tests...

Jan 16, 2012, 34 comments 2,010 Pageviews

Cure ADHD without Drugs with These Resources from ...

Feb 5, 2011, 22 comments 1,674 Pageviews

Are schools making our children illiterate...

Jan 20, 2012, 10 comments 1,671 Pageviews

Reasons an innovative educator likes the Google Chromebooks...

Jan 19, 2012 1,388 Pageviews

The Ten No Nos of Teaching with a Projector or Smartboard..

May 10, 2010, 37 comments 1,383 Pageviews

Innovative Educators Don’t Say, “Hand It In.” They Say Publish It!

Nov 22, 2009, 33 comments 1,365 Pageviews

Why an innovative educator cares about homeschooling...

Jan 12, 2012, 10 comments 1,326 Pageviews

On-Demand Support for Your Writing for Free ...

Jan 17, 2012 1,280 Pageviews

Are schools making our children illiterate to make a profit?

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:20:00 +0000

Professional writer and filmmaker Peter Kowalke didn't start reading until he was 11 which wasn't a problem for him because he didn't go to school. He explained it to me this way.

In school you read about doing things. I preferred to spend my early childhood doing things rather than reading about doing things.

He shared that this wasn't even something he thought about much. When learning to read independently became more of a priority for him, he began picking up reading and from that point on there was no turning back. Peter is not unusual. Dr. Peter Gray studies young people who were never schooled because they were unschooled or attended a Democratic school. The age these children learned to read has a wide range from about 4 - 14 years old. He found that when not coerced or forced, EVERY child learns to read well and by age 15 it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between a child who began reading at 4 and one who began in later years. (Note: This did not include children with severe cognitive impairment or those who don't speak English.) For those unfamiliar with unschooling or Democratic schooling, it provides children with a natural learning environment where they have access to plenty of resources and support, but learning is not forced and children are given the freedom to learn what they choose when they choose.

From Students First

There is plenty of information, research, and numerous case studies that point to the fact learning to read and write will come as naturally to children as learning to walk and talk if provided a literate and supportive environment where passions are honored. Unfortunately, school was not designed this way. In school all children are expected to learn at the same rate and in the same way and if they don't, they are labeled, left back, and left out. What's more, in today's accountability climate, the same is happening to many of their teachers.

Most recently, we've been led to believe the cure to the literacy problem in our country can be solved by testing even more. It is thought that this will enable us to figure out where the problems lie within each student and determine who the "bad teachers" are so we can replace them with others who are good at getting the mandated results. But does obsessively dissecting what a student is doing really help them get better? Imagine if we did this while children were learning to walk or talk? Can't all this lab rat analysis take the joy out of what the child is doing? We also need to ask ourselves, are our best teachers really those who can produce good test takers? Ironically, there is new research coming out that indicates that standardized testing leads to a dramatic decrease in the joy of reading. Perhaps even more importantly, education expert Alfie Kohn explain how teachers are killing students motivation to read by relying on coercion and extrinsic inducements.

Could this all be on purpose? All this focus on testing and forcing has resulted in a nation where an alarming 67% of 4th grade students are being identified as not being able to read proficiently by the arbitrary time government officials say they should be. Could it be that the government is wrong about when it is that students should be proficient and by forcing a factory model of learning they are actually keeping students behind? Could it be that Americans are being purposely mislead to feed the money-hungry testing and publishing companies that are now literally pulling in billions of dollars? After all, like it or not, this is huge business! These are companies that are backing and supporting politicians. These are the companies who came together and stood arm in arm with the politicians from each state in the creation of the Common Core standards and now stand to make billions in profits . Are American schools actually causing the illiteracy issue because it results in a tremendous amount of money for big business rather than useful resources for children?

And, come on! Let's face it. Teachers were trained to develop materials for teaching and they are experts at assessment. Why on earth do we need to pay someone else to do the work teachers were hired to do?

If 2/3rds of children aren't reading on level, isn't it clear that perhaps it is not the children or the teachers that are the issue??? Maybe the developmental level identified is wrong or maybe there is purposely a curriculum in place that makes us want to do more testing, test-prepping, and publishing of materials to meet a "crisis" that is non-existent for those who venture to learn to read and write without the benefit of school.

Perhaps this chart below explains the impetus to do this to children. With 5.3 billion dollars out there for the taking, there is a significant incentive to perpetuate the problem.

A little less coercion, force, and mandating that every person achieves by date of manufacture can go a long way in saving our children and saving dollars for our education system. Will this happen? Probably not. There are too many people who stand to profit off our children.

You can keep the conversation about this going on my Facebook page here or in my learning group here.

Reasons an innovative educator likes the Google Chromebook and some things I'd like improved

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:31:00 +0000

I have been using Google’s Chromebook for the couple months, and while there were some things I don’t like, overall, it has moved up as my top recommendation for a learning device for a number of reasons. Schools will love that it eliminates the need to purchase software licenses, servers, costly security solutions, and maintenance plans.

The total cost of owning a Chromebook is up to 70% lower than the ownership costs for a traditional PC. After 3 years, schools receive a whole new set of Chromebooks and can keep their original set (without cloud management or ongoing support) at no charge. Currently Chromebooks go for $449 per device with service for one year ($519 with 3G) or $20 per month per device with an optional $3 per month cost for 3G. Schools should have some of these on hand for students without internet at home. The monthly option includes the hardware and operating system, updates, cloud-based management, and complete support. The one time purchase provides this for one year. This eliminates the time-consuming maintenance tasks like imaging, installing patches, and data recovery which schools often are not equipped to handle.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE DEVICE

It’s fast!

If you’re like me, you don’t like to waste time. My previous laptop took 8 minutes to start up. Not with the Chromebook where you can enjoy “instant on.” You open it, it's on. You close it, it’s off. Additionally, the Chrome browser is faster than any other I’ve used.

A production machine

Provided you're comfortable working in the cloud (and you should be), creating content is quick and easy with Chromebook.

The production apps I use most often include the following:

Word Processing and Spreadsheets - Google apps
Presentations - Prezi or Google Presentation
Video upload and editing - YouTube
Blogging - Blogger
Social media: Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus
Working offline: Scratchpad

Because of speed and ease of use, I find the Chromebook my go to device surpassing my iPad, iTouch, or traditional laptop.

Google App Marketplace

The Google App Marketplace has a ton of free apps that are great for productivity and education. You can see which ones I like best at The Innovative Educator's Picks for the Google Chrome Extensions in The App Marketplace.

You don’t have to go to a search engine to search. You just type what you’re searching for right in the box where you typically type in a URL.

Worry Elimination

Bugs and viruses
Because the device is in the cloud, you don’t worry about bugs or viruses and you don’t get those annoying McAfee Antivirus warnings and advertisements.
Machine won’t slow down
On a traditional device, before you know it, it has been slowed down with a bunch of software that you never wanted permanently and slows down your device. For the truly sophisticated user you can engage in re-installing the operating system, updating your registry, clearing your cache, etc.
Image
You never have to worry about updating your image. It’s tied to your Google Account and you or your administrator can customize it to your liking.

Device interchangeability and indestructibility
For those who’ve been responsible for one-to-one deployments, it isn’t uncommon to hear it isn’t quite the panacea it is touted to be. Today, what’s important is that students can access “their” work anytime, anywhere. Providing ubiquitous access with Chromebooks rather than the traditional one-to-one not only eliminates imaging issues, but now, customizing a device is no longer a problem since you log on with your Google account. As a result, the devices become nearly indestructible. Additionally, many of the inventory issues that have become a nightmare and burden for some one-to-one schools are virtually eliminated.

Battery Life

The Chromebook lasts a full day. That’s right. You can go 8 hours straight. This means you don’t have to worry about powercords and having outlets available all around the room. I love having a device that doesn’t require me to travel with a clunky and weighty powercord.

WHAT I DON’T LIKE OR IS HARD GETTING USED TO

Crashing

I was surprised to find that the browser crashes a lot. When this happens you have the option to “kill pages” or “wait." My advice: always choose "kill." If you don't the machine typically freezes up and you have to restart...though with the quick start up time, that's not so bad. What I don’t like is that there is no ctrl alt delete / force quit. The device seems to crash about once every three hours even after following troubleshooting directions for extensive crashing. I am hoping this is an issue that Google is working on.

Thing you can’t do

There are several programs that I use often that I can’t access with the Chromebook. These include the following:

Skype
While there are alternatives to Skype like Google Video and Google Hangout, Skype has become the standard that most people want to use to connect.
Webinars
I hosted two webinars and was surprised to find neither webinar provider runs on Chrome. I had to get another device.
iTunes
I think it is ridiculous that iTunes is not a cloud-only service. I believe it is moving in that direction but Apple doesn’t play nice with Google, so we’ll have to wait-and-see if this will become available for Chromebooks.
USB for Wireless Internet There may be a way to make my wireless usb work, but I haven't figured it out. If it can be activated, it is not intuitive, and my hunch is that it can not. A MiFi card however, does work.
No Java or Silverlight support This means I can't do things like screencasts. This will be a big issue for some educators.

Keyboard

Google has decided to reconfigure parts of a keyboard which I don’t appreciate. Here is what’s missing.

Caps lock
In place of caps lock is a search button. I hate this as I keep forgetting and then get launched into a search in which I had no interest. You can achieve caps lock by holding down both shift keys.
Delete
I love my delete key. In it’s place is power off. I hate this as well because I forget and inadvertently shut the device off. Fortunately it comes back on quickly. You can achieve the delete function by using alt and backspace which is okay, but I prefer the one-finger option of the delete key.

Right Click

I want my right click button back. I hate the two-finger touch. It’s awkward and glitchy. Additionally, scrolling is a nightmare because it is easy to accidently engage unwanted menus and commands.

Pen Functionality

I miss the pen functionality of my HP Tablet.

Because of it’s speed, ease in maintentance, and functionality as a great production device, Google Chromebooks are the device I recommend for primary use by students and professionals. However, whether used in the school or office, you will want access to other devices for the times you want to engage in activities unsupported such as Skype, webinars, iTunes, and sophisticated video editing (you can do basic editing in the cloud using YouTube).

You can keep the Google Chromebook conversation going at Chromebook Central - The Official Group for Chromebooks.

The Gifted/ADHD Connection

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:53:00 +0000

Guest post by Dori Staehle | Cross posted at Next Stage Educational Consulting

It reads like something from a science fiction novel: Millions of schoolchildren lining up everyday for the medication that will make them sit still, pay attention – and behave! Orwell’s1984 or Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron perhaps?

This is life imitating art. We’ve become so convinced that children need to be medicated in order to learn that we’ve completely ignored what’s really causing their inattention and hyperactivity in the first place.

As an educational consultant and private tutor, I’ve seen children medicated needlessly. I’ve seen the prevalent side effects, I’ve heard from frantic Moms after their sons were rushed to the emergency room. The sad fact is that the majority of children who are diagnosed as ADD or ADHD (often by their teachers!), are actually highly gifted, talented, and creative kids. The problem is: No one was looking for that.

Like they say, if all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail. Since most teacher training programs and even graduate programs don’t cover this, let me explain what giftedness is. Giftedness is a complex phenomenon which encompasses high IQ and creativity, along with heightened sensitivities, and uneven development (combined definition from Dr. Linda Silverman, The Columbus Group, and this writer).

At many of my workshops, I outline the symptoms of ADD/ADHD taken from the psychologist’s “bible”, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Then, I add to the right side of the screen the traits of giftedness, as per The Gifted Development Center in Denver. Yes folks, both lists are exactly the same (you can seen this chart here).People who are super-talented, creative, or bright tend to be hyper. They space out when they’re bored or when they’re trying to figure something out. They tend to hyper-focus on areas of interest.

In addition, there are literally hundreds of medical conditions that can produce hyperactivity and inattentiveness (The Hyperactivity Hoax, Dr. Sydney Walker, http://amzn.to/z1djaQ). Within my student population, 100% were right-brained, 95% were gifted, 90% were highly gifted with IQ’s in the 150-200 range (average IQ is 100), and all of them had allergies, asthma, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), food sensitivities, or a combination of all four.

In 2000, I spoke at a gifted education conference and posited that a huge percentage of students that are being labeled as ADD/ADHD are actually right-brained gifted, talented, and/or creative students. We are, in fact, medicating brilliance. We are also ignoring the underlying medical conditions and not accounting for the biggest trigger: stress.

Schools are left-brained institutions taught by predominantly left-brained individuals (Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World: Unlocking the Potential of Your ADD Child, Jeff Freed). They don’t understand those of us who are right-brained and creative, who think in pictures and tend to be random, not sequential. So, they medicate what they don’t like or don’t understand. Surely, there must be something wrong with these kids’ brains! In fact, ADD used to be known as a brain disorder – even though most of these kids have high IQ’s! You can almost call it a “left-brained conspiracy”. No wonder these kids are stressed out – they’re not allowed to be themselves!

Therefore, it is no surprise that there is a huge incidence of gifted, talented, and creative kids within the homeschooling population (www.hoagiesgifted.org). They can learn in ways that work for them and be with others like them. They can spend a great deal of time on their passions and take breaks or blow off steam when needed. This is their version of normal. Maybe it’s time to accept that and not try to change it.

Dori Staehle has close to 20 years of tutoring and consulting experience and has worked with public, private, and homeschooled students and their families. She holds a BA in French and German from Wagner College in NY, and an MBA in finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University in NJ. In addition, she has done both graduate and post-graduate work in gifted education and gifted psychology while in CO.

Dori has written and published several articles on gifted education and homeschooling and developed the theory known as The Gifted/ADHD Connection. She is currently writing a book which is tentatively titled Hearing the Music: Why We Chose Homeschooling Instead of Ritalin.

Get On-Demand Support for Your Writing for Free with PaperRater.Com

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:38:00 +0000

I recently discovered PaperRater.com, a paper grading and feedback resource that is free and does not require a download. Developed and maintained by linguistics professionals, subject matter experts, and graduate students, PaperRater.com does this by combining the power of natural language processing (NLP), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, information retrieval (IR), computational linguistics, data mining, and advanced pattern matching (APM). The program is used by schools and universities in over 46 countries to help authors improve their writing.

PaperRater.com provides helpful feedback on grammar, spelling, word choice, and style, but not the author's arguments, logic, organization, and ideas. There is also an Auto Grader rates the grammar, spelling, word choice, and style and has been found to be nearly as accurate as human graders for that part of the work, for most papers. At the end of your paper rating, you get a professional looking PaperRater Printable Summary Analysis that gives you an overview of your paper.

Here’s why I love this for writers.
It’s always great to get instant feedback on your writing and added bonus is not having to bug anyone for it. I ran some of my blog posts through PaperRater and received useful suggestion on things like using active of active voice, spelling, grammar, and vocabulary.

Here’s why I love this for teachers.
For teachers who are grading student work, it is terrific to have your students get this sort of feedback before handing in their papers. This means less time focusing on grammar, spelling, style, and vocabulary, and more time focusing on content. There is also a plagiarism detector (though most innovative educators don’t give work that can be plagiarised).

If we really want to empower writers to work independently, it is ideal to combine PaperRater with a tool like SWoRD, the free web-based, system that uses peer review as its backbone.

A Dream to Be Free At Last From State Standardized Tests

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:26:00 +0000

Parents and educators across the nation are fed up with a government sucking data out of our students like a vampire who needs their blood to survive. Fortunately, the jig is up. Parents have caught on to the fact that not only does all this ineffective, inaccurate, and outdated testing and prepping do nothing to help their children, but the reality is that it is harming them. Schools are literally turning parent’s once vibrant, playful, smart, and creative young treasures into student zombies who must memorize, regurgitate, and do what they’re told. If they don’t they are all too happy to drug into submission children who resist such efforts. They even have pharma-funded research and doctors telling them to do this though few schools share with parents the harmful effects that experts not paid for by pharma companies want you to know.

Meanwhile, while everyone is profiting off our children, who are being used as pawns, the public realizes that something has gone seriously wrong. Our government has quietly and quickly stolen from parents control of their own children forcing them to be subjected to a test-prep-to-death curriculum that they know is wrong. Without their data, these young people are of no use to the system. Failure to comply can lead to serious consequences such as refusal to allow children to graduate as well as kicking them out of school.

Our zombie children and their parents know there is a better way, but they feel their hands are tied. Public school parents who don’t comply, not only face risks to their children, but are also often subjected to bullying by education employees and administrators. Non public schools who don’t comply are faced with loss of accreditation. Home educators, who often have made this choice to escape harmful mandates, are threatened with child protective services. As a result organizations like HSLDA are getting action to fight for parental rights.

Fortunately, the social-media marketplace of the 21st century does not have to apply solely to consumer outrage against banks and phone companies. Parents of all children can come together to stand up and unite against the government’s attempt to control their children despite the harmful effects it is causing. In order to take back the right to give our children the freedom to learn, parents, all parents, regardless of public education choice, can mobilize, opt out and stand up to the monolith institution driven by politicians, agendas, egos, and of course we waste a hefty sum of money when we “hire testing companies to create and score tests, third person companies to evaluate the reliability of the tests, test security companies to make sure the test is secure, statisticians who know nothing about teaching but create value-added statistical formulas to evaluate them based on data-- all on the tax payer dime (-via Mr. Fitz).”

How will this work? Well, first we need to look at the issues and then identify a solution. Fortunately, in the chart below, I’ve done just that.

ISSUE	SOLUTION
It’s hard to get the facts The government have no impetus to supply parents with the facts. Instead they make it very difficult to find information	Opt Out of Test Wiki With the help of wonderful students, educators, and parents, we have put together an “Opt Out of State Standardized Tests” wiki. The beauty of a wiki is that anyone from that state can contribute information as they find it. Join us here.
There isn’t a system to connect with other parents, educators and concerned citizens in your state There is currently no easy way for ALL parents to connect within a state. This makes mobilizing and acting difficult. Fortunately, with social media that’s all about to change.	Join your state’s Opt Out of Standardized State Test Group on Facebook Concerned educators and parents have come together to create brand-new, easy-to-find, state-by-state groups on Facebook where parents, educators, and anyone who cares, can come together to mobilize and take back control of their children’s freedom to learn. You can join others interested in opting out in your state in two ways: 1) Type in the search: Opt out of State Standardized Tests - Your State i.e. Opt Out of State Standardized Tests - Ohio 2) Go to the page url: https://www.facebook.com/groups/OptOutYourState i.e. https://www.facebook.com/groups/OptOutOhio
The government is working to get parents to succumb to their bullying The government is throwing all sorts of threats parents' way about what they will do if you don’t hand your children over to comply with their demands. Additionally they are threatening schools with losing funding if parents don’t follow their orders. Everyone is panicking that if they don’t comply with demand, despite the fact that children are being hurt, they will suffer grave consequences.	It takes a few strong parents to lead the way and stand up and make a difference Renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead once said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Parents, stand up to these bullies. Challenge their threats. Band together. Know your rights. Be aware that you can opt your child out of school if school is forcing your child to be harmed. Parents are pulling children out of school in great numbers due to the demise of our system and have been pleasantly surprised when they learn the many college and career opportunities available to children who don’t choose school.
Teachers are being told they’ll be fired for sharing the truth Teachers know that excessive testing of their students is wrong. Not only does it demean the teacher as a professional it takes all that was good, fun, exciting, and inspiration out of teaching. Unfortunately, in many states, teachers are told they are mandated testers and that they are not “allowed” the freedom of speech to let parents know their children do not have to take the tests. They are being threatened with job loss if the do.	Teachers must unite and stand up for children It will take some brave teachers to stand up to this bullying by the state and local politicians and administrators. We need some brave teachers to stand up for what is right for our students and take on the system. Teachers are being threatened with their jobs. Some teachers will do what is right for kids even if it will cost them their jobs. Perhaps first any teacher planning to leave due to a number of reasons can be encouraged to take this on. Have parent meetings. Send literature home with children. If you are threatened or fired, contact the media. Ask your local politicians if they’ll get on board to support you.
The test-prep curriculum is dumbed down and leaving ALL children behind More and more great teachers are leaving a school system that has dumbed down the curriculum to a point that no child is prepared for success in college or career. (50% leave within five years). Teachers got in this profession to make a difference and this is not the way to do it. Our best teachers are no longer able to engage in practices that harm children. They are leaving the system and looking for alternatives, unwillingly and helplessly, leaving our children behind.	Support your children and your teachers in pursuing meaningful learning Unfortunately, many working parents see no alternative to sending their children off to government schools. Despite the fact that our taxes are being used to support the institution, the institution is attempting to take away the right of parents and their children to learn meaningfully. Tell your children they do not have to do test prep. Provide your child with resources that allow them to discover and develop their passions if test prep is being imposed upon the teacher. Inform your teachers that your child’s right to learn things that will make him a success in the world come before test prep. Ask that you hope she understands. Schools today value data and research over common sense. That’s okay. There’s plenty of research out there to point to that says test prep doesn’t work.
There is a focus on saving schools rather than students. Several groups have come together to help parents opt out of testing. Unfortunately some of these groups are more focused on saving their schools and their jobs than supporting ALL children. In fact in some of these groups they have gone as far as banning, blocking, and censoring any parent or supporter of those who have made non-public school education for choices for their children. Such activities divide, rather than unite concerned citizens in our effort to help all children regardless of their political, religious, or school choices. Discrimination and support for only “some children” is not the message these groups should be promoting.	We are all in this together If you belong to a group that discriminates against those who support the freedom of choice in education options, let these members know that intolerance and discrimination is the wrong message to stand behind. Be careful of groups that are known for engaging in the very behaviors most of us don’t wish to see from our schools or government i.e. bullying, bashing, banning, censorship. Work to bring all those concerned about the well being of others together. If you find you are in a group that only accepts “some” consider joining groups that except “all.” Here is a list of some of those: Opt Out of State Standardized Tests - National group Note local groups can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/OptOutYourState i.e https://www.facebook.com/groups/OptOutOhio Parents and Kids Against Standardized Testing page Parents and Kids Against Standardized Testing group OPT OUT of State Tests: Parent/Student Support against Standardized Testing group

Getting started is as easy!
Here are ten things you can do now.

Join the Opt Out of State Standardized Tests Wiki. Read and contribute information about your state.

Find the Opt Out of State Standardized Tests group for your state and invite others to join.

Inform appropriate parties that your child won’t be taking the test.

If the school insists your child come to class and take the test, inform him/her that they can join kids across the nation in an act of civic dissent and write “I prefer not to take your test” across the front of their test. Join the Facebook group and if your child is a teen, let them know they can to here.

Exempt your child from mindless test prep. Provide him or her with resources to meaningful activities to do at that time.

Volunteer to host your state’s opt out page by signing up at http://tinyurl.com/optouthost

Share this article with others via email, Facebook, Twitter, or print out.

Tell your kids they are more than just data and that we need to Fix the Schools, Not the Child.

Let your teens know that if school is not serving their needs they can opt out and embrace the freedom to learn to learn without school.

Know that if school is hurting your child, you can pull him or her out temporarily or permanently, and there are ways to do this even if parents are working.

Congratulations to you for being one of the pioneers that will not only save our schools, but are MOST importantly working to save our children. I look forward to your contributions on the wiki, comments to this post, and conversations online.

The Hottest Posts of the Week on The Innovative Educator

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:10:00 +0000

Wowza! Looks like this week there's been a lot of attention to the dangers of medicating kids diagnosed with ADD / ADHD. As I share in these articles, if teachers and parents don't know and haven't explored the other options before drugging their children, they are being neglectful and possibly condemning children to a life with irreversible damage.

You can read those stories and more in this week's roundup of what's popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top weekly posts along with the number of pageviews. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you. If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired, share it with others and/or leave a comment.

How Ritalin ruined my childhood
Jan 10, 2012, 10 comments                              1907 Pageviews
What the doctors & teachers may not tell about ADHD Meds...
Jan 9, 2012                                                     1841 Pageviews
Cure ADHD without Drugs with These Resources ...
Feb 5, 2011, 22 comments                                1757 Pageviews
Concerned about College & Career Success? Homeschool...
Jan 6, 2012, 3 comments                                   1664 Pageviews
You can never replace the teacher. Or can you? ...
Jan 3, 2012, 11 comments                                 1599 Pageviews
Dispelling Popular Myths about Learning to Read and Write...
Jan 5, 2012, 4 comments                                   1578 Pageviews
10 Reasons Cell Phones Should Be Allowed In School...
Aug 24, 2010, 20 comments                              1473 Pageviews
Learn how you can homeschool even if you work...
Jan 8, 2012, 8 comments                                   1424 Pageviews
Why and Innovative Educator cares about homeschooling...
Jan 11, 2012, 4 comments                                 1364 Pageviews
The Ten No Nos of Teaching with a Projector or Smartboard...
May 10, 2010, 37 comments                              1229 Pageviews

The Innovative Educator’s Guide to Getting Started with Unschooling

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:03:00 +0000

I was introduced to the idea of unschooling by grown unschooler and writer Kate Fridkis who contacted me about submitting a guest post on my blog. Before that, I had never heard the term.

It wasn’t long before my fascination with unschooling became an obsession. Learning without school? People did this? How’d they turn out? What did they do all day? How did they learn stuff? Didn’t they need school to learn? If they didn’t learn things in the order and way schools said they should, how would they be prepared for life or college?

I had to know more! I bought book books, read blogs, joined discussion groups, went to meetings, listened to podcasts, and started writing about what I was learning. To date, I have written more than 70 unschooling articles which you can read at this link.

What was most fascinating to me is that learning without school shattered every myth I’d been told was true about school. In fact I learned that you could learn to read without school, write without school, and ultimately pursue any interest imaginable all without school. As I researched and studied what happened to grown unschoolers I found that these individuals had very desirable characteristics in common that schooled children often did not have the opportunity to gain. For instance, they seemed to have a more clear sense of their passions and seemed happy and satisfied with their life path. They also knew if they didn’t know something, it wasn’t a big deal. They could figure out how to learn anything.

If unschooling is something you or someone you know would like to know more about, I share below some of the resources I used on my learning journey.

An overview of unschooling
Idzie Desmarais gives a comprehensive overview of unschooling in her blog http://yes-i-can-write.blogspot.com/p/new-to-this-blog-new-to-unschooling.html

Grown unschooler’s blog
Kate Fridkis Berring, the person who got me excited about unschooling and introduced me to the idea that people can learn without school is a grown unschooler and has a terrific blog on the topic called Skipping School which can be found at http://un-schooled.net.

Teen unschooler’s blog

Brycen R. R. Couture is an unschooled teen who is a child advocate / activist pursuing his passion of being a heavy metal rock star.You can like his page on Facebook here. His blog, which you can visit at http://brycenrrcouture.blogspot.com, provides a teen’s insight into life without school.

Blogs from unschooling parents
Many unschoolers are blogging about their lives. Reading these blogs is a great way to learn about unschooling. I have collected a compilation of several blogs here. Find the ones you relate to and you’ll learn a lot from these families. Some of my favorites not mentioned in other categories here include the following:

Demand Euphoria: This unschooling mom unhappy with the current state of education, shares why that is and how she achieves a mission to provide a life for her family is not just one where there is happiness, but instead is one where she not only expects, but Demands Euphoria.

The Mahogany Way: This is Darcel Harmon’s blog. She is a wife and Stay at Home Mama to three children. She and her husband are a Christian Attachment Parenting Unschooling family.

Penelope Trunk Homeschool: Penelope Trunk provides a raw and provocative look into what it is like for a mother new to home education. She’s not afraid to share her vulnerabilities and insecurities. Her blog inspires and enrages those considering, engaging in, and experienced in home educators.

Books

Sandra Dodd has a book I love and recommend and a terrific website. Here is her website http://sandradodd.com/unschooling. Her book is called “The Big Book of Unschooling” which you can find at this link http://sandradodd.com/bigbook

Clark Aldrich is the author of Unschooling Rules. He also has a terrific blog http://unschoolingrules.blogspot.com. Clark, Kate Fridkis Berring, and I did a podcast on a show called The Future of Education about unschooling which you can listen to here.

Guides

Teenage Homeschoolers: College or Not

Teen Guide to Opting Out of School

Articles

If the School Won’t Customize, Take Your Kid Out

Mom's Story: When School Left My Child Behind...He Was Finally Able to Learn

15 Key Facts about Homeschool Kids in College

How “Socialization” Happens in Homeschooling

What Happens with Home Educated Adults?

Websites

Laurie A Couture is an unschooling mom, author, parenting coach and much more. Her book, "Instead of Medicating and Punishing" has influenced numerous parents and helped them live much better lives with their children. Her site is http://www.laurieacouture.com/. You can find her book and blog there as well.

Dayna Martin has a great website with a lot of informative videos at http://daynamartin.com/. She also was featured on the Dr. Phil show to explain more about unschooling.

Wendy Priesnitz has written a ton of insightful books and articles on the topic and is a big thinker on how families, community and the planet intersect and positively affect life and learning. Here website is http://www.wendypriesnitz.com/

Linda Dobson is the Parent at The Helm. Her site can be found at http://parentatthehelm.com/ . Linda is not afraid to speak her mind and does so intelligently and articulately. Here is one of my favorite posts from Linda http://www.parentatthehelm.com/6533/high-stakes-tests-everyone-has-had-enough/

Peter Kowalke’s site, The Unschooler Experiment focuses on the stories and experiences of grown unschoolers themselves, instead of parents, and seeks to share information that's interesting and relevant to both grown unschoolers. parents of unschoolers.

Podcasts

Unplugged Mom
The Unplugged Mom podcasts are a great way to get started in getting a deeper insight into the folks behind home ed and unschooling. Laurette Lynn has done interviews with most of the folks mentioned above as well as people like John Taylor Gatto and Peter Gray. Here is a link to the podcasts.

School Sucks
The public school system sucks off the productive capacity of hard-working people. The system is coercively funded through taxation. In other words, whether public education succeeds or fails (spoiler alert: it fails) at providing real education to the public, the cost goes up every year. There are no refunds. Above all, this is a show about what one might do about the problems of school...

Unschooling thought leaders

Click each name for a collection of their works.

Unschooling conferences

The unschooling conference I am most familiar with is The Alternative Education Resource Organization Conference (AERO). The AERO conference provides a platform for dialog, movement building, and learning.
Sandra Dodd lists her upcoming speaking engagements here http://sandradodd.com/speaking.
Here is a listing of Conferences & Gatherings from the Unschooling Life site.

Keep the conversation going

If you want to keep the conversation going, I invite you to join my online group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/homeschoolingunschooling. This is a place where parents, students, teens, and teachers frustrated with traditional schooling can come together to discuss the more effective options they are interested in pursuing. The group is comprised of unschooling experts and authors as well as those new to, considering, or experienced with unschooling, homeschooling, uncollege or any DIY education.

Why an innovative educator cares about homeschooling / unschooling and why you might too

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:23:00 +0000

I’ve been a public school educator and administrator for more than a decade and have loved my work for most of my career. I have a passion for making learning real, relevant, engaging, fun and meaningful for learners. I have had wonderful opportunities to bring that to life in my work such as with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Joe Renzulli’s Schoolwide Enrichment Model, and the programs I’ve lead to integrate technology into learning like this one.*

So, some may wonder why I’m interested in homeschooling. Let me start by explaining there are different types of homeschooling. I see it as sort of a continuum that goes from "doing school at home" to "life without school." The "school at home" works for many families, but that was not what really struck my interest. I was more interested in how a "life without school" works. Some people call this unschooling, some call it natural living, some call it organic learning or life learning. For purposes of this article, I’ll call it unschooling.

The reason unschooling was so fascinating to me is because I’ve spent a good portion of my life learning about how people learn and supporting children and adults in their learning. I was trained in various techniques, learned various methods and models, and I believed that people learned from being taught in school. What's strange is that I believed this even though, when I look back, I realize I never learned that way.

Unschooling shattered every myth I held to be true and made me question everything I’d been taught about learning. Not only that, but upon studying how unschooling works, I discovered people that seemed to be really smart, passionate, successful, and satisfied with their lives. All that and they never had to be tortured in an Algebra, History, Science, or English class! They learned a lot even though they were never forced to take a test. They didn’t have to be at school every day at some ungodly hour. They learned to read and write without classes or teacher, when they were ready, which may be as early as 2 or 3 or as late as 11 or 12. I learned there was a whole world of peaceful living and learning where the parents and children and grown children seemed quite happy.

This was of great interest to someone whose passion is to support learning that is real, relevant, engaging, fun, and meaningful. I also felt kind of cheated and angry. Cheated that I had been forced to do all these things that I didn’t really need to do, rather than discover and explore my passions, talents, and interests. Angry that kids, like those featured in Race to Nowhere, were being forced to do the same. In many cases this leads to detrimental effects that include mental, physical, and emotional distress and even attempted and successful suicide. There were cases where schools were bullying parents and their children for not wanting to comply with their demands even though it was making the child sick. The school system I worked in moved from being one where "children were first" to one where "data comes first" and it was the school’s role to extract it.

When I would see or hear about such things I wanted others to know that school is a choice, but it is not a necessity. In fact many people are living lives without school and then moving on to great success in career OR college. To share this message I wrote The Teen’s Guide to Opting Out of School and The Working Home Educator’s Guide to Success.

I also started a group specifically created for parents, students, teens, and teachers frustrated with traditional schooling to come together to discuss the more effective options they are pursuing. This is a wonderful group that I encourage anyone interested in pursuing this path to join by visiting this link. If you do, we have a weekly live chat and you will find discussions about topics like the ones below.

Learning without Teachers

Tips and tricks for making online learning work

Video games for learning

Learning to read and write without school

Opportunities available for home/unschoolers i.e. college, sports, music

Getting your partner / spouse on board with a life without school

Getting your parents / in laws on board with a life without school

Interesting data about homeschool families

Type of home education we practice

Opt Out of Tests

Talking back to those who want to Save Our Schools but not Our Kids

Advice for children with Asperger's and in the Autism spectrum

Ironically after all the years I’ve spent being schooled on how to learn, in the end I discover that for many, learning can be best achieved without a school or a teacher. If you want to learn how, I hope you’ll take a look at some of the material I've shared and keep the conversation going in our group.

____________________________________________

*Unfortunately there has been a recent shift in educational priorities where I work, but that's fodder for another post.

10 Important Points to Keep in Mind When Addressing a Global Audience

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:52:00 +0000

Editor’s Note: Jose Popoff was an audience member of a webinar I conducted to a global audience. While Jose enjoyed the webinar, he felt I could do a better job in addressing such audience. He is right. When speaking to international audience, you need to do things differently. I asked Jose if he could share his advice. Here it is.

Whether you are writing an article, book, blog post or addressing an audience live, online i.e. via webinar, television, or radio, there are things you should consider if you are delivering your message to an international crowd. In the 21st century more and more speakers and writers are addressing global audiences and when doing so, it is helpful to be sensitive to differences in such a heterogeneous audience. Not only is this good advice for those addressing these audiences, it has the added benefit of modeling for viewers, listeners, or readers, how they can adjust their work as well.

10 points to keep in mind when you are speaking to the world

1. We don’t all measure the same
Sometimes you want to share what the climate in your zone is like, or what is the distance from the MIT to your house, or the average heights of your students, or your weight (if you’re confident enough to do so). When doing so, please consider that we do not all think on the same units of measurement. While Americans think of Fahrenheit, miles, and feet most of non-US citizens think in Celsius, kilometers and meters. So, when you tell your audience something like: “It´s 55 out here, so I´m wearing two coats..”, keep in mind that to Latin Americans for example, 55 is actually very hot! A very versatile site I recommend to instantly convert units of measurement is http://www.wolframalpha.com/. All you have to do is type something like: “Convert 55 degrees Fahrenheit to Celsius” and the site will do the rest.

2. Avoid abbreviations
When reporting your location, avoid using state, city or district abbreviations such as PA, CA, TX, etc. Not everyone in the world is familiar with them. When you mention abbreviations of your particular location, it gives the impression you are only introducing yourself to your own co-citizens.

3. Acknowledge and appreciate time zones
If you are hosting a webinar, it would be nice if you had a list of the different time zones of your audience. This might require you to check your registration list ahead of time. Now, to do this, you should use a webinar software that provides a dropdown of countries instead of only US states and “other”. I must confess I find it a bit baffling when I have to register as “other” since the droplist only includes US states; for a webinar intended for anyone in the world...or not(?). Thank and flatter those who are listening to you at difficult schedules for them. To have an idea on different timezones and convert them, this site: http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc may come in handy. Now, I want to point out that I have never conducted a webinar myself, so my opinion here comes out as an international attendee, which I believe you will find as useful. It does require a little effort, but it is one that will pay off as you will make your crowd feel welcome and truly invited.

4. Know your geography and world culture
You might want to enrich your geographic and cultural knowledge. This way you will know the exact location of an unexpected visitor from Jakarta, Indonesia for instance. Try to find out important and unique facts about other countries. Did you know, for instance, that Australia has the world´s largest coral reef barrier? or that Brazil is now the 6th world´s economical power? or that Honduras is geographically located in the exact middle of the whole American continent? Sites like http://www.chacha.com/ might help you in this department. If geography is not your strong suit, pull up a map. http://maps.google.com/ is a great option for finding a location.

5. Know where tools work and alternatives around the world
Remember when presenting that a tool you use in your country, may not work in another country, especially if some services include phone voice and sms.. Before you present, find out what other people from around the world are using by tapping into your personal learning network. Simply, build a matrix on a Google spreadsheet. Indicate the various tools across the top and countries across the sides. Reach out to your PLN with a Tweet or an update and have them fill in with alternatives in their countries.

6. Poll your audience with global tools
If you are in the middle of a presentation and want feedback from your audience in the form of a poll, use services that allow Twitter or provide a simple URL for voting. Poll services such as polleverywhere or wiffiti allow this feature. Sms services are mostly only allowed for US providers and selected countries. Those who allow international sms require some extra expense from your non-US listeners (international sms); expense that you cannot expect from your receptors. Allow sms polling only when you have targeted every country from your audience and know that the service applies to them. Using sms service alone for an international crowd might make some feel unwanted.

7. Avoid the usage of jargon and/or idioms
Not everyone is familiar with them. If you encounter yourself in the necessity of using them, explain their meaning. Some jokes or puns might be applicable or understandable in some places and some might even be found offensive. Try to pretend that the Dalai Lama is part of your audience. Ok, that is just an idea.

8. Use plain English
As you probably know, English is the world´s second language. Even webinars from places like Netherlands are held in English. Consider then that this is not mother language in all countries. Don´t assume everyone can catch up with you when you are speaking very fast. Pace, elaborate, and speak plain English avoiding pompous terms. Devoted listeners will try to go to a translator to try to keep up with your terms but then they might lose track of your presentation.

9. Explain terms that may be geographically specific
Consider that educational systems vary among countries. Terms like “Common Core Standards” are not used in every country. This does not mean they do not exist but that they are dubbed differently. But don`t worry, nobody expects you to be aware of all the intricacies of educational systems around the world! However, think global!

10. Be mindful of acronyms
USA is a country that particularly loves to use many acronyms. This does not mean everyone in the world is familiar with them. Always tell what an acronym stands for, no matter how obvious it might sound to you. Trust me, not everyone knows what PLN stands for, including American teachers! I have come across acronyms such as MLK, IRL, SM, STEM, PBL; can you tell the meaning of all of them? Not everyone knows.

Biography
José Popoff is an innovative Physics and Chemistry teacher in Honduras, C.A. You can find him on http://about.me/josepopoff.

How Ritalin ruined my childhood

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:58:00 +0000

Guest post from Peter Jung @peter_d_jung | Cross posted at EduPeter.

I like Adderall. I don't take it often at all, but I have a prescription that I can get filled whenever. When I need to write a 20 page paper in a few days, I take a pill, drink a caffeine drink, and turn into a robot for a while. Normally, I don't need to take pills to succeed in a class- I pay attention well enough, keep up on the reading, and take decent notes. If I lapse in any of these things, it's not something that can be attributed to any deficits in my ability to pay attention, but another source, such as frustration with the teacher's lecturing style, exhaustion from sleep deprivation, or something of the sort.

I don't have ADD, at least not in a way that impedes my learning in any real way. So, then, why can I get Adderall?

When I was 6, ADHD was a big thing. Everybody's kid had it, which explained any number of frustrating behaviors that their kids would engage in. I was a kid that engaged in frustrating behaviors, who also had a bit of neurological damage thrown in there. The neurological damage caused a speech impediment and gross motor dysfunction, which led to me going through physical and speech therapy for many years, but caused no apparent cognitive deficits.

What my parents and first grade teacher saw was a kid who would wander off, get frustrated easily, cry when faced with math homework, and had a hard time paying attention, preferring to draw constantly instead. My parents and teacher had a lot of frustrations with me concerning math homework around this time, and finally decided they needed to see a doctor about me. After taking a test that involved me staring at a computer monitor, trying to determine which orientation a blip of light was facing, I was diagnosed with ADD.

From my perspective, first grade was a really hard time for me. I loved to read and draw, but didn't really get along with any of the other kids. They were often mean to me, and I found I preferred to be alone with my drawings. My teacher would force the entire class to do these idiotic 'two minute timings' that involved 200 basic math problems, and a two minute time limit.

Of course, most kids blew through these. I looked at the seemingly endless pile of problems, and the two minute time limit, and had the first grade equivalent of a mental breakdown. I mean, two minutes? Who can do two HUNDRED problems in TWO MINUTES?! Two minutes is not a lot of time! 200 is a VERY LARGE NUMBER. NOBODY IN THEIR RIGHT MIND SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO THIS. I DON'T LIKE THIS SCHOOL PLACE ANYMORE.

So, while such thoughts flew around my head, the unfinished two minute timings piled up, and my teacher decided that I needed to stay in during lunch and recess every day to finish them. I would just stare at them, occasionally attempt to finish one and get discouraged, then just draw. So, I missed recess for a good chunk of my first grade year, which led to me spending every recess inside with the teacher after that. Part of it was I liked to draw more than I liked being outside, but another part of it was that I was very shy, and didn't really like how the other kids treated me. Having missed that year made me feel like an outsider, and I was too introverted to try to make friends.

Of course, that led to me going to the emotional counseling support group with all the junior sociopaths in the school. I would just talk about my collection of toy robots, or stay quiet.

Anyway, Ritalin happened around the beginning of second grade. I was given a time release pill that I was supposed to swallow so it would dissolve slowly over the day. Well, that didn't happen, as I had a gag reflex. I chewed it, and got a day's worth of Ritalin in a very short period of time.

I really don't remember much else from that point on. I have pretty vivid memories of my childhood up until taking Ritalin, and then... nothing. I have seen reports of my behavior that are pretty disturbing, and found artifacts from that time period that seem to imply some degree of massive depression, although my memories are a haze. What I do remember is being a complete loner who was content to sit in the back and draw or read all day. I also remember being able to see the logical circuits for traffic lights, and other patterns.

In 5th grade, my mom became so tired of hearing all these problems with me, and had the district give me an IQ test. The next day I was placed in the highly capable program, although I still tended to prefer to disengage and draw, as I was still pretty introverted.

Somehow, I managed to skate through elementary school, but in 6th grade, by month three, I was doing terribly. I was failing one class, and doing badly in all the rest. I didn't know what was going on, but I started to get scared, as no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't do well. They apparently made an IEP for me that involved me sitting at the front of the classroom so I would pay attention better, and the teacher could keep track of me. It was all very frustrating for everyone involved.

Finally, a math teacher asked me if I could see what she was writing.

I told her I could, and then she asked me what she was writing. I told her the wrong answer.

Within weeks, I had glasses and my grades went from Fs to Bs. I was still on Ritalin, which made me very socially awkward and led to a lot of bullying, which made my entire middle school experience a horrible mess of bruises and cuts.

By 8th grade, my parents took me off the Ritalin, and I began making actual friends with the nerdy kids. I'm still friends with some of them today, and hang out with one on a weekly basis. I slowly learned how to socialize, and became more like a normal person that wasn't stoned out of their mind.

By 12th grade, I was pretty much normal. I had been in the IB program for the first two years of high school, then switched over to Running Start, which allowed me to take a few classes at the community college to knock out high school credits, and get free college credit. I still took a few classes at the high school, but they were all classes I was interested in- Calculus, Advanced Biology, Weight Training, Art, etc. I had a good group of geeky friends, and could make friends easily. I was really awkward around girls, but not in an unusual way. I was a pretty stereotypical nerd.

One day, I got pulled out of class to talk with the school psychologist. He asks me to sit down and tells me I have an IEP. I ask what that is, and he tells me that it's something that has to do with my mental health issues. At that point, I had begun conversing with the ceiling about how this man was not to be trusted, and the psychologist just laughed. So, I asked what this was all about, and he describes the IEP to me- I am to sit in front of the class and the teacher is to make sure I'm paying attention. Now, I had forgotten about this IEP thing, and generally sat in the front of the class because I was a teacher's pet, but I was rather shocked. He told me I had Static Encephalopathy, which explained why I needed physical therapy and speech therapy, but didn't really explain why I had to sit in front.

I ask him when this IEP was made. He tells me, beginning of 6th grade. I take off my glasses and gesture with them, "I got these a few months into 6th grade."

He chuckles, and shreds the document.

I think most of my problems with Ritalin could have been avoided with two simple things. If the teacher had just sat down with me and really talked with me about the two minute timings, and offered to let me do 10 problems instead of 200, I could have shown her I was competent. Also, if someone had given me a vision test earlier, I would have avoided being consistently high and losing so much of my childhood.

Even so, I think I did okay. I am largely self educated, having read the entire time-life science series of books my dad found at a garage sale in a summer, and spending so much time in the corner reading. I have no difficulty with math, social skills, or academic ability. I just think it is very important that a kid is consulted when dealing with medication, as often, kids know exactly what's up. Sometimes, yes, medications are necessary, but the application of them is so often done as a blunt weapon rather than a precise tool. With me, the problems were easily solvable, not based on any neurological deficit. As such, I feel that the psychologist's diagnosis was most certainly wrong.

Although, I must say, it is nice being able to get Adderall legally. And I use it honestly, only when I need to really cram or finish a project. Still, the feeling I have while on it is incredibly potent, and the idea that I was on this stuff for years frightens me greatly, just from the possibility that it might have impeded my brain's development. Thus far, I think I've developed normally, but I can't really tell.

In any case, I just thought I'd throw that out there, as a story of someone who went through elementary and middle school in a drugged out haze because he needed glasses.

----------------------------------------

Peter Jung is a graduate student interested in information technology and DIY Education. http://www.linkedin.com/pub/peter-jung/13/6/5a6

What the doctors and teachers may not tell you when recommending medicating your ADD / ADHD child

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:10:00 +0000

I'm pissed off! I am pissed off because parents and educators are hurting children and they may not even realize it. This post is written to change that.

If you are a parent or educator who is allowing a child you know to be drugged because they have an ADD / ADHD "disorder" you could be responsible for receiving short-term gains in exchange for long-term detrimental effects.

Drugging children has well-known risks which I share below, but now there's another to add to list as a parent / friend just informed me. Schools had convinced her to drug her son providing all sorts of evidence from doctors and others that this was best for her child. The risks were not presented. Fortunately, she eventually realized something was very wrong with the path down which schools were leading her child and she pulled him out of school so he could own his learning and have a happy and successful life.

Unfortunately, the damage may already have been done.

I was not given a list of this as a side effect and I may have condemned him to an adulthood of trials and pain. Doctors play down rare side effects just as well as educators. Children are statistics not people.

This mother shared what she just learned.

Did you know that a study last year indicated that there is a possible correlation between stimulant use (including ritalin and adderal) and parkinson's disease. Why is this important? My barely 20 year old son was given a tentative diagnosis yesterday of early onset Parkinson's disease (onset under 50). His only known risk factor having been prescribed Ritalin and risperdal before the age of 10. We will look for an early onset doctor and PUSH for more research to save other children from this debilitating disease. My focus changed yesterday!

Fortunately, there is at least one group that is trying to get information to parents. It is the responsibility of parents and teachers to deeply research this decision. Once they do it will be crystal clear that if you allow children to be drugged without standing up and sharing the numerous alternatives that can pursued instead, you may very well be condemning that child to serious long term effects which not only include Parkinsons but also include:

Effect on the developing brain — Some researchers are concerned that the use of drugs such as Ritalin in children and teens interferes with normal brain development.

Psychiatric problems — Stimulants for ADD/ADHD can trigger or exacerbate symptoms of hostility, aggression, anxiety, depression, and paranoia. People with a personal or family history of suicide, depression, or bipolar disorder are at a particularly high risk, and should be carefully monitored when taking stimulants.

Potential for abuse — Stimulant abuse is a growing problem, particularly among teens and young adults. College students take them for a boost when cramming for exams or pulling all-nighters. Others abuse stimulant meds for their weight-loss properties. If your child is taking stimulants, make sure he or she isn’t sharing the pills or selling them.

Heart-related problems — ADD/ADHD stimulant medications have been found to cause sudden death in children and adults with heart conditions. The American Heart Association recommends that all individuals, including children, have a cardiac evaluation prior to starting a stimulant. An electrocardiogram is recommended if the person has a history of heart problems. Unfortunately that didn’t happen in the case of this child:

The day after Christmas 2010, a grandfather discovered his 8 year old grandson dead in bed. The child was on Adderall, the prescribing physician missed an underlying heart murmur, the parents and grandparents under informed on proper use, the school and classroom teacher pushed for the child to remain on drugs after the father's resistance, when he became the primary caregiver. Evidence indicates that children on Medicaid are more likely to be prescribed than otherwise. This was also the case.

Parents or educators who do not intervene are responsible for hurting children if they are not trying options that don’t involve medicating first. Pediatrician Lawrence Diller says that non-drug interventions value engagement with the child; they require more time, more involvement by adults and initially cost more money. Medical and educational systems value efficiency. Parents generally value engagement but if the treating systems only offer pills, parents will surely take them over no treatment.

Parents and teachers if your not sure what you can do instead of drugging children, here are some ideas.

There are health and wellness coaches like Heather Jones DeGeorge that can help guide families to find the food and lifestyle choices that best support them.
There are parenting coaches like Laurie A Couture who help children live drug-free lives and empowers them with healthy alternatives.
There are guides like “Fix the School, Not the Child,” and books like “Instead of Medicating and Punishing” that offer numerous alternatives to drugs for children.
If school is causing your child’s ADD / ADHD you can remove him or her.
If you are misinformed to believe ADD / ADHD is real, you can read information from these doctors, educators, and parents who disagree. They don’t disagree that children have behavior associated with ADD / ADHD they disagree that this is a disorder that should be medicated out of children.

As with most things in America, money factors rule. But a society that chooses to cope by using drugs, in the long term, does so at its own peril.
-Lawrence Diller, M.D., Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrician, Author, UCSF Clinical Faculty

If you know a child who is being drugged, they and their parents should know the risks. If you don't want to tell them, just give them this article and save a child.

If you want to join the conversation you can do so here on my Facebook page or here on my page for parents, educators, and students interested in discussing innovative learning opportunities that provide a brand new type of learning environment outside of traditional school options.

Learn how you can homeschool / unschool even if you have to work

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:57:00 +0000

Many parents are becoming frustrated with an educational system with an agenda that does not put the well-being of children first. These parents realize that for many children, school is not the best option when it comes to raising a healthy, happy, child who loves learning. At the same time, more and more parents are sharing their positive experiences with home education through blogs, social media such as Facebook and Yahoo groups, podcasts, and more. While many parents are convinced that learning this way is the best for children, working parents often have a hard time imagining how they could do this. The reality though is that they can! For parents who work and want to un/homeschool their children, there is “The Working Home Educator’s Guide to Success,” created for any parent who is considering home educating their chid(ren) but isn’t sure how this can be managed while also holding a job. The guide opens by making the case for home education with an introduction from author, parenting coach, child trauma specialist, mental health counselor and working single mom Laurie A. Couture. She explains why the decision to home educate is an important one and provide guidelines to keep in mind as you get started. The heart of the guide is the words of wisdom from actual home educating moms and dads who share their stories and advice. The guide concludes with ideas to get parents started on their journey to homeschooling success.
If you or someone you know is considering home education, this is a guide you’ll want to read.

Free guides are available to anyone who
1) Comments below about why they’re interested in reading (or sharing) the guide,
AND
2) Agrees to Tweet or Blog about the guide.

Order your guide here.
OR
Click this link to sign up for your free guide by commenting and blogging / tweeting. You will receive your guide within 30 days.

The Hottest Stories Of The Week On The Innovative Educator

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 11:46:00 +0000

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Concerned about Your Child’s College and Career Success? Leave School.

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:30:00 +0000

When parents frustrated with school consider homeschooling, one of their first concerns is often this:

Will homeschooling limit my child’s opportunities when it comes to college, career, and pursuing passions such as music and sports?

The answer in a word is:

“No.”

Despite the fact that much of society has been conditioned to believe that learning and success happen as a result of teachers in school buildings, those who are living life without school know the opportunities for those who don’t follow the traditional school path are unlimited.

First, it is important to understand that you don’t need to go to school to get into a great college should that be of interest. In fact many colleges actively recruit homeschoolers. For example Harvard specifically mentions that they have never required a high school diploma for admission. Stanford University makes clear to home learning applicants that a high school diploma is not necessary for admission. Furthermore, when it comes to college, homschoolers generally fare better than their schooled peers and many of the top colleges seek out homeschooled students.

Here are examples.

MIT
MIT has a long history of admitting homeschooled students, and these students are successful and vibrant members of our community. Please note that we do not require a high school diploma or GED from our applicants.

Princeton
Princeton welcomes applications from home schooled students. Among the home schooled students admitted in recent years was a student who graduated as valedictorian of the Class of 2002.

Harvard
Homeschooling is an educational asset that Harvard considers favorably when making its admissions decisions. One often sees a self-reliance and independence, as well as intellectual curiosity in people with unusual educational experiences. Homeschooled students do just as well as most all students who come here do. -Dean of Admissions William J. Fitzsimmons

When it comes to career, we all know folks like Michael Dell, Bill Gates (who has done homeschooling with his own kids), Steve Jobs, Marc Zuckerberg, and Richard Branson achieved great financial success without the benefit of a college degree. However, there are many people who achieved this success without pursuing the traditional school path in K - 12 as well.

Below is a sampling of the types of careers non-traditionally educated individuals (i.e. they have homeschooled, unschooled, opted out, etc.) have held. Following this sampling are resources where you’ll find thousands more.

Careers of Successful Individuals Who Did Not Follow a Traditional School Path

Presidents

George Washington

Theodore Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Thomas Jefferson

Abraham Lincoln There are many others!

Scientists

Erik Demaine - Born 1981. Popular Science Mag: One of the Most Brilliant Scientists in America

Dr. Williard S. Boyle - Physicist who won the Nobel prize in 2009

Benjamin Franklin

George Washington Carver

Albert Einstein

Medical practitioners

Clara Barton - started the Red Cross

John Locke - Medical researcher and physician

Florence Nightingale - Nurse

Susan La Flesche Picotte - first American Indian woman physician

Francis Collins - American physician-geneticist, noted for his discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project (HGP)

Business Leaders / CEOs / Entrepreneurs

Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist, and one of the first mega-billionaires in the US.

Amadeo Peter Giannini, multimillionaire founder of Bank of America.

Joseph Pulitzer - newspaper publisher; established Pulitzer Prize

Anne Beiler, multimillionaire co-founder of Auntie Anne’s Pretzels

Barbara Lynch, chef, owner of a group of restaurants, worth over $10 million.

Athletes

Michelle Kwan - Olympic medalist figureskater

Bode Miller - American alpine skier

Timothy "Tim" Tebow - football player, Heisman Trophy winner

Venus and Serena Williams - tennis star sisters

Jason Taylor - Miami Dolphin football star

Musicians

Louis Armstrong - king of jazz

Michael Bolton - singer, french horn

Lennon Aldort - pianist

Hilary Hahn - classical violin virtuoso

Oliver Aldort - cellist, pianist

Resources used to compile this list

Autodidatic Hall of Fame

Famous Homeschoolers - Bridgeway Academy

A to Z’s Cool Homeschooling Success Stories

http://www.famoushomeschoolers.net

Famous High School Dropouts

100 Top Entrepreneurs Who Succeeded Without A College Degree

College Dropout Hall of Fame

Top 10 Famous Historical Characters Who Were Not Schooled

Interesting stories of homeschooler success

Winner of 2009 Nobel Prize Dr. Willard S. Boyle homeschooled by mother

15-Year Old Homeschooler is a Hedge Fund CEO in His Spare Time

Learn how James Marcus Bach found success in a highly technical field without the benefit or burden of a conventional education.

Wondering what life of those who homeschool / unschool is like? Eli Gerson has compiled this collection and I have compiled this one.

Note: You’ll find a lot of these unschoolers pursue fields like writing, travel tours, photography, film making, as well work that deeply considers the environment like Sean Ritchey who designs and builds energy efficient and environmentally friend buildings and homes.

Read about The

Unschooled Colfaxes (summary from Rebecca Smith taken from this site) -

Grant the oldest, and the original news-making graduate of Harvard, is an M.D. working as the Director of AIDS Research for the city of San Francisco with an Adjunct Professorship at the University of California at San Francisco. He is currently testing vaccines for AIDS.Drew, the second oldest Colfax son, is a death-row appeals attorney in Montgomery, AL. As part of his work, he reviewcols cases of “railroaded” convictions. These are inmates on death row who have been unjustly convicted – and often proven innocent! If this weren’t enough to keep him busy, Drew is also a full-time student at Harvard Medical School!The third-oldest Colfax son, Reed, is a housing-discrimination attorney in Washington, D.C. He is the lead attorney for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. His wife is an environmental attorney in D.C. They have 2 children, a daughter, Bailey, 4 and a boy Justice, 1-1/2.Garth Colfax, the youngest, is working with the developmentally-disabled in Sacramento. He is also an all-around computer expert, being able to repair the computers themselves and also design websites. Garth has been married 7 years and has a little boy, Jared, who is 7 months old."
Read more about the Colfaxes in this article: Homeschoolers are Home at Harvard

Insights from homeschooling parents in response to alleviating parents concerns about homeschooling and children’s opportunities for success.

Melody Templeton - A lot of us would like to know that we are not ELIMINATING options by homeschooling. I think it is a legitimate concern.

Sandra Dodd - Ask how many people in prison went to school, or how many impoverished failures went to school. School creates certified failures. Without some people failing, the "successes" won't seem so glorious. It's not a design flaw of school, that a consistent percentage of people fail; it's a design feature. It is planned and maintained.

Teri Reed Davis - It's important to remember that there is going to be a gap of homeschoolers. During MY childhood, it was a fringe thing and was illegal if not just unaddressed by the law. It's a lot more common now and colleges are very open to homeschoolers. Also, many athletes and performers are home educated because schools will not work with them.

Cathy Earle - In my little homeschool group of maybe 20-25 kids who have already grown up enough to have graduated from college, there is one lawyer, one student who is med-school bound this fall (passed MCATs and has been admitted to several med schools), one physical therapist with her doctorate, one college professor, one graduate of Princeton (BA) and Cambridge (MA) who is successfully living and working in England in something like computer programming, one scientist who works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, one CEO of his own (small) company of video or computer games, one guy who works for Lego and has appeared on Mythbusters and attended Obama's inauguration as Lego's rep.

Linda Dobson - Your query inspired this Parent at the Helm post. (Wrote this book because what really matters is how life turns out for the grown child.)

What Do Homeschooled Adults Have to Say? | PARENT AT THE HELM

Want to keep the conversation going?

Join my group where we discuss non traditional learning options at https://www.facebook.com/groups/homeschoolingunschooling.

Follow comment threads where these resources and ideas came from.

The Innovative Educator Dispels Popular Myths about Learning to Read and Write

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Nielsen) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:23:00 +0000

"The little learning machines who learn to walk by walking and talk by talking also learn to read by reading and write by writing." Linda Dobson

You know that license plate, “If you can read this, thank a teacher.”? What if the truth was you didn’t need a teacher to learn to read or write? What if in fact you might be able to read and write more effectively without one? There are many young people who are doing just that...learning to read and write without the benefit of schools or teachers.

Don’t believe it or want to know more?

Read on.

Only Half of Pupils Like to Read
Standardized testing leads to a dramatic decrease in the joy of reading.

Parents react with a promise to opt out in this post.

How to create non readers - Alfie Kohn
Kohn explains how teachers are killing students motivation to read by relying on coercion and extrinsic inducements..
Learning to read without school
The Innovative Educator (that’s me) shares her experiences about learning to read without school.
Children Teach Themselves to Read
Research Psychology Professor and author, Dr. Peter Gray explains how children learn to read naturally without school.
How I Learned to Read and Write
Grown unschooler Idzie and author of I'm Unschooled. Yes, I Can Write provides her own story about learning to read and write without school as well as smart insights into ideas such as forced reading often results in a future dislike of reading and how an awful lot of money is wasted in an industry built around teaching people to read even though it doesn't need any "teaching.”
Mom's Story: When School Left My Child Behind...He Was Finally Able to Learn
This is the story of a child who school gave up on so his mother took him out. As she was feverishly working to figure out how to find the best way to teach him to read, she discovered all that was necessary, and with her support he could learn to rad naturally.
How My Children Learned to Read Pam Sorooshian provides wonderful insights about her experience watching three daughters learn to read.
Growing Without School on Older ReadersThe articles below are from the Growing Without School magazine that John Holt founded. There are articles archived from the magazine that specifically focus on learning to read beginning at age.

GWS 44: "Starting to read at 12"; "Understanding When He Needs To"
GWS 55: "2 Hours of Tutoring"; "Stress of Early School"; "School Hurts Reading"; "Reading at 10"; "Another Older Reader;" "Not Yet Reading at 8."
GWS 76: "Overcame Difficulty"; "Poor Reader Loves to Read"; "Learning at 10"; Concentrating on Two Things"; "Outside Pressures."
GWS 77: "Feeling OK About Being An Older Reader"; "Older Readers."
GWS 91: "Reading at 10 and 11"

The story of how I learned to read and write without school
Grown unschooler Kate Fridkis who writes professionally about being a young woman at Eat the Damn Cake and alternative education at Un-schooled explains how she learned to read, write, and use proper grammar without school or teachers.
Eye-Opener Changing my perspective on the importance of reading By Pauline Mary Curley
This article reveals that people who lack interest in reading and writing often see the world in a whole different and meaningful way and that being passionate about the written word may actually close off parts of the world.
Seth Godin on how schools teach kids to aim low
In this video Seth Godin explains why the reason many people are not good writers is largely a result of how they were schooled to write.
http://sandradodd.com/reading
Sandra Dodd provides a slew of stories about how children learned to read naturally.
From Joyce Feterol’s, Joyfully Rejoicing site come these gems about learning to read.

"Schools place emphasis on [early] reading not because it's the best way to learn but because it's the most efficient way to run assembly line learning." —Joyce Fetteroll

Despite what many of us have been schooled to believe, in many cases learning is a result of the activity of learners; it is not necessarily a result of teaching. When it comes to reading and writing, it will come as naturally as learning to walk and talk provided that it is not forced and the child is given a supportive environment that includes positive experiences with print. What’s more, for many young people, forcing them to learn to read before they are ready is detrimental to their future ability to read well. In other words, grouping students by date of birth and putting them on the reading assembly line, may very well be the reason some students have trouble reading.

Want to keep the conversation going? Join others interested in discussing this topic here.