Enrichment Teaching Archives

Tips for the Museum: Going with Kids

May 15, 2014 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Museums are fantastic local resources that can be excellent destinations for a child-friendly outing. Despite the entertainment and educational benefits, however, museums can be overwhelming. Here are some tips for the museum in order to create successful experiences for children, and yourselves, in your museum-going adventures.

Tap into children’s interests

In a city with hundreds of museums, there is something for everyone! It can be easy to rely on a handful of the most well known and familiar, but it is worth it to do some research to find more off-the-beaten path destinations. For a child who likes fashion or design, check out The Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology). There is the Skyscraper Museum, the MTA Transit Museum, or the New York City Fire Museum. For children interested in math, try the Math Museum (MOMATH). Tapping into a child’s individual interests supports their passions, while simultaneously introducing them to various types of museums and cultural institutions. As an added bonus, these smaller, more focused museums tend to have lower entrance fees, with many offering discounts or even free times for admission.

Make a plan

Before heading off on a museum adventure, it is helpful to have an idea of what you want to do and see. Most museums have websites full of information to help you plan your visit. Check to see if there is a special exhibition, presentation, or activity that you will want to attend while you are there. It is important to be selective; do not try and see an entire museum in one visit. Trying to cover too much ends up making a visit stressful, for both adults and children. Be realistic about your child’s attention span and limits; pushing them past these will risk losing their interest in the trip entirely.

Many websites also include a map of the museum space so that you can know how to move best through the sites when you arrive. It can be fun to involve children in this planning process, and prepare them for what they will see and do during their time in the museum. This can get children excited about their visit, as well as answer some of their initial questions ahead of time.

Be flexible!

Even with all of the planning ahead of time, it is important to remain flexible during a museum visit. If a child passes something in the museum that attracts their attention, allow them to explore and spend time pursuing their own interests. It can be difficult to predict exactly what will reel in a child, especially as children often observe and perceive things differently from adults. Allow children to take some ownership of the experience, and be the “leader” of your adventure.

Some Suggestions for Child-Friendly Museums In New York City

While we still suggest that you look up specific interest museums, here are some suggestions for child-centric museums:

By Jenny Madden, Private Tutor

Writing Tips from a (Formerly Blocked) Writer

May 12, 2014 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Writing isn’t easy, and it isn’t supposed to be. It forces you to think through your subject carefully, to choose the words that most clearly articulate your thoughts, and to organize your thoughts in the best way possible. I, like many others, use writing to connect with the world around me. Because I am emotionally invested in what I write, having a bad day can really throw me off my game. A blank white page or screen can be paralyzing: “what could I possibly have to say?” I’ve spent hours staring at blank screens waiting for inspiration to strike. Though that inspiration may eventually find me, most of the time, I don’t want (or don’t have the time) to sit around and wait. Through much trial and error, I have picked up a few tricks that can help others overcome the feeling of dread that many people experience as they try to create something out of what seems like nothing.

Keep a writing journal. I know, every writing coach recommends keeping a journal. It’s much easier said than done – the practice of daily writing can be difficult to keep up with. But it’s also the only way to transform writing from an occasional, lightning-bolt-of-inspiration kind of activity into a habit. And if you’re working on composing a written product, a writing journal can be used to think while you type, getting your ideas out of your head and onto the page so that you can begin to formulate what you actually want to talk about.

Create a safe space. This is another trick to help make writing habitual: find a place where you like writing and stick with it. Maybe it’s a place where you’ve been successful before. Maybe it has a spectacular view. Maybe it’s the only place in your house where you can have some privacy. It could be outside, in the park, or in your favorite coffee shop. Wherever it is, make sure you know that once you’re there it’s time for business.

Listen to what your body and mind are telling you. If you find it difficult to write after a long day of school and practice, try writing first thing in the morning. If you find yourself antsy or unable to focus on the task, go for a run or have a snack. When faced with a deadline, we still have to write, regardless of how we are feeling, and we have to also be aware of the conditions that are necessary for us to do our best work. Writing, because it is essentially an extension of ourselves on a page, can be a sensitive process. Be kind to yourself. Then get to work.

Find a model. Not a model person, but some piece of writing that embodies many of the qualities you would like to incorporate into your own writing. You can use this model as a guide for your own writing when you don’t know where to begin. Writing classes used to be taught by having students copy down and recite great works of literature. Even though this kind of rote learning has gone out of fashion (perhaps rightly so), copying down the work of effective writers gave emerging writers a way forward. This is not to say that you should merely copy the work of others – plagiarism is a serious offense that can ruin an academic or professional career – but by observing the choices that experienced writers make (like form, sentence structure, word choice), and by understanding how those choices are made in order to have some effect on the writer’s audience, you can get a good idea about which choices – which writing tools – are available to you.

By Andrew Laudel, Private Tutor

Every Child Can Win The Memory Game

May 1, 2014 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

By Dominic O’Brien
Original Source: Edutopia
Originally posted May 20, 2014

As a student, I had great difficulty concentrating during lessons, and consequently didn’t retain much knowledge. I was diagnosed with dyslexia and had the symptoms of attention deficit disorder. Academic information just didn’t get through to me.

Here are samples of reports that my teachers sent home when I was ten:

“He tends to dream in the middle of a calculation which leads him to lose track of the thought.”
“Terribly slow. Often cannot repeat the question. Must concentrate.”
“Unless Dominic really shakes himself up and gets down to work, he is not going to achieve any success . . . he is painfully slow.”

The comments contained no evidence that I would one day become an eight-time World Memory Champion and author of over a dozen books and courses on memory training. So what happened?

In 1987, I watched a man on television memorize a shuffled deck of playing cards in just under three minutes. As corny as it may sound, that moment changed my life.

I taught myself to memorize playing cards and realized that the strategy I was developing could be used to remember anything. Today, when I appear on TV and radio shows, one question is always asked: “Why don’t they teach this stuff in schools?” Had I acquired those skills when I was a student, I could have achieved exam success, gone onto higher education, and actually enjoyed the learning process. Instead, I suffered low self-esteem and dropped out of school when I was 16.

Teaching Basic Memory Skills

Here are five strategies that will help students remember academic information:

1. The Story Method

To remember a set of information, create a story that links all the elements together. In chemistry, for example, the noble gases are helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon. Imagine taking off in a helium balloon lit up with a neon light. An argon welder turns into Superman, who takes you to the planet Krypton, and so on.

2. Numeral Shapes

To remember numerical information, give each numeral a picture code. For example, 2 is shaped like a swan, and 9 resembles a balloon and string. To remember that Queen Victoria had nine children, imagine her holding a balloon and string.

3. The Link Method

To remember foreign vocabulary, find a link between the sound of a foreign word and its meaning. For example, the German word for “bone” is knochen, so imagine the pain involved in “knocking” a bone in your leg. You can remember the Spanish word for “boat” – barco — by imagining that a boat has a large “barcode” on its side, or picture a dog “barking” on a boat.

4. The Journey Method

To remember a list, choose a familiar journey, maybe around your house, and picture each item on the list at specific locations. Test your class with a random list of 20 objects, then get them to imagine each item along a 20-stage route around their house. The same method can then be applied to remembering practical information such as the Periodic Table of Elements or the U.S. presidents.

5. The Rule of Five

To avoid having information gradually fade from your memory banks, it’s important to know when to review information. Apply the Rule of Five:

First review: immediately
Second review: 24 hours later
Third review: one week later
Fourth review: one month later
Fifth review: three months

Tapping Potential

To date, I have taught over 10,000 schoolchildren basic memory skills. Typically, I get a volunteer to write down and call out a random 60-digit number, which I then repeat forwards and backwards having heard the number just once.

The faces register amazement. However, the real payoff is when I ask, “Would you like to be able to do that, too?”

“Yeeeeeeeees!”

Next, we discuss how easy and fun learning could be if they knew the secret. After all, if a dyslexic kid can go on to become a World Memory Champion, then all children are potential memory champions.

Introverts in an Extroverted World

April 2, 2014 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Understanding introversion vs. extroversion

I once told a friend, to his surprise, that I am an introvert. He wasn’t surprised that I identified with this personality type, but rather that I would freely admit it! He considers himself an introvert, too, but always thought of it as a weakness–and something potentially embarrassing.

Introversion is often misunderstood as shyness, social awkwardness, or fear of other people

But it is none of these things. Introverts are not shy, though they are more easily overstimulated by large crowds. They are not necessarily socially awkward, though they generally prefer deeper conversations with close friends over small talk with acquaintances. And they are not afraid of other people, though they need regular time alone in order to recharge. (To be sure, one can be both introverted and shy, socially awkward, and/or afraid of other people–but these traits are not mutually inclusive.)

My friend’s reluctance to publicly label himself an introvert is something I have come across with many of my friends and acquaintances. We live in what Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, calls

the Extrovert Ideal–the omnipresent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight,” while introversion is “a second-class personality trait, somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology.

Yet one-third to one-half of the population is introverted! Moreover, contemporary research in social and organizational psychology is pointing to the many benefits of introversion (see Quiet for a thorough review of this research).

Although introverts and extroverts have different strengths, neither is discretely superior to the other. In fact, both types are critical to a balanced society. We must learn to celebrate and develop our personal strengths while appreciating those of the other type.

Which am I?

How can I tell if I am (or if my child is) an introvert or an extrovert? Susan Cain has published her quiz, “Are You an Introvert or an Extrovert?”, on her website, “The Power of Introverts.” The quiz can be taken here.

How to help your introverted child thrive

If you, or your child, falls somewhere on the introverted side of the introvert-extrovert spectrum (and it is a wide spectrum!), there is both good and bad news. The bad news is that we live in a world that privileges “the Extrovert Ideal,” and almost everything in our social lives, from classrooms with grouped desks to open-air cubicle farms, is designed with this ideal in mind. The good news is that introversion boasts its own list of strengths: a highly nuanced ability to listen to others, a greater ability to concentrate for extended periods of time, and even better grades in post-secondary education. (Some introverts of note include Albert Einstein, Frédéric Chopin, Mahatma Gandhi, Sir Isaac Newton, Larry Page – cofounder of Google, Steve Wozniak – cofounder of Apple, Steven Spielberg, Audrey Hepburn, Warren Buffet, and J.K. Rowling.)

If your child is an introvert, here are some ways you can help him/her thrive

Give her time to reflect, don’t force her to talk, and when she is talking, don’t interrupt her. Introverts need time to organize and compose their thoughts before sharing them. If they are forced to talk, they will often become anxious. Conversely, when an introvert wants to share her thoughts, she has likely put some thought into what she is going to say. If she is interrupted, she will feel like her thoughts and feelings aren’t being heard.
Support him in developing his strengths and interests. Remind him that he makes a great contribution to group projects in school, social gatherings, etc., by being himself and offering his natural gifts. For example, if your child is a strong writer (a common strength of introverts), note-taker, or drawer, encourage him to take on that role in his group.
Rehearse any foreseen public speaking roles with your child. For example, if your child has an upcoming presentation in school, have her present to the family first. Introverts especially benefit from preparation as they are slower than extroverts to think on their feet in public settings.
Remind him that he does not have to go to every social function that he is invited to, and that spending time alone working on his own projects of interest is a good thing, too. Let him decide when he’s reached his threshold of social stimulation for the day (or week).

The Power of Determination

March 25, 2014 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

The book Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman argues how, in the long run, determination and hard work matter more than intelligence when it comes to success. Goleman’s initial experiment was simple and familiar: he put a marshmallow on every student’s desk in a first grade classroom, and told the kids that if they waited an hour without eating the marshmallow, they would receive three more marshmallows as a reward. Several of the students couldn’t last the hour, and their marshmallows disappeared. The students whose marshmallows remained got their reward. Goleman later assessed the IQs of each student and tracked them throughout their high school, college, and professional careers. He found–unanimously–that the subjects who had waited for the extra marshmallows as first graders were more successful in their academic and personal lives, regardless of IQ.

Having been an educator for many years, I have seen countless examples that prove Goleman’s research findings time and again. My most successful students–whether they attend medical school, become West Point graduates, or PhD candidates–were the ones who consistently worked hard and focused on their work. In my experience, intelligence is of course useful, but it’s often not as important a factor in measuring future success as many people think it is.

How can parents and educators help students apply themselves effectively?

I have found that the answer lies in consistency and hard work. Reading twenty minutes a day is more useful than reading the whole book the night before the test. Working on a long-term homework assignment every day instead of just before the deadline will give a student time to edit and revise.

The process of learning how to focus and apply oneself is gradual, but the habits young people pick up will influence the rest of their lives. One of the best habits to develop early is self-discipline (not necessarily a natural trait). It’s important that children have good role models and positive reinforcement for their efforts as they learn how to apply themselves to their work.

I praise students I tutor for completing assignments on time, but I try to praise them even more when they finish the assignment a day early. It’s gratifying to hear that a student I work with takes an hour each day to complete their homework: grades are important, but the process of spending time on their homework will serve them more. There are many smart kids who have difficulty focusing and following through with assignments and schoolwork.

Start small, start early, and build a little bit every day.

The results can be astounding.

By Grant Bergland, Private Tutor