Executive Functions Archives

What is the Montessori Method?

November 25, 2013 Brad Hoffman 1 Comment

Dr. Maria Montessori was an educational philosopher and innovator who helped pave an inspiring path for educators to follow. There is a common misconception that Montessori Schools allow children to roam free with no boundaries – this is far from the truth! There is freedom within structure of engaging, thoughtful and inspiring materials that allow children to learn at their own pace to become independent learners, whilst being observed and guided by the teacher. Through close observation, teachers are able to identify when a child is ready to acquire a new skill and the teacher can direct them to material, which will enable the child to build on new skills learnt.

Concepts of Montessori

One of Dr. Montessori’s key theories was about child development and the use of the senses to learn, grow and navigate the world, especially for the keen minds from birth to age six. This age time frame is extremely important, as it is the sensitive period where new information is absorbed at a rapid pace.

The key learning areas in the Montessori classroom are practical life, sensorial, math and language, as well as culture, geography, science and art (which may vary in different schools). The materials used in the learning areas stress the importance of gaining new skills through the senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, and movement.

A prepared environment is imperative to facilitate learning. These classrooms are welcoming spaces reflecting the child’s eye and responding to their interests and needs. A prepared environment is tidy, orderly, beautiful and calm, promoting an atmosphere where learning is engaging and – this fosters social and intellectual growth.

The age range in a Pre-K classroom is from age 3 to 6 years old, and children are organized into multiage groups. This is a wonderful benefit to children, as there are a range of materials targeted at different stages of acquiring new knowledge and information. This means your child will always have materials that are appropriate to their level as well as more challenging materials if they are ready to progress onto harder work. The younger children learn from the older students through observation. The peer-to-peer learning is enriching as it gives children the ability to further concrete skills learnt and builds confidence in their learning. The younger or newer students have a goal that they see and want to work towards and achieve.

The Montessori teacher is responsive to all children’s strengths, abilities and interests. This enables educators to respectfully enter while a child is working to inspire, demonstrate and facilitate learning. Intentional teaching is deliberate, purposeful and thoughtful. Observation and documentation allows the teacher to assess the child’s learning. This is an ongoing process and refers to gathering and analyzing information as evidence about what children know, can do and understand.

Presentations of materials are when the teacher sees that the child is ready to learn a new skill and is presented a new work. Presentation of materials or works can be done in large or small groups or individually. Once the child(ren) have been presented with the new work, they may choose the work as many times as they please.

Respect. Grace and courtesy. Peacefulness! What wonderful and important themes and ideas to be taught and modeled to children. Respect is shown through examples of how children should respect themselves, others and the environment. Manners, respectful vocabulary, and conflict resolution are just a few of the concepts covered to help children understand social structures and to grow into happy, peaceful and respectful humans of this world.

By Cara Zelas, Private Tutor

Teachers College Reading and Writing Project

November 20, 2013 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Lucy Calkins is a leading expert in guided reading instruction and writing instruction who teaches at Teachers College of Columbia University. She founded the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, and is the author of books found in 65% of American K-5 classrooms, including The Art of Teaching Writing.

As a resource for both teachers and parents, this wonderful series of seven videos allows parents and educators to virtually attend a workshop at Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, providing relevant and useful information for literacy and language development.

The video below outlines the methods of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, and the other videos go into specifics covering Reading and Writing Skills, Teaching Education, Curriculum, Design of Writing Standards, Implementation, and Book Club.

Our faculty is well versed in Lucy Calkins teachings and using the Teachers College Reading Writing Project benchmark reading levels.

By Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed.
Board Certified Educational Planner and Learning Specialist
My Learning Springboard, Inc.

Helping Elementary Students Develop Fine Motor Skills

November 19, 2013 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Here are ten exercises to help elementary students with the development of fine motor skills and writing control.

Items needed: putty, 10 pennies, index cards, 10 paperclips, pencil, paper, margarine tub

1. Roll putty into a snake. Pull off 10 pieces. Roll each piece into a small ball using thumb and 2 fingers. No cheating by using the table or other hand!

2. Flatten all putty pieces and roll into a large ball. Rotate this ball in your fingertips (like the earth rotating on it’s axis – repeat for 30 seconds each direction).

3. Line up 10 pennies on the desktop. Flip them over quickly from left to right and return back to the left side.

4. Put away the 10 pennies by picking up 3 and storing them in your hand by trapping them with your little finger. A 3 1/2 year old can do this. Then rotate each coin singly out to your pinch and place the penny into the slot of the margarine tub. Repeat until all pennies are stored in the bank. If 3 are easy, try holding 4 at a time.

5. Write 10 letters or numbers along the borders of an index card. We want to challenge our student by having them quickly place a paperclip onto the correct letter or number, in sequence.

6. Make an “OK” sign with your thumb and index finger. Link your fingers with a partner and play 5 tug-of-war games.

7. Play dice games. Cupping the hand is very important to build the arches of the palm.

8. Fingerspell the alphabet, having students practice their name, as a motor planning activity.

9. Hold a pencil in your best writing grip and walk your tripod up and down the length of the pencil.

10. Place 10 dots across a piece of paper. Quickly make a circle around each dot. Check your work for ovals. We want to develop greater distal control to form circles quickly.

* For younger students that are struggling with directionality of letters, use a tracing method where the student goes over your printing with a changeable marker. This is usually motivating. For the older student, try using a yellow or blue highlighter and let the student trace with this pencil.

** For difficulty learning spacing, give a visual cue by underlining 4 spaces per writing line, with a yellow highlighter. You will give your student a concrete place to put the words. Fade the spaces after one month and reassess.

Written by: Editorial Team, My Learning Springboard, Inc.

Explaining Learning Disabilities to Your Child

October 31, 2013 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

By Marcia Brown Rubinstein
Original Source: Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities

AT A GLANCE

How and when to tell your child about her learning disabilities depends on your readiness as well as hers • The “right time” is sooner rather than later, never in anger, and always in an atmosphere of optimism and confidence • Encourage ongoing discussions characterized by honesty, clear communication, reassurance, and an emphasis on her unique abilities.

As a parent, you must make sure that your child has the right information at the right time so that she can navigate her world with confidence. The same is true for information about learning disabilities.

Parents often agonize about telling a child that she has learning disabilities. But can you imagine not telling your child she has asthma because you don’t want her to feel funny using an inhaler to breathe?

Learning disabilities are just as real and just as disabling as biological differences. The sooner they’re addressed, the better the prognosis for a productive future.

FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE

In the absence of an explanation, your child will assume that she is stupid if she stumbles in class, struggles with assignments, and sees that others need less assistance to learn. If you haven’t educated her about her unique learning style before that happens, you’ve waited too long.

On the other hand, if you describe all the difficulties that may develop from a particular diagnosis, you may create a self-fulfilling prophecy. She may assume that she is incapable of learning anything, so why bother trying? In that case, you have disclosed too much too soon.

Is there a perfect time to inform your child about her learning disabilities? Of course. But the perfect time is different for every child, in every family, in every culture, in every setting, in every school, for every type of intellectual range, and for every type of learning disability.

So how and when should you begin to educate your child about her learning differences? The answer is simple: When you are ready, when she is ready, when the time is right, better sooner than later, never in anger, and always in an atmosphere of optimism and confidence. Following are tips to help you through the process.

Educate yourself about your child’s diagnosis and her assets and deficits before communicating the scope of the learning disability to her. In your discussions do not lose sight of her strengths and unique abilities.

Reassure her that she’s perfectly healthy, then explain her specific learning disability in detail suitable to her age and intellect. If she has dyslexia, for example, you may want to say that her brain works differently when she reads. If she’s been mixing up letters, point it out as an example of what happens with dyslexia. With older kids, prepare material for them to read and referrals to websites that explain their specific type of LD in language they can understand.

Tell her how you’re going to get help. Reinforce the fact that you and all family members will do everything it takes to guarantee her success. Share some examples of successful people with LD.

Explain tasks she’ll find easy to complete and ones that might provide challenges. Find support professionals to cover areas you cannot manage yourself. This includes emotional as well as cognitive issues.

Maintain an ongoing discussion about your child’s future. Discuss your expectations and hopes as well as hers. Make sure she knows that she can excel as long as she works hard. Don’t downplay the fact that there will be frustration along the way. Reinforce the fact that you and other family members will do what’s needed to ensure success.

Communicate clearly. Make sure your child understands everything you’re saying. Don’t hide behind jargon and clinical terms. Translate those into language she will understand. Help her apply the information in proactive, upbeat ways.
Compliment her often and sincerely. Self-esteem and resiliency are often fragile in a child with LD. Praise her lavishly, but make sure you mean it. Never give empty or gratuitous praise.

Get involved in your child’s school. There is nothing better than your active and obvious presence. You are your child’s primary educational advocate. Make sure that the teachers and administrators know you and know that you are overseeing her entire school program. Don’t find out too late that accommodations were not carried out.

Tell your child at least once every day, “I love you.” This advice works well for kids without LD too, but for those with LD, it’s as critical as food and shelter.

There may be few things more difficult than having these important discussions with your child, but if you get stuck, keep going back to No. 9. It’s more important than all the others combined.

Make the Most of Reading Aloud

October 4, 2013 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

As early childhood teachers we often tell parents, particularly before their child is conventionally reading on their own, that the best thing that parent can do is read TO their child. For many families, this may seem obvious and they have been doing this since their child was a toddler, if not before.

But just reading to them doesn’t take advantage of the many ways their child could be learning even more. Comprehension is the goal, and the child will be learning this process when they begin to read on their own and work towards fluency.

There are ways the reader (parent) can enhance comprehension for their young learner by doing a few specific things, before the child ever receives explicit reading instruction:

Read the book yourself first. This allows you to be familiar with the story so you can ask informed questions of your child.
Have in your mind the questions you will ask.

Have your child:

Look at the cover first and predict what the story will be about.
During parts of the book where something particularly important happens, make a prediction of what will happen next in the story. They don’t have to be right. Revisit later in the text and examine the prediction’s validity.
How will a character solve a problem?
How is the character feeling right now?
Explain/paraphrase what is happening in this part of the story.
What happened at the end of the story?

At the end:

How did a character change or grow during the story?
Summarize the story. What happened?

Try to avoid questions that only elicit a yes or no response. The questions above encourage the child to stop and really think about the text, and even empathize with the character(s). It is beneficial when using both picture books and chapter books.

The conversations that emerge will greatly enhance comprehension and understanding, and of course, the same techniques will be just as important when the child begins reading on their own. Consider making it a practice of having “book talks” when sharing stories together.