Book Review - Montessori From The Start

This informative and enlightening book, which I am going to share with you today, is entitled: "Montessori From The Start", written by Paula Polk Lillard and Lynn Lillard Jessen (Schocken Books, 2003)

Most of us, especially parents, have heard of Dr. Maria Montessori and her unique and amazing education method in educating young kids. But how about employing the benefits of Dr. Montessori's insights to benefit your child since birth? Is there any way where parents can apply the Montessori's method during their child's early childhood years to prepare them for a better start in life?

Recognizing the need, the founders of the Forest Bluff School in Lake Bluff Illinois, Paula Polk Lillard and her daughter, Lynn Lillard Jessen, both highly experienced educators, consolidated and condensed their years of experience in their teaching of the Montessori method into this book, entitled "Montessori From The Start".

This book, written based on the authors' insights and experience with working with young minds, provides practical and useful advice on how to use Montessori's theories to create a set of comprehensive approaches to raising infants. In addition, the authors have also provided valuable guidance for the creation of a beautiful and serviceable learning environment that will aid in the development of the infant's focus and concentration. Considering the kid's "sensitive periods", the authors have also introduced concepts and related activities for the development of such skills, such as dressing, food preparation and toilet training.

Infants, at the moment when they enter into this world, are already little sponges that are capable of soaking up information. How they are handled since birth has already an impact on how they will turn out in the future.

For example, drawing from one of the areas mentioned in the book, language development is essential as it wll influence the infant's understanding of what is happening around him and his ability to convey to others of his needs. Thus, the quality of the language to which the infant is exposed to permantly alters both his brain structure and its function. It is then essential, that the infant be given specific linguistic aid from birth, some of which includes good grammar, quantity of vocabulary and clear pronunciation by the care giver.

As the infant can only make sense of language when he relates directly with people, thus, one has to interact with the infant as one is speaking and face-to-face interaction is preferred (TV and VCDs are found to be less useful as they seem). Speech should be made simple and clear though and repetitions are required for reinforcement. Naming game is a good activity that parents can have with their infant.

This book is definitely a must read for parents who want to raise calm, capable and confident children.

Annie

Bullies in Schools - The Bullied

The previous blog entry is on the traits of bullies in school.

As such, to prevent your child to fall prey to such school bullies, it is best that as a parent, you should look out for some signs, or rather changes in behaviour, that shows that your child is being a target of the bullies. Normally, if a child is being bullied in school, he/she would not want people, especially his/her parents and teachers, as he/she is normally threatened by the bully not to let anyone know about the incident.

Nevertheless, the signs may be as below:

1) Your child may become afraid of walking to and from school, especially if by himself/herself.
2) Your child may want to change the usual route to and back from school.
3) Your child may not want you to go on the school bus, as he/her may not want you to
know about the bullying, which may be taking place in the school bus.
4) Your child may beg or want you to drive them to school
5) Your child may be unwilling to go to school, such as pretending to feel ill in the mornings. What is even worse is that he/she may begin to play truant, to avoid school altogether and at the same time prevent arousing your suspicion.
6) Your child may also begin to perform poorly in tests and assignments.
7) Your child may return home rather often with damaged clothes or books, or that you begin to find that his/her possessions start to go missing.
8) Your child may come home, rather often, starving, as the bully has taken the money for lunch, or that his/her pocket money is often "lost".
9) Your child may become withdrawn, start stammering, lack confidence
10) Your child may become distressed and anxious, stop eating
11) Your child may attempt or threaten suicide
12) Your child may cry themselves to sleep or even have nightmares frequently
13) A rather obvious sign, is that your child has unexplained bruises, cuts, scratches
14) Your child becomes aggressive and unreasonable and even start to bully his/her siblings

If your child really does exhibit some of the signs as listed above, there is a high chance that your child is already a victim and it is really time that you have a good chat with him/her, find out the source of the behavioural change and put a stop to the tormentation of your child before it gets worse.

Generally speaking, if there is an abnormal change in behaviour exhibited by your child recently and you are unable to pinpoint the source of change, it might be due to bullying. Thus, as a concerned parent, it is high time that you spend some time and have a good chat with your child.

Annie

Bullies in Schools

Perhaps to add on to the book review yesterday, as the seriousness of the problem is rather alarming to not be overlooked, since it was mentioned that about one in seven schoolchildren has been either a bully or the target of a bully (from US National Association of School Psychologists) (For parents out there, what are your thoughts this very moment after reading this? Are you wondering that perhaps your child is already a victim? A silent victim perhaps?)

According to Barbara Coloroso's definition in the book as mentioned in the earlier post- "bullying is a conscious, wilful, and deliberate hostile activity intended to harm, induce fear through the threat of further aggression, and create terror". From the definition, it is obvious that irregardless of the aggressor's or the victim's sake, bullying should really be stopped in schools.

In her book, Barbara, with her years of experience of working with kids, has listed the common traits of bullies from her observation, irregardless of their ways and means of bullying:

1) Like to dominate other people.

2) Like to use other people to get what they want.

3) Find it hard to see a situation from the other person's vantage point.

4) Are concerned only with their own wants and pleasures and not the needs, rights, and

feelings of others.

5) Tend to hurt other kids when parents or other adults are not around.

6) View weaker siblings or peers as prey (bullying is also known as "predatory aggression" - a

scary term, to be sure, but not as scary as the actual behaviour it defines.)

7) Use blame, criticism, and false allegations to project their own inadequacies onto their target.

8) Refuse to accept responsibility for their actions.

9) Lack foresight - that is, the ability to consider the short-term, long-term, and possible

unintended consequences of their current behaviour.

10) Crave attention.

Perhaps, to look on the flip side of the coin, parents, after reading this, perhaps the descriptions remind you of a person that you know? Your child perhaps? Could they be the aggressors in the school terrosizing the weak and young, instead of being the victim as what you might have thought?

Speak to them! Ask them! Perhaps you might be able to prevent your child from doing something that he may regret for the rest of his life!

Something to think about for tonight.

Annie

The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander

This post is a review of a book that I have just finish reading today. The title is "The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander - from preschool to high school - how parents and teachers can help break the cycle of violence", by Barbara Coloroso and is published by Piccadilly Press, London, 2003.

If you are not aware, thousands of children go to school each day filled with fear; sometimes they dread school to such an extent that they feign illness in order to avoid going to school. All these are results of the common occurance of bullying in schools. Bullying in schools has become so commonplace nowadays and is not restricted to a particular location or country - it occurs in US, UK, New Zealand, and even in the Asian countries, like Singapore!

As such, given the magnitude of the problem, author and educator Barbara Coloroso addressed this issue in the book.

The book is divided into two parts - Part One is dedicated to the discussion on the three main characters in the case of bullying. Part Two is an exploration on how the home, school and community have played a part in setting the stage for bullying to take place, and as such, how the three can come together to break the cycle and foster a safer and hamonious learning environment for all children to study in.

Be warned beforehand that one can be prepared to be chilled by the horrendous accounts of some of the cases of bullying narrated in the book. It is rather difficult to imagine that a child is capable of such acts of menace at such a young age to another person. What could have caused it to happen?

After reading the book, I find that it is indeed a grime situation that we are facing, and thus, to ensure that the children of today have a safer environment to grow up and study in, it is imperative for adults, especially those with the authority and responsibility, such as parents and teachers, to identify potential cases and solve them before they aggravate and avanlanche into problems with dire consequences which we would rather that they were stopped in the first place.

It is quite a good and informative (quite a number of statistics, tips and case studies are available) book for those who are interested in the topic, teachers in schools, and as well as those who have kids in school. You might not be aware that your kid has already become a victim of bullying, for most of the victims choose to remain silent about it. However, there are techniques in the book to help you to identify and solutions offered to rescue your child out of the situation before it is too late to do so.

Annie

EQ 4 - Self Motivation,

The next three dimensions of Goleman's definition of EQ are as follows:


3) Motivating One's Self

Self Motivation refers as what its name suggests, to motivate oneself such that one is able to focus on the task at hand, pay attention to it, and following through with plans. It also encompasses behvaing responsibly and more importantly, less impulsively. Remember the Marshmallow Experiment as mentioned in one of the earlier posts? Deferred ratification falls under this dimension and the success conquering of it will have a higher chance of enabling the person to do well for tests and later on, succeed in life.


4) Knowing the Emotions of Others

Knowing the emotions of others is the next dimension in EQ and is one of the two dimensions on interpersonal skills. This dimension includes empathy, taking the perspective of others, being sensitive to others' feelings, as well as providing a listening ear to others when the need arises. This dimension is important as it is one of the building foundations needed to build a more meaningful and lasting relationships with others later on in life.


5) Relationship Skills

Relationship Skills, as according to Goleman, is the final dimension of EQ. It is an interpersonal skill, and is one that is the more difficult of all, as it involves interactions with other people, with diverse ideas, characters and background from oneself.

This dimension entails understanding of others and relationships, skillful resolving of conflicts, negotiating and solving conflicts and disagreements, solving relationship problems (yourself or others), skillful communication and many other aspects where relationships are concerned. It is also being popular, outgoing, friendly, involved with and sought out by peers, being concerned, caring and considerate, as well as being pro-social, harmonious in groups, helpful, sharing, cooperative and democratic.

It can be seen that a mastery in dimension five will mean that one has attained a high level of EQ and the skills learnt throughout the process of attainment will be useful for life.

Annie

EQ 3 - Self Awareness and Self Control

Yesterday, I discussed on the five dimensions of EQ as highlighted by Goleman.

Before we can embark on the discussion of the techniques, perhaps let me first elaborate on what the five dimensions mean in greater details.


1) Awareness of one's own emotions

This refers to the self awareness of one's own feelings, identify them and recognize what could have caused these feelings. In addition, one is also able to recognize and differentiate between feelings and actions.

As such, those who score high in this area will be those who are able to recognize the differences between the various emotions, and in fact, recognize the intensity of the emotion experienced.


2) Controlling One's Own Emotions

After being able to identify the emotion experienced, the next stage would be to be able to control these emotions. Self control is necessary, especially where relationships are concerned, as one's cannot always be controlled by one's emotion, for there are too often situations which requires us to be composed and controlled in our own emotions - as one grows older, one is less able (or rather, allowed) to behave like a child. Thus, we have to learn to tolerate, carry out anger management, control impulses to behave rashly, avoiding aggressive behaviour, managing stress, and on the positive side, have positive thoughts about oneself, family and one's surroundings. All these done, due to our desire to fit into the society and be accepted by others.

One who scores high in this area would be one who is aware of the causes of emotions, and is a mature user of the various self-control techniques. They would be the ones who will definitely not let their emotions get the better of them, and let whatever feelings bottled up inside them betray them on the outside.


As you might have realised, the more you learn about EQ, the more important it is for one to be a master in it if one is to succeed. No doubt, IQ is important, but as the saying goes, "To be hired, IQ is important, but to be promoted, EQ is."

For the next three dimensions, I shall continue the discussion in the next blog entry. Meanwhile, chew on today's entry!

Annie

EQ 2

As promised, today's post will be a continuation of yesterday's discussion, and will mainly focus on the dimensions of EQ.

According to Daniel Goleman, he has defined EQ into five dimensions, namely

1) Awareness of One's Own Emotions
2) Controlling One's Own Emotions
3) Motivating One's Self
4) Knowing the Emotions of Others
5) Relationship Skills

The above are the five dimensions of EQ by Goleman for educators. The development of the five dimensions are all very important, especially where children are concerned. For a healthy transition from the childhood into the adulthood and having healthy relationships with people, development of these dimensions are imperative.

Thanks to the extensive research done by researchers and educators worldwide, there are now so many techniques that the educators and parents can employ to train and develop the child in these dimensions.

Perhaps, this shall be the topic for my blog entry tomorrow.

Annie

EQ

Last time it used to be all about IQ. But in the recent years, aside from IQ, there seems to be an increasing hype about EQ.

Psychological researches have shown that IQ is an accurate measure of cognitive capacity, and is stable over time. However as for EQ, it is ever changing as it may be learned and increased over time. As such, the test results may vary over time.

But first of all, what is EQ? It refers to Emotional Quotient, which refers to how well are you able to get along with people, your actions and your behaviour. Simply it refers to your interpersonal as well as intrapersonal intelligences. As such, EQ, as viewed by some researchers, is deemed to be more important than IQ in determining a people's success in the future (remember the Marshmallow Experiment?) Perhaps for more proof and experiments with regards to this, one can refer to Daniel Goleman's book, "Emotional Intelligence" (which, in fact is the book that popularized the term, EQ).

In his book, not only has Daniel Goleman demonstrated to the reader why EQ is important, he has also suggested many ways that EQ can be developed by schools, with the aim of developing EQ in the child as early as possible.

Perhaps in the next blog entry, I shall discuss more about the different domains of EQ and also how can it be developed by schools and parents.

Annie

The Power of Praises

This is a continuation of the discussion on 12.01.2007 on the negative self image of students. As highlighted in the discussion, it was observed by a teacher that quite a number of students nowadays have very negative self image and it will ultimately lead on to numerous undesirable attributes if not rectified in time.

Actually, one powerful and yet easy solution is praises. Don't underestimate the power of praises. Occassionally praising a child at the right moments will serve as a form of booster for the child's self confidence as praises are all positive statements about the good things or behaviour that the child has done.

In addition, by praising the child, not only they will feel good and be more confident, at the same time, it also serves as a positive reinforcement for the child and thus increases the possibility of the child to do a better job in the future so as to experience the wonderful feeling of being praised again. To further add on, some psychologists have discovered that in actual fact, for quite a large amount of time in a lifetime, people do actions simply just to win praises. This is the magic of the feel good factor.

Thus, instead of reinforcing the child negatively, such as scolding, beating or critizing, what the parents can do is to apply positive reinforcements. This is where praises can come in. But one thing to bear in mind when lavishing a praise on the child is that - do not overdo it, for then it will seem to more precious that way to the child.

Annie

The Marshmallow Experiment

Recently, I happened to read about this experiment that was carried out in the 60s by Walter Mischel. The details of the entire experiment can be found in Daniel Goleman's book entitled "Emotional Intelligence".

What happened was that during the experiment, Walter Mischel and his researchers gathered a group of four-year olds in a room. He put a marshmallow on the table and told them that they will be given another one if they are able to wait for 20 mins, until he comes back, before eating the marshmallow. The researcher then left the room and the kids in the room were being observed. Some of the kids ignored what he has said and ate the marshmallow immediately. Some looked at the marshmallow, examined it and waited for a couple of mins before grabbing it and gobbled it down. However, there were some kids who were able to wait and thus they were rewarded with another marshmallow upon the researcher's return.

The progress of these kids were monitored throughout the years and it was discovered that those kids who were able to wait until the researcher's return before eating the marshmallow were found to be more successful in life than those who weren't. For example, this group of kids scored an average of 210 points higher for the SAT then the other group.

What this experiment showed was that those kids who were able to eat their marshmallows only until the researcher's return exhibited the trait of delayed gratification, which is a part of our EQ. With the ability to discipline oneself and to exert self control to suppress any impulse, one is able to focus on the job at hand and resist any temptation to stray away from the job until its completion.

Given such a quality, it is no wonder that those people that scored high on delayed gratification have a higher tendency to be successful people. Perhaps parents out there might want to take note of this!

Annie

Self Image of a Child

Today, a teacher in the centre commented to me that the kids nowadays, though seemed strong on the outside, but actually they have very negative image of themselves. Thus teachers can help them along the way simply beginning by getting them to greet the teachers as and when they are in the classroom. This is to give them a chance to learn how to respect others, and in return, be respected, which helps in enabling them to get a more positive self image.

Quite a refreshing remark that was. If a child has a negative self image, simply put, it means that they think negatively of themselves, and that they don't look gd in the eyes of others (which may not neccessarily be true). This negative self image might be attributed to the environment in which the child was raised - for example, if there was any positive reinforcement by the parents of the child, or that were they constantly be belittled or berated?

A negative self image can easily translate into low self esteem, lack of confidence, easily initimidated by others, and a sense of worthlessness, all of which are things that we do not want to see in the children of our future.

The teacher's remarks has certainly made me more aware of this issue. Children, and even teenagers, are delicate pieces of paper, which can be torn easily by strong winds and rain. Our harsh words, are like the strong winds and rains, whereby as time goes by, will taint these wonderful spirits inside the child and limit their potential and growth.

Annie

Rain RAIN

The post today will be quite a short one.

This is in relation to the rain that has been going on since this afternoon.

Que: What is the best way to save $500?

Ans: By looking outside the window when it rains and you can thus save $500 by not buying the tickets to RAIN's concert.

Posted to me by a student in class today.

What do you think of it? What would your comments be if a student has said this in class?

Annie

AVK 2

Perhaps let's continue with yesterday's topic for today.

For audio learners, the best way for them to learn would be to let them listen in lectures, participate in discussion, and talking things out.

For visual learners, perhaps the teacher can cater to them by incorporating more diagrams, graphs, charts and handouts in their presentation of the new concepts. They learn with their eyes.

As for the more active ones, the kinesthetic learners, I have realized that one good way for them to learn, is to do hands-on activities - they do need to have their hands wet in order to learn! And how would they read in this case? Most probably, they would have to use their finger to guide them through the lines as they are reading. I have friends who do that!

Given the diverse groups of learners, a teacher has to teach so as to cater to all the three groups. For example, after reading up materials relating to this yesterday, I was more aware of the importance of a more diversified teaching and I made sure I was able to cater to all the three types of learners in my maths lesson today. I had to do out the sums on the board, with models included (visual), explain it to the class after that (audio), and get the class to work through the solution again (kinesthetic, which serves as reinforcement also). I hope this really does cater to all the three groups of learners in my class!

Annie

AVK

What does AVK mean?

A-V-K stands for Audio Visual Kinesthetic.

This discribes the three different ways whereby students pick up new information. According to studies, some students are audio learners, whilst some are visual learners and some are kinesthetic learners. There are some who are strong in any combination of the three.

This was mentioned to me by a student during lesson today. His teacher has explained to him in class today.

With students of different learning styles in the classroom, in order to better facilitate learning, a teacher has to design her lesson so as to cater to all the three types of learners. Audio learners absorb new information best through listening. Thus they will be able to understand and absorb quickly any explanation done verbally of the new concepts to them. As for those visual learners, they pick up new information faster through looking at them with their eyes. For example, drawing out a map to them is faster than telling them the directions to a place. For the kinesthetic learners, they are those who need to touch, or rather, be put through the experience of learning. They are those who really need a hands-on in order to better understand the new knowledge.

Thus, facing students of such diverse learning styles, what can the teacher do in the classroom to ensure that all the three groups of students are learning well?

Some thoughts to ponder for the rest of the day.

Annie

A light for a light to pass it on

Quite a couple of topics for the new posting were on my mind today till a chanced meeting with someone just now. He is Sufian, who has been with me for a couple of years until his "graduation" last year due to the completion of his O Levels.

I happened to meet him while I was about to pay for my groceries at Carrefour, which is one of the hypermarts in Singapore. Actually, I wasn't aware of him initially, until I heard someone calling out my name. Rather a surprise it was, and quite a pleasant one in fact. Sufian has been working as a temp cashier since last month. When he saw me approaching, he quickly removed the basket on the conveyor belt at the check out counter (I later learnt that he was about to finish for the night before I came). We chatted a bit while he checked out my grocies.

I am really glad for this encounter, for it is the first time for me to be served by an ex-student. For a while after I left the hypermart, I was filled with a multitude of feelings: it is indeed nice to know that someone whom you have taught have made themselves useful to the society, which I reckon provides a sense of fulfillment to the teacher who have helped shape his growth in some way or another.

Though I may not be a teacher on the frontline, in the classroom, but today's incident made me realised that a teacher is someone who provides a light to light the many lights that lightens the society.

Annie

Welcome!

Hi Readers,

This is a blog specially created as a platform for people around the world to exchange ideas and share your views on issues pertaining to education.

Perhaps, for starters, here's some info on myself.

I am currently based in Singapore, as a teacher in my own tuition centre (perhaps I'll reveal more about this precious baby of mine as time goes by ;P). I have been teaching (giving tuition, doing relief in schools and teaching in tuition centres and etc) since my undergrad days.. With the aim of helping students to achieve better grades, I do hope to hear from teachers "battling" on the frontline your views and perhaps share with me your experience and expertise.

Think that's all this time round, and hope to hear from you guys soon! :)

Annie

Welcome!

Hi Readers,

This is a blog specially created as a platform for people around the world to exchange ideas and share your views on issues pertaining to education.

Perhaps, for starters, here's some info on myself.

I am currently based in Singapore, as a teacher in my own tuition centre (perhaps I'll reveal more about this precious baby of mine as time goes by ;P). I have been teaching (giving tuition, doing relief in schools and teaching in tuition centres and etc) since my undergrad days.. With the aim of helping students to achieve better grades, I do hope to hear from teachers "battling" on the frontline your views and perhaps share with me your experience and expertise.

Think that's all this time round, and hope to hear from you guys soon! :)

Annie