Honest question: Should schools play a role in teaching parents how to raise their children? A local school district has taken it upon themselves to offer two classes for parents. Following is the information that has been shared on the districts website and sent via email. Is this appropriate or are they over-reaching their charter and responsibilities? PARENT WORKSHOPS FOCUS ON COPING, RESILIENCY SKILLS FOR YOUTH Parents are invited to participate in two parent workshops in May that focus on recognizing the signs of and helping youth in crisis. The first workshop, Coping with Adolescent Stress & Depression, will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on … [Read more...]
Screens In Schools Are a $60 Billion Hoax
Time magazine had an interesting article on computers and their cost and impact. For those of you who are seeing Technology Levy's coming up in February 2017 you may want to give this a read and then share your thoughts with your school district and others. Dr. Kardaras is the author of the new book Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction is Hijacking Our Kids—and How to Break the Trance. It's a gold rush, not a flood of educational concern As the dog days of summer wane, most parents are preparing to send their kids back to school. In years past, this has meant buying notebooks and pencils, perhaps even a new backpack. But over the past decade or so, the back-to-school checklist has … [Read more...]
I Feel Like I’m Doing Something Illegal By Actually Teaching My Kids
Divinesparkingnites.com Teaching. Real authentic teaching. The art and science of teaching is a talent. Those of us who are passionate about our profession, are deeply trained in instructional pedagogy, and know how to light the fire and love of learning in our students… are the ones growing more and more down and disheartened when the latest and greatest “new” reform or mandate hits our classrooms. Being handcuffed to these mandates and reforms (many are wasteful and ineffective) and seeing the transformation of the teaching profession slowly erode… sends teachers into the grief cycle. Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance The Teacher Grief Cycle … [Read more...]
The Decline of Play and Rise in Children’s Mental Disorders
This is an article written by Peter Gray and published in Psychology Today. The links to the original article along with a link to Peter's Facebook Page are at the end. Summary: Children's loss of play and free time may be contributing to the rise of depression and mental disorders https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201001/the-decline-play-and-rise-in-childrens-mental-disorders https://www.facebook.com/peter.gray.3572?fref=ts … [Read more...]