Sticks and Stones

The other day, I was watching Momisms, Anita Renfroe's breathless three-minute riff on things Moms say to their kids -- set to the William Tell Overture. And as I listened, I heard in her words the words of my mom -- and of my daughter. It's fascinating, isn't it, that no matter how hard we work at not turning into our parents, how often we end up sounding like them, and how inevitably we pass their advice -- both good and bad -- down to the next generation.

One of my Mom's favorite momisms was "Sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you." It never made sense to me. Even as a child, I knew that words could -- and often did -- hurt. But that didn't stop me from repeating the inane bromide years later when confronted with my own bickering children..."Mooooom. He said I was...She said I was...He called me...."

"Enough! Sticks and stones might break your bones, but words will never hurt you."

I was reminded again of that particular momism when I read about a campaign called Spread the Word to End the Word. If you're not yet familiar with "Spread the Word," it's an initiative of Special Olympics and Best Buddy International to eliminate the use of the word "retard(ed)" in everyday speech by asking people to sign an online pledge to never use the r-word again. The goal is 100,00 pledges. Today's total is 51,669. Have you taken the pledge yet? If not, March 3, 2010, is "Spread the Word to End the Word" Awareness Day. Get the toolkit and use it to raise awareness in your classroom and in your school. And then take the pledge with your students. Let's make sure that the r-word, at least, is one word that doesn't hurt anyone again.

Speaking of the Olympics (and video), be sure to check out The Science of the Olympic Winter Games, a 16-part video series from NBC Learn and the National Science Foundation. Narrated by NBC News anchor Lester Holt, the free videos make science more accessible to students by illustrating how scientific principles apply to competitive sports.

FYI: NBC is broadcasting the Olympic Winter Games from Vancouver, Canada, February 12-28, 2010. The USA National Special Olympics Games will be held July 18-23, 2010 in Nebraska.

Helping Kids Help Haiti

Like all of you, I'm sure, I've been horrified this past week by the images of death and destruction coming out of Haiti. Even my grown children are finding those images hard to deal with; their reactions range from tears to "turn it off -- now!" If adults can't bear to watch the devastation, how hard must all this live coverage be on our children?

It occurs to me that in this era of instantaneous images, kids often are immersed in disasters as they occur, making a tsunami in Samoa or an earthquake in Haiti seem as up-close-and-personal as the local weather. Our children no longer are just watching news reports of far-away disasters; they are virtually experiencing them, literally watching as victims suffer and die. How can we -- as parents and teachers -- help them cope?

Hopefully, the resources below will help you not only find the best ways to talk to our children about the earthquake in Haiti, but also provide you with lessons and activities that will help our children reach out to its victims.

FEMA for Kids includes lots of information for kids on weather-related disasters, including where such disasters are most likely to occur. The section for parents and teachers includes lessons and activities on disaster safety and preparedness.

Helping Children Cope With Natural Disasters from the National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center offers a list of organizations that can provide information for adults working with children who have experienced traumatic events associated with natural disasters.

Helping Children Cope With Loss, Death, and Grief is a printable list of excellent tips for parents and teachers from the National Association of School Psychologists.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Tips for Talking About Disasters includes a number of pdfs, ranging from "Questions to Help Children Talk About a Disaster" to "Marking Disaster Anniversaries in the Clasroom." All provide excellent suggestions for appropriate home or classroom lessons and activities.

You don't have to be Catholic to utilize the lesson plans, simulation activities, prayer services, stories, and Web links at Going Global With Youth, an initiative of Catholic Relief Services (Click "Resources for Catholic Educators and Youth Ministers"). Although most of the lessons and activities are more appropriate to church-based youth groups, many can be adapted for classroom use.

Reading Rockets' article It Happened Over There: Understanding and Empathy Through Children's Books explains how parents and educators can use books to talk with kids about natural disasters like the earthquake in Haiti -- and offers suggestions for children's books and Web sites about Haiti and about earthquakes.

Helping Our Children in Difficult Times -- featuring Marc Brown's Arthur -- is primarily geared to parents of very young children; preschool and primary teachers might find this a helpful printable to send home with students.

CBS News provides full coverage of the disaster in Haiti, as well as advice from psychotherapist Robi Ludwig on How to Talk to Kids About Haiti. The site also includes an extensive list of charitable organizations providing aid to Haiti.

KidzWorld offers a somewhat more manageable list of ten charitable organizations accepting donations for earthquake victims in Haiti.

In Helping a Child Comprehend and Cope With Catastrophe, Charlotte Reznick, an associate clinical professor of psychology at UCLA, provides 13 tips for helping kids cope with the devastation in Haiti, as well as several suggestions for ways kids can raise money to donate to disaster victims.

You'll find more fundraising suggestions for kids at How Kids Can Help Kids in Haiti. Help Your Kids Help Haiti offers even more quick and easy fundraising activities appropriate for kids at school or at home.

If you know of another organization, Web site, or resource for teachers, parents, and kids struggling to understand the disaster in Haiti and/or help the victims, please click Post A Comment to share your suggestion.

A Question of Quality

Every day, I spend a little time searching a variety of news sources for important or interesting -- or funky -- education news articles. Most of the articles wind up featured on Education World's EDscoops page. Every once in a while, an article strikes a chord and shows up on my blog. Such is the case today.

The first article to catch my eye was from The Courier-Journal, which reported that the state panel overseeing teacher licensing in Indiana had approved new rules that "will allow future educators to spend less time learning how to teach and more time focused on subject matter." According to school superintendent Tony Bennett, "We crafted these changes with the belief that students' academic success is determined, in large part, by the quality of their teachers."

I agree with Mr. Bennett's premise that teacher quality is the single most important factor in student academic success; I strongly disagree with his conclusion that teacher quality is determined more by subject-matter knowledge than by classroom management and instructional skill.

In fact, the second relevant article I read this morning was from Education Week. Majoring in Math Not Always a Classroom Plus cites a report released last year by the National Mathematics Advisory Panel that "found no evidence of a link between teachers’ degree attainment in college and student academic gains in elementary and middle grades." There is a difference, the article points out, between mathematical knowledge and "mathematical knowledge for teaching" -- and policy makers need to keep that distinction in mind when setting standards for teacher quality.

The bottom line -- in my mind -- is that prospective teachers first and foremost need to know how to teach. If they don't learn how to do that well, nothing they do learn will benefit their students.

The Most Important Child in the World

Welcome back...to a new year...a new semester...a new start...with a not-so-new -- but hopefully newly motivated -- group of students.

I begin this new year as a new -- a first time -- grandmother. My grandson's name is Gavin Chase and he's absolutely beautiful, absolutely perfect. And I think, as I look at him (We simply can't take our eyes off him :), that no one has had a chance to screw him up yet -- and I wish I could keep it that way.

I wish I could tell his parents how to avoid all the mistakes I made with his father. But I know they'll do their best without my advice. And I know they'll screw up at times -- like I did -- with or without that advice.

I wish I could tell the bullies who will harrass him, and the friends who'll betray him, and the girls who'll break his heart, to be kind to him instead -- because he is innocent and trusting and un-screwed up and I want him to stay that way. But I know I can't perfect the world for him any more than I could for my own children.

But mostly, I wish I could say to the teachers who, in just a few short years, will have so much to do with who this child becomes: In your classroom, he will be just one child among many. But to his family -- to his parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and godparents -- he is the most important child in the world. Remember that. For me.

And have the best new year ever.

The Gift of Giving

I wish Christmas would just come already so I can finally stop shopping. It seems as though no matter how holiday-ready I think I am, I keep finding new things to buy, or new people to buy things for, right up until the minute the stores close on Christmas Eve. And if I'm not actually shopping, I'm thinking about shopping, usually wondering what to get those people -- and we all have a few of them on our shopping lists -- who have everything and want nothing and give too generously to be overlooked.

This year, a friend offered a possible solution to the perenniel "What to give someone who has everything" dilemma by sending a flock of chickens to Appalachia in a nephew's name. So when an e-mail about the Toys for Tots Literacy Program hit my browser, I already was primed to embrace a gift of giving. And, as a former reading teacher, this one seems like the perfect present.

According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 44 percent of children in the United States grow up in families facing serious economic struggles. Those families can’t foster a love of reading and learning in their children because they don’t have access to the resources -- including books -- that the children need.

The Toys for Tots Literacy Program, a year-round initiative of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, offers economically disadvantaged children in the United States the chance to break that cycle of poverty and to succeed academically by providing them with direct access to books and educational resources that can enhance their ability to read and communicate effectively.

The UPS Store®, exclusive sponsor of the Toys for Tots Literacy Program, collects monetary donations for the Toys for Tots Foundation throughout the entire year. Every dollar donated places a book in the hands of a poor child in the local community. So this year, instead of wondering what to give that special person who has everything, why not give to Toys for Tots Literacy in his or her name? Give a buck; give a book; give a kid a chance!

My Favorite Book

I recently attended a baby shower at which we were asked to bring the expectant mother a favorite children's book instead of a greeting card. As a mother of four and a former kindergarten and first grade teacher (with a fabulous college Kiddy Lit professor), I could have filled an entire home library all by myself. Instead, I spent more than an hour at Borders trying to pick my all-time favorite. (Since the expectant mother is my daughter-in-law, my choice was clearly crucial.)

I ended up selecting not one old favorite, but three. First, I chose two copies of Watty Piper's The Little Engine That Could -- a full-sized edition for reading aloud, and an abridged version small enough for child-sized hands. That I thought was fitting for a book I'd loved as a child for its mesmerizing cadence -- "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can...." -- and as a parent and teacher for its motivating message.

Next, I chose Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day -- because Judith Viorst's rhymes are great fun -- and infinitely insightful -- whether you're a toddler or Suddenly Sixty. And because kids need to know that there are going to be terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days -- but they pass.

And finally, I chose The Poky Little Puppy, by Janette Sebring Lowrey, because it reminded me most of my childhood, and because it was the book most responsible for turning me into a life-long reader.

Which book would you have chosen?

Speaking of wonderful children's books...Carson-Dellosa Publishing LLC recently launched The Very Hungry Caterpillar™, a teacher-resource Web site offering lesson plans, craft ideas, teaching tips, tools, and printable classroom materials featuring Eric Carle’s bestselling book. In addition, to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar™, the publisher has partnered with Chorion to sponsor a sweepstakes that will award teachers and classrooms exciting The Very Hungry Caterpillar™ prizes, and the opportunity to submit a question that will be answered in an exclusive online Q&A with the author. Check it out -- and then click Post A Comment below to share with us your favorite book or Kiddy-Lit-based Web site. We'd love to hear about them.

As Groucho Marx said, "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."

Have a great week!

Who's Your Family?

I hope everyone had as wonderful a Thanksgiving weekend as I did. Thursday, I shared a (relatively) quiet meal with my three sons and their significant others. Only my daughter, loving it in San Diego, was missing from the table. How did this happen anyway? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was serving ear drops and antibiotics amid meal-time bickering of epic proportions? Now, I sit down to eat with entertaining and articulate adults I'd choose to dine with even if they weren't my own children. Life is good.

Sunday, I hosted a baby shower for my daughter-in-law, who's due any day now with my first grandchild. (God's reward, they tell me, for not killing my own kids during those holiday disasters of yore.) The theme of the party was...ta-da..."A Star Is Born" (Get it?) and it was great fun, attended by female friends, and siblings, and cousins, and in-laws, and nieces...all those wonderful women I rarely get to see. Aren't girls-only parties just the best? (All you women out there know what I'm talking about.)

Speaking of women, do you have a female friend, relative, neighbor, or colleague currently undergoing treatment for cancer? If so, you'll want to tell her about Cleaning for a Reason. This newly-formed non-profit provides free housecleaning -- once a month for 4 months -- for any woman being treated for any form of cancer. All she has to do is sign up and have her doctor fax a note confirming treatment. Cleaning for a Reason will arrange for a participating maid service in the woman's zip code to provide the free service. Cleaning for a Reason serves the entire United States, so pass the word to any woman in need of a little support this year.

While you're sharing good thoughts and deeds, why not visit Let's Say Thanks and take a few minutes to say thanks to a soldier? Just pick out a postcard design and choose a message or write your own, and Xerox and its partners will see that your card is printed and delivered to a soldier overseas. The designs, depicting patriotic scenes and hometown images, were selected from entries from children across the United States. The postcards are printed on the Xerox iGen3® Digital Production Press and mailed in care packages by the military support organization Give2TheTroops®. It's such an easy holiday activity for a family -- or for a classroom. Wouldn't it be wonderful if every single soldier received a supportive message during this holiday season?

The weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's can be busy and stressful ones. Take a breath and take the time to enjoy your family -- whatever their ages or actual relationship to you -- and take a moment to think of those you don't know who might need a helping hand.

Have a great week!