Ramblings of a Conuly

December 2009

Who owns lesson plans? Is it the teacher who wrote them?

Well, most of us would say that if you spend hours of unpaid labor doing work to make you better at your underpaid job, you get to own what you make then. And apparently some teachers would say so too, which is why you can buy teacher-made lesson plans online. (Of course, you could always buy lesson plans somewhere, but some teachers are cutting out the middle man and selling their own plans.)

And then - shock and horror! - they're spending the money they earn. Oh, sure, mostly that money appears to be going towards classroom supplies, which I would think the state should pay for, but sometimes - terrible! - they're paying for things like mortgages and home repair and the occasional dinner out. Yes, they're living the high life and it's WRONG WRONG WRONG.

Lemme tell you something. If teachers have to resort to selling the fruits of their hard (and otherwise unpaid!) labor online in order to pay off their mortgages (or, worse, purchase the supplies that should have been provided for them and their students already), there's room for outrage, sure, but not at the teachers. (For that matter, even if they're spending that money on fast cars and trips overseas in first class, who gives a fuck? This is a capitalist nation, isn't it? Can't they spend the money they earned from their time however they like? If we're gonna get all "socialist" about our public school teachers, well, I may just move! To Canada!)

Of course, the comments are a pain. Some people are under the impression that buying and selling lesson plans is EXACTLY THE SAME as buying and selling tests. Stupid. We don't expect surgeons to re-invent the art every time they pick up a scalpel, do we? No, we tell them how the procedure goes when they're in school (and still being tested on these things) and then we let them do it. Why should teachers spend hours of their own (unpaid!) time writing up a lesson plan on something they have to cover when 50 other people have already done it? They've already passed their tests, we assume they know how to teach (if they don't, well, then they need all the help they can get, don't they?), so let's help them do it already!

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Tags: articles, education
I'm feeling: aggravated

(And I still want to see more examples - charts, I guess - of how script is taught in other countries. Just because.)

One thing I keep seeing is the statement that up until the 30s or so, cursive was what was taught in the first grade - not print. (And of course some schools changed over sooner than that, and some later - or not at all!) Many of them also say that that's how writing is taught in other countries as well, with the possible exception of Great Britain. Any insight here from people who know what they're talking about would be useful :)

If this is true, all of a sudden that scene in To Kill a Mockingbird makes sense!

See, it was weird enough that Scout's father was criticized for "teaching" her to read when he'd done no such thing (she picked it up on her own), but I never understood the bit about how she was taught to write. It seemed strange to me that they taught her to write in script but not print (and that this was referred to as writing but print wasn't), but stranger that this should be a problem.

But now it makes sense, if teaching print first was somewhat novel - the teacher, new to teaching, felt she'd just had her pedagogy insulted. She's got this idea of how you're nowadays supposed to teach reading and writing, and they did this old-fashioned thing that was ditched to make things easier for kids, this being the newish era of look-say reading as well, I suppose, though technically Scout learned that way anyway. (And it had worked, too!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today, as we walked to the library, I noticed some rosemary in another person's yard, and challenged the kids to find "a plant we can eat" in there. (They did!) I also pointed out that person's impatiens.

Evangeline: Why are they called that?
Me: I don't know.
Evangeline: Maybe they don't have patience?

Now, you all saw that coming, but listen. I don't think we've ever expressed patience as having or not having it. We tell them to BE patient, sure, but not to have patience. I would have expected her to say "Maybe because they're not patient" or even "Maybe because they're impatient" instead.

So now I want to gather up im- words and see what she makes of them. This is probably a bad idea.

Tags: 'cdotes, books, daily stuff, education, thoughts
I'm feeling: cheerful

She's taking a break from learning new letters to review the ones she already knows, because we're (just over) halfway through the alphabet. She has a - l and q, t, u, and w.

We're using worksheets from here, although I modified the b so that she curlicues it back instead of just dipping down at the end. It's easier for her. Tomorrow we'll do another bit of review, just the letters she's having trouble with (b, f, k and the ha combination) and move onto the next set of letters - n, m, v, x. And then another week and a half for the last of them and she'll have her lowercase letters down. Then I'm thinking a few more weeks of review before we start on capitals?

As a side effect of all this, my *own* handwriting has improved.

Ana showed one of her worksheets to her teacher (f - and let me tell you that her fs are beautiful, she just has to think too much to make them) and we got a little note going "Well, we're still working on print letters". For crying out loud! If you were an early elementary teacher, or have been an early elementary teacher, and your kid showed you something extra they did on the side, would you be "Well, we're not doing that" or would you stick a sticker on it anyway?

And I'll tell you... I tell Ana that I want her to learn cursive now because it's easier to learn it at 6 than at 8, and that I know it'll be more frustrating for her in two years. And this is true. But the reason I don't tell her is that we only started with cursive learning because after doing print all through kindergarten and September of this year she still had no idea how to hold a pencil properly, nor that it mattered *how* you formed the letters so long as it looked more or less okay. Because you *can* print with your pencil in your fist, and you *can* print if you write your a backwards or if you do a lowercase h and then add the rest of it to make an H. (It took the better part of two weeks to convince her that the tails on letters aren't just decorative, that you can't just do most of the letter and add the tails after the fact!) But you can't print very well or efficiently that way, and it's sure to tire you eventually. Of course, there was no convincing her until she had enough letters in cursive that she could write real words and see and feel the difference doing it right makes.

Ana's teacher has 24 students. I don't know how she teaches penmanship, or if she has time to do so in her day, or if she's able (or willing) to correct things like grip when the kids are writing in class, or... any of this. But if I really felt Ana were being taught to write properly, in a comfortable and efficient way (printing is writing! - and while we're on the subject, don't listen to the people who swear your signature isn't legal in print. It most assuredly is, and I've been doing it for years!), I would never have ended up doing cursive with her.

(Ana's cursive letters are lovely, btw. Her bs are a bit sloppy, and sometimes her ws or us are a bit looser than I'd like, but she's just learning. If only I could get her to write on the line...! Do you think raised line paper would help?)

Tags: education, school
I'm feeling: busy

Here's one on the intelligence of fishies

Now, we all hear a lot about goldfish. People get goldfish for their kids because "they're easy to take care of, and die soon anyway". They put them in bare bowls because "well, they don't need more, and they die soon anyway, and they're not that bright". They don't do anything about stimulation because "well, they're not that bright, and they die soon anyway". These statements would be troubling, except that the premises are totally flawed to begin with! When properly cared for, goldfish live decades - so all those fish that "died soon anyway" did so because they were killed by incompetent owners. And given that you can teach a goldfish to do a variety of tricks, I'm not so sure they're as unintelligent as all that. It's cruelty to have an animal and not give it any form of stimulation at all, it's like locking them in solitary for their whole life!

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Two articles on two different kindergartens.

One on a charter school that "justifies" its trip to the farm by calling it "test prep".

Some of the comments are disgusting, blaming parents for kids not going "to the zoo". When are they supposed to go to the zoo? On a weekday, when it closes at 5? On the weekend, when it costs $12 per person and is crowded besides and you have to do your shopping and your cleaning and visit family and go to church? Uncool, guys.

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And one about an absurdly expensive private school for gifted kids

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An article on zero waste facilities and communities

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And finally, one on problems faced by African immigrants in the Bronx

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Tags: animal welfare, articles, early education, education, environment, science
I'm feeling: bouncy

This is the coolest method of multiplication I've ever seen. I knew, of course, that you could grid multiply, but I figured any big number would mean doing 123 lines up and 321 lines across or whatnot!

Also here. Taken from here.

Tags: education
I'm feeling: amazed

Clicky

In the comments, the very first comment is of the sort that really gets me - somebody implying that the only learning that counts as "learning" is the sort you do sitting in a chair that you can be tested on. Tying your shoes isn't learning, I suppose. Dealing with complex social situations isn't learning. Only math and reading are learning - and probably only if taught the way she thinks of as appropriate. Bah.

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Incidentally, on the subject of homework - Ten minutes, per grade, per night. The National PTA and the National Education Association can be assumed to know something on this subject.

Tags: articles, child development, early education, education, links
I'm feeling: bitchy

I'll link and c+p it in a second, and I'll also quote (and snark) some of the more interesting comments, but before I even get to that part I want to say something.

I've often found that, online, the people I disagree with have much worse writing skills than the people I *do* agree with - and to quote one of my new favorite characters, Clementine, I am not even exaggerating!

This is doubly (and hilariously, and ironically, and sadly) true when I disagree with the self-proclaimed Defenders of Language. It's bad enough that one can't correct another person's spelling without making a huge error in their own comment, but these people who go on and ON about how much learning the "cannon" did for them cannot even tell the difference between "would have" and "would of", or between a full sentence and a barely comprehensible fragment. I'm not cherrypicking. I refuse to quote *all* of them just because they're hypocritically less literate than they claim to be, but keep this in mind when reading the comments: The critical ones are almost all like that. I don't claim to have perfect writing either (I never was clearly taught about commas and semi-colons, I freely admit that), but at least I don't claim my education is better because it involved some classics. (At least this group, unlike the ones who threw a hissy fit over the teaching of the specific jingle "I before E", seem to have enough reading comprehension skills to understand the article. That's a change.)

Any comments in bold are left by me.

Click for article!

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And of course, the comments.

Before you click the link, note that a lot of the comments disparage comic books (and graphic novels don't exist). I still don't understand whence this scorn. Now, my uncle, back before he did all those drugs, used to be (my mother says) quite bright. And the whole class was shocked when he did superwell on his reading assessment in elementary school because "all he reads are comic books!" Of course, he read them voraciously and probably read some that were "above his level", and there's the difference.

Ray Bradbury, in Fahrenheit 451, makes the point that it's the content, not the delivery that matters - if we tell great stories by television, they're still great stories. People forget he made that point in the book, but he did.

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Tags: articles, books, education
I'm feeling: sleepy

Here's one on Texas schools being required to teach the Bible. I'm sure it'll collapse soon enough.

You know, my father was from Texas. It was a big part of his identity. He's actually buried over there. Must be spinning in his grave. I wouldn't be surprised if he got up and started walking to march on the capital either!

And here's one about a bunch of whiners complaining that people wonder WHY, exactly, they felt the need to bring guns to a presidential event.

"I still have some freeeeeeeedoms!" they declare. I think the following comment sums it up:

Let's make sense of this. Wear a John Kerry shirt to a Bush rally and get arrested. Carry an assault rifle to an Obama rally and you are a Freedom Fighting Revolutionary.

Tags: civil rights, education, links, religion, wtf?
I'm feeling: aggravated

One on adding two Muslim holidays to the school calendar.

I understand the reasoning that you can't reasonably add EVERY possible holiday to the calendar, but it occurs to me that they get off all of July and August, plus part of June and September. They don't *actually* have to be off until the Tuesday after Labor Day, they really can start school the Thursday before if necessary to fit these extra holidays in.

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An article on laws requiring electronics companies to safely dispose of electronics

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An article on how some societies have children who don't crawl. They're calling this research *new*, but as I've been referring people to these *very same studies* for years I wonder how new it can be.

Tags: articles, child development, ecology, education, environment, holidays, law, nyc, religion, technology
I'm feeling: cheerful

On a woman's effort to speak Hindi in NYC

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Daughter Against Use of Father’s Name to Subvert Neo-Nazis

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When an Ear Witness Decides the Case

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An article on beekeeping in the city

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An article on how feeding cows a different diet not only reduces their methane output but - surprise! - makes them healthier

One on the proposal in the UK to stop teaching the specific mnemonic "I before E except after C". I personally have seen people claim this is due to "political correctness gone amok" (there's a term that no longer means anything if I ever saw one!), that it's due to "Obama's election" (these people seem to think that the UK is synonymous with the US), that it's due to not wanting to teach children how to spell, that there's NO way to learn how to spell without reciting inane jingles at every turn, and that all the rules are flying out the window. Not to mention the people who don't understand the rule in the first place. Why is language always ostensibly defended by people who lack the reading comprehension skills to understand that it was never under attack in the first place? WHY?

An article on why ethnic jokes aren't that funny

An article on octopi that "walk" to get past predators. COOL.

Here's an article on grown-up children of gay parents. I never want to see the word "gayby" again, but the article doesn't seem that bad.

Oh, and an article on the "girl who doesn't age". Every time I get to the part where they say the girl loves motion, I keep thinking that babywearing (teen wearing) would make their lives easier. This is because I'm a geek.

Tags: agriculture, articles, bees, education, england, india, language, nyc, politics, religion, science
I'm feeling: accomplished

A walking school bus is basically like a carpool without the cars. Except that sometimes you can get help from school staff as well.

Jenn and I have periodically mentioned to each other a desire for a WSB at Ana's school. (And Evangeline's!)

Only thing... the school doesn't have many students yet (as it only goes up to the second grade, and only has one class there as well) and, worse yet, many of the students live much too far away to reasonably expect them to walk. (Or even unreasonably, given how young they all still are!)

But it occurs to me that due to a quirk of history, our school is less than five minutes (walking!) from the next-nearest public school! (And it's only 5 minutes from the nearest non-public elementary school as well, smack dab in the middle of the two schools in what's basically a straight line.)

THIS school might not have enough students to really make a walking school bus work (although it'll ultimately have 440 students), but this school plus PS 16 plus (if we could work with a non-public school) Trinity Lutheran certainly does.

How does one go about suggesting this sort of multiple-school arrangement to the PTA? The logical thing to do, just working in the one school, would be to send letters home asking people who are interested to sign up and then use their addresses to plot "bus stops", just like we do for the real school bus. And to do this in more than one school and insist that there be a parent volunteer per route per school. But how do I say that in a polite and convincing way? I don't always exactly have the gift of the gab, you know.

Tags: education, help
I'm feeling: hyper

I feel this is massively unfair, especially to such young children. Why? Because one kid in her class, N, brought in 700 boxtops in the past few months. He has a big family, clearly, but the point is that nobody else could possibly compete with that. If they're going to have a competition with a reward for this, they ought to discount his contribution, or put an individual cap. It's like running a race where your opponent is on steroids.

Of course, 700 boxtops is also shocking because, dude, the only way we were able to bring in our... *thinks a bit* five is because we happened to have some ziploc and hefty bags in the house. We don't eat any of that stuff, and we don't even use disposable menstrual stuff anymore! Oh, wait, for Ana's class birthday party I brought in some disposable plates. So, uh, six boxtops. A whole 60 cents. Yay!

But anyway, not to dis other people's diets, but 700 of these foods in a year? Wow. That's a bit shocking. (Maybe they make a lot of garbage. Maybe he has a lot of sisters - that'd use up Kotex AND Hefty bags every month.)

Well, at any rate, I ask again what I asked way back in the beginning of the year. If you happen to buy this stuff already, and don't have any use for the little clip-off boxtops, I'd be glad to get them for Ana's school. Just save them up and send them to me in one big bunch. Or if you're, like, buying from one of these places online already, that sort of thing.

Tags: education, family, schools, thoughts
I'm feeling: calm

Ana was doing her TH worksheet. Due to somebody's bad choice, the hardest word (thermometer) was the one without a picture. Seriously? They couldn't've put "thumb" there instead? (I suppose thermometer follows the rules better than thumb with that silent b, but it's long and intimidating.)

Ana diligently divided it up into syllables and sounded it out. THER MO MEEE TER.

Me: Thermometer, honey.
Ana: But why is there a METER in it?
Me: Uh... because it's an unstressed syllable and in English vowels in unstressed syllables reduce to a schwa*.
Ana: Oh.

I hope I didn't go too far over her head, but like my mother always says, 10% sticks. (Eventually.)

*Actually, the way I say it, it's more like a schwi. YES THAT'S A REAL WORD.

Tags: daily stuff, education, family, language
I'm feeling: cheerful

I made the mistake of reading the comments (some of them, anyway) where I first picked up this link.

Let's just say they were appalling and leave it at that. Two things, though.

1. While the school's actions may not be censorship in the strictest definition, they were acting as an arm of the government to specially restrict where, when, and to whom this one child could share her knowledge. This sends a clear message about Harvey Milk in particular and gay people in general, and let's not talk about what it says about the pursuit of knowledge! (And don't give me that "sex" line. If you think you have to talk about this guy's sex life in order to talk about him, I suggest you get your mind out of the gutter. I know some of our politicians lack any sense of discretion, but seriously, we don't *have* to talk about it.)

2. I am so *sick* of reading about how "OMG, the ACLU only ever attacks Christians and Christian values and hates Christianity and is ebil!!!!!111" Aside from the exceedingly narrow view of who can be Christian, it's just flat-out wrong. Unless of course I'm imagining their defense of....

A Christian prisoner's right to preach (at least twice!)

A Christian church's desire to put their money where their mouth is and uphold their Christian morals by housing the homeless

The right of a Christian man to protest Wal-Mart for "supporting gay lifestyles and marriage". (I don't agree with his statement, but I sure do agree with his right to say it!)

The right of a second-grader to sing a religious song at a school talent show

I'll grant you, most of the ACLU's press releases on their work related to religious freedom is about non-Christians, usually being pressured by Christians. This, however, is not because the ACLU wishes to silence Christians, or because society oppresses Christians so much that very few of them can even make cases. What nerve! It's because Christians are the majority and often casually (and usually unintentionally) do things which harm other's religious rights! Well, of course. It's much easier for the majority to do things which harm the minority than the other way around, how could it be otherwise? Christians certainly aren't being persecuted as a group in the US. What an idea! And attempts to take away the special rights Christians often have really aren't the same as attempts to remove their/your religious freedom. No, really.

So, if any of you were interested in spouting that old ACLU canard about how they hate Christianity and traditional values (what is more traditional in this country than the first Amendment, I ask you!), please - educate yourself.

Tags: articles, education, gay rights, links, religion
I'm feeling: accomplished

Another update on Alex Barton.

And one article on an school for autistic children that has autistic adults as teachers. Only one comment there, and it's a nice one.

Links from

autismhub.

Tags: autism, education, links
I'm feeling: cheerful

One about choosing a trade instead of years in college - haven't read the whole thing yet.

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One about interning at an organic farm

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One about the very firstest Jewish American Girl doll ever.

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An article on Stapleton, where I live! Evangeline and Ana have really enjoyed seeing all the sailors for Fleet Week, which kinda changes my ambivalence towards the whole occasion (any occasion that requires the use of multiple flyovers while also crowding the Ferry doesn't exactly get the thumbs up from me). Yesterday the boat was a full 15 minutes late, so we took car service home. The nieces called out the window "Hi sailor! Bye sailor!" at all of them passing, and they spent an amusing several minutes singing an impromptu song about the "three sailors" they saw when walking.

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One on how proposals to legalize gay marriage in NY (yay) are having trouble finding opposition. Good. I cannot believe the nerve of some groups trying to call themselves "pro-family". Fucking twits.

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An article on recent urban planning in NYC. Go look at it, it's got a nifty graphic with a before and after view of a street in Brooklyn

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Tags: agriculture, articles, economics, education, gay rights, nyc, staten island, transportation
I'm feeling: bouncy

Go Ana!

She's a hero. Today, as she was doing her homework on the porch, our neighbor came over and asked for her help. Her basement tenant had locked himself out, and his windows are tiny. So Ana climbed through, yes, we said, you can step on the bed! and she fetched his keys - and tried to bring them to us, prompting calls of "Just open the door!", which she did, and she SAVED THE WHOLE CREW! Hooray! What a day, when the ~~babies~~ key ran away.

I loathe goody bags, so we did a grab bag first (which the kidlets had apparently never done, though they were de riguer for christmas parties when I was a kid - but maybe it's a Brooklyn thing?) and we also gave some presents For The Whole Class: A set of lacing letters, two sets of alphabet stamps and a stamp pad, a dolphin stamp (because the school animal is the dolphin), several sets of letter stickers, a M&D birthday cake, and some construction paper. And two birthday-themed books. And, incidentally, some snacks, bowls, and cups that we didn't use for Ana's party. Some of them came with those special "box tops for education" on them, so win! Best part is that I can just repeat this present for Evangeline's pre-k and kindergarten birthdays. Go me! No idea what I'll do for Ana for the first grade, though - definitely some books (anybody want to suggest picture books of a more advanced level that talk about birthdays or feature birthdays prominently? Or chapter books suitable for a first grade library?), maybe a few games...? First grade is different. More craft supplies, for sure. (Which reminds me, I want to get some lefty scissors for the school, you know my feelings on that. I need to ask what teachers, aside from grade teachers, use scissors. Like, does the science teacher? The literacy teacher? Are they going to have an art teacher next year?)

To round out my stories, Evangeline was in her own personal horror film recently. She was wearing her clicky-clacky shoes (Ana is the language innovator, "clicky-clackies" for "plastic pretend dress-up shoes" is a term she invented. Evangeline picked speech up much faster, but Ana played with it more. This is an area of degree, of course) when I decided to be a tickle monster. I started to run towards her, but she cried in (mock) horror "I can't run in my c'icky-c'ackies!". I swiftly shifted to the lurching kind of tickle monster and she escaped in safety, closing a door in my face. Tickle monsters, like vampires, can't go where they're not invited, you know.

Tags: 'cdotes, daily stuff, education, holidays
I'm feeling: cheerful

Some Thoughts on the Lost Art of Reading Aloud

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Thriving Norway Provides an Economics Lesson Be sure to read the comments, at least the editor's choice.

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Judging Honesty by Words, Not Fidgets

( A novel concept, that )

In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars

Some of the comments to this article are absurd. "Oh, it's great so long as you never go a mile from home". Dude? EVANGELINE can walk a mile in under 20 minutes. She can amble it. If you can't manage a mile without a car (and I imagine a bike would be faster than even a quick pace), that's not my problem. "Oh, what about when it's a snowstorm and you have to bike five miles up and down hills to go shopping???" Even with a car, you're telling me you do your shopping (up and down hills!) in snowstorms? Really? When it snows, *I* hunker down in the house and make popcorn and cocoa. I plan my life to do my shopping *before* the snow comes down. I'm just sayin'.

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In Schools, Bringing His Novels to His Fans

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An article about using up the un-usable (to you!) food in your CSA

One about making your own staples like bread

Tags: articles, books, economics, education, environment, europe, food
I'm feeling: accomplished

Taken from ABFH

I find the behavior of the "adults" in this article to be unconscionable, reprehensible, and pretty fucking close to evil.

Pretty recently, when talking to somebody else about the Ann M. Martin book "Inside Out", written a good 20 years ago about a family with an autistic child, I said the bar was set really low. If there's no outright malice in the book (and there isn't, in my recollection), I'm not going to condemn it. Hell, I'm just glad nobody there advocates killing the kid, which is about as bad as things are some days. And with that said, I still am managing to be appalled at the total lack of civility described in the article. I always say not to look at the comments, and today I am following my own advice. I am sure no good can come of it.

I am sorry for the lack of substance to this post. I'm just so... I'm not happy. Sometimes, it's almost enough to make me wish I believed in a god, any god, vengeful or just. I'd feel better knowing that people get what's coming sooner or later.

As long as I'm loosely on the subject, here's a post about biased research regarding autistic children.

Tags: autism, civil rights, education, rants
I'm feeling: angry

(I finally set up my wireless again, so I'm totally upstairs while typing. This either rocks or sucks depending on how much computer time you figure I'll have...!)

Their mother hadn't sent Ana's vacation homework up with her, which meant I got stuck with it. That's all right, she just kinda plowed through it. (And yes, I *do* think vacation homework for kindergarten is silly, but I'm told that the other kids in her class have parents who want MORE homework. The mind boggles, let me tell you.)

One of Ana's homeworks (she only has three left for the weekend - the daily "what the weather is" picture, her "my favorite thing I did this week" picture and two sentences, and a math set (they're working with coins) that she didn't want to finish) involved rhyming words. There were four words in each row (in four different rows), three of which rhymed. This was pretty badly done as the non-rhyming word always made a minimal pair with a rhyming word - bug, rug, and rag, for example. It would've been more challenging if they hadn't. But I digress.

The final row had these four words: pin, pen, ten, hen.

Can you see the problem with that? Say the list aloud. If you automatically figure out the problem, gold star! If not, go here. As it happens, I have the pin-pen merger. I think I must have gotten it from my dad, as neither my mother nor sister has it and they used to tease me about it. (Because I didn't get enough of that at school, guys?) I remember sitting in speech (therapy) lessons as a kid, the only year I had actual instruction in those, working it out in my head how weird it was that there was no short-e before n, even when it's written in that way! I literally don't hear it when other people say it unless I'm listening for it, and I feel as though I'm twisting my mouth unnaturally to produce it myself.

So when I saw this I listened with great interest to see what Ana would do.

She carefully read the words (didn't have to sound them out!), and as soon as she got to pin and pen she stopped. Read them again, the whole list. Frowned. Sounded each word out carefully. "Connie, they all rhyme!"

So what do I do? Do I tell her to ignore her instincts and fill out the words that look like they rhyme? That's what she used to do when she was three. Do I let her fill out all of them and look like she didn't get it at all? I compromised by telling her that there's a good reason they put four rhyming words there, telling her to fill them all in, and writing a note to her teacher explaining this. Then, she she was done, I explained the pin-pen merger and talked her through the steps of a simple linguistic survey. We're totally stopping family members to see who has it and who doesn't today!

Poll #1385210 Language question
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 50

Do you have the pen-pin merger?

View Answers

Yes!
6 (12.0%)

No!
44 (88.0%)

This isn't the first time I've had a language quibble with Ana's homework. Once she had to do "initial sounds that match" and one of the examples was a P word with a "pan". Except that I generally say skillet, and she generally says skillet, and when we don't say skillet we say frying pan. But she breezed right through that without a thought, proving that she understands very well how to do worksheets.

Tags: 'cdotes, child development, education, language, polls
I'm feeling: bouncy

And they say such silly things. If you want your preferred writing style to be taught, try not to defend it with gems like "You need it to sign your name". Not only is that not true, but it's easily avoidable - people could learn cursive just for namesigning and not for anything else! Alternatively, learning to type isn't something that you can't do after a certain age. Unless your kid has serious motor control issues they can probably wait until they're 10 or 15 to do it, they really *don't* need to learn when they're six... although this article is fascinating, I must admit!

When I was in elementary school, the other gifted first grade class learned cursive that year. The rest of us learned in the third grade. I guess they sorta re-learned it? I didn't learn it at all, for various reasons. (A word to the wise? Attempting to bully a child into learning by saying they'll "need to know this next year" and "won't pass if they don't know it" is just not helpful. Especially when it's not true. My seventh grade English teacher should note that by high school (her personal benchmark) all my teachers didn't care and liked stuff typed anyway.)

And then we moved to Staten Island, where I became acquainted with a totally different style of penmanship than the one I'd failed to learn in Brooklyn. I'm not sure if the people using it developed it on their own, or if my school in Brooklyn just taught differently than their schools here, but it was different. No slant, and very round. The general shapes of the letters are the same (I'm having a fun time on Google looking at different examples of cursive script as taught for handwriting in different countries), but they're all round. It's very neat, and it's very careful, and it's a pain in the butt to read because all the letters look alike, like variations on os and as. (Picture that as an Ariel a, thanks.)

I think I could spend all day doing this - but! I just woke up (I had intestinal difficulties and didn't make it to bed until the birds started chirping) and wish to go *do* something today.

If you want, though, I'd appreciate images of your own handwriting (cursive or otherwise) and your handwriting if you were writing for a strict teacher. Just for my own edification. Location, times, etc. are useful.

Oh, also, a random video I found on the subject of overcrowding, from the 50s! It's absolutely fascinating for reasons I can't quite articulate, though surely the fact that "classes in boiler rooms" is a popular (and not altogether non-existent) boogeyman in NYC today helps with that.

Tags: education, links, videos
I'm feeling: calm

In Finland.

Finland, Finland, Finland. Sometimes I think I'd like to move to Finland. The six months of darkness would be more than offset by the fact that they've got a ridiculously high standard of living.

Course, I'd have to learn Finnish, at which point this whole idle notion comes to a screeching halt.

Tags: education
I'm feeling: cheerful

Ana's school is participating in Box Tops for Education.

When we first got the list of eligible products, I glanced down it, realized that nobody in this house uses any of that stuff - not even the Kotex since Jenn and I both switched to reusable products! - and felt an odd mixture of condescension and chagrin over it.

But today I saw that we had indeed bought a single product that has the correct box top. A box of baggies. Yay! (Come to think, I guess Hefty bags apply as well, now that I look at the list in more detail. Whatever.)

So I'm asking, any of you with these box tops and no use for them? If you want to send them our way, it'd be much appreciated. They're only $.10 per top, so only if you collect them is it worth it, I suppose. Alternatively, suggest it to your school. I know it's primarily a way to increase sales and cultivate a sense of brand loyalty among the youngest consumers, but can schools really turn their noses up at any cash right now?

They also seem to have a program where, if you purchase items off the B&N website, you can send some of the money to the school of your choice. We *do* have a membership card....

(If you want Ana's school name, you'd have to contact my sister,

gingembre, about that. Not me for the obvious reason.)

Tags: education, family, links
I'm feeling: cheerful

It reveals so much, not just about how she speaks, but about how she *thinks* she speaks.

Like this word: Tiyrd. What is that? Tired, of course. I heard her sound it out - the y is consonantal, the r is... syllabic? Is that the word? Whatever, it's off making its own r sound. Because that's how she says the word, of course. (It's roughly how I say the word too, but I'd never write the y in there, even in a word I'd never seen spelled. Why? Because I know that ys don't just pop up in the middle of words, even if you say them.)

Button becomes btn. But apple becomes apul. Same vowel, but sometimes she writes it and sometimes she doesn't. I'm not sure of the logic. I *think* it has to do with the fact that in button that "u" sound (as she'd write it) is at the end of the vowel, but in apple it's more or less at the beginning, and she's been carefully taught that when she says the sound a consonant makes she shouldn't add a gratuitous "uh" at the end. B makes the b sound, not the BUH sound. (This ended one bit of confusion, but - if I'm right - has clearly started a whole OTHER bit of confusion instead.)

Pancake - the word of much pride - is inevitably "pancaek". She knows about silent e, and wants to cram it in there as soon as possible.

She puts a lot of ds and bs where I'd put ts and ps (and she reverses d and b a lot too, just to add to the fun!) because I guess she hears them as voiced when they're between vowels. I don't, and I don't think I say them that way either, but she does.

Edit: She still gets caught up on words like train and tree, by the way. I noticed it well before she started writing and reading, that she processed those words the way they're said - chrain, chree. But she doesn't know how to *write* the ch sound, and it annoys her. I keep telling her it's a t when you write it, but....

Tags: 'cdotes, child development, education, language
I'm feeling: cheerful

I think this is absurd, especially the *level* of homework (writing a sentence a day, for example), but it's easy enough for her, so I don't say anything.

(I suspect most of the other kids are getting seriously helped. Bad precedent there. But people online have criticized me for my statement that children past, like, the first grade should do the vast majority of their work themselves, mistakes and all. Apparently this view makes me a bad aunt.)

Anyway, sentences. Every day. And I swear, at least once a week her sentence manages to incorporate her marvelous ability to FLIP PANCAKES!

Today it was "Stop flipping the pancakes!" (the word she had to use was "stop").

I took the time to explain to her that when I said "silent E makes A say A" the official term for "A saying A" is long vowel, and told her which were long and which were short. It won't stick, but I'm looking forward to using the shorter phrase. (I also have explained to her that gh in the middle of the word works like a silent E. Silent E she still trips up on, but that one she internalized in less than a day. Weird.)

As for Evangeline, the two of us play games every day at lunch. We'd been doing an endless string of "let's list two things" (or, as I call it, "categories" - Evangeline has finally started saying "atagora" for that!) where we take turns asking how two unrelated things are the same, and how they're different. I make pairs like "tomato" and "apple". She makes pairs like "cloud" and "sink". Oy. I've yet to ask her why a raven is like a writing desk, but you can rest assured that I think it every day!

I got so bored of that that I more or less forced her to try something new - I clear most things off the table (yes, believe it or not, that table is CLEAR when Ana gets home, guys!) and then we take turns adding, subtracting, or just changing one, two, or three things about the setting. This time Evangeline has an easier job than I do - I'll subtly move her tomatoes so they touch instead of being apart, and she'll go and put something on my head while my eyes are closed! Or she'll turn backwards in her seat. My biggest problem is figuring out how to draw the process out somewhat.

And we play "I packed a suitcase", and Evangeline can get up to five or six items before totally losing the thread. That's pretty nifty.

Tags: daily stuff, education, family
I'm feeling: hungry

She also brought home the monthly newsletter, which illustrated a few things:

1. Ana is incredibly photogenic.

2. Ana did indeed receive the Dolphin Award (for just generally being a great person and consistently being compassionate and helpful) at assembly last week and not just the attendance award. If they'd bothered to tell us this beforehand, I would have been there. Gah.

3. There is indeed a pajama party at school next week (in two weeks?) as Ana said. We didn't believe her because, again, this is the first official communication about it. Gah again.

4. The person who edits that newsletter is totally incapable of stringing together a coherent sentence. There is never, ever, ever going to be a need to put together seven exclamation points at the end of a sentence! And, for that matter, putting an exclam at the end of every single sentence just makes your work sound weak and childish. Save it for unusual emphasis. And on *that* note, quotation marks do not add emphasis - or, at least, not the kind she thinks. I want to know, if she is "thanking" us for this and that, what she's really doing? Mocking us behind our backs, perhaps? (Yeah, pot, kettle, but my post only reflects badly on me. Her abysmal writing skills reflect badly on the entire school.) And at least twice this person switched topics randomly in the middle of a paragraph! That's not even the half of it....

I suggested to Jenn that next PTA meeting she offer up her, mine, or our mother's services as proofreaders. But in some tactful way, not like I just did.

Tags: daily stuff, education, family, rants
I'm feeling: busy

I told it to Ana when she asked for yet another story about "you when you were a kid", but I don't think she got the point.

( My first (and only) experience cheating )

Tags: childhood, education, memories, thoughts
I'm feeling: sad

These articles come around periodically, they might as well just reprint the old ones.

( Read more... )

It's a pity that the last quote is from a boy who now feels that Latin Grammar == English Grammar.

Tags: articles, education, language, latin
I'm feeling: bored

Listen to this. You have to. This is important.

A few weeks ago, while taking out books from the library, Evangeline lamented the fact that we couldn't take out *all* the books she wanted. And I told her that as soon as she could write her name, when she was three, we'd get her her very own library card instead of making her share with her sister. (Instead, they can both share with *me*, right? Right?)

And I figured that we wouldn't make a big deal about it, and that when she actually turns three in a month we'd put in a little bit of serious effort, and by 3.5 she'd be able to scrawl something approximately like her name, right? So over the past few weeks I've mentioned it maybe, like, five times and shown her how to write her name, with the reminder that writing her name = getting a library card. No pressure though because she's not even three yet, there's no *rush*. If she brought it up, I'd help her - but she never did.

Today, I felt a bit out of it, so I mostly sat and read while Evangeline worked with playdough and then took out some crayons and paper to draw. And as I was sitting in the opposite corner of the room reading, Evangeline suddenly interrupted her chatter to say "And when I write my name, I can get a library card, right?"

Well, I know a cue when I hear one, so I said "That's right, sweetie" and went over to help her write her name.

Except she'd already written it. An E, a V, and a line that was clearly the start of her A. With suitable spaces between the letters, and very neat. I wasn't sure she'd done it herself until I asked her to finish up the A and she carefully made another E for me (A and E do sound alike, that's not a worry). EVE. (For sure I'm not trying to teach her Evangeline...!)

SHE WROTE HER OWN NAME DOWN. WITHOUT SEEING IT TO COPY OR HAVING ME RECITE THE LETTERS OR HOLD HER HAND. I DID NOT EVEN KNOW UNTIL IT WAS OVER WITH.

This is big. It was legible, even. I wasn't looking at this and trying to guess what she meant. I knew what she meant, because I could read it.

What the hell are we going to do with this child? She isn't even three yet!

Tags: 'cdotes, daily stuff, education, family
I'm feeling: amazed

Games for Learning
Games for Reading
Games with Books

My goodness, the woman could be my mother's twin.

But there's some good ideas in these books, even if my mother was doing it all on her own and going uphill both ways in the snow to do so too! (That's nothing. *HER* mother spontaneously re-invented Montessori philosophy back in the 50s...!)

So yes, be sure to get yourself a copy.

Tags: books, education
I'm feeling: bouncy

User:

conuly

Name: Grand High Supreme and Mighty Empress Connie