I like looking outside education-directed sources for insights that may be useful in the classroom; and I've met some nice people recently who are CEOs of things and I was curious about what they do all day (it sounds like fun); so I spent some time this year in the business aisle at the library.
Until this year, I think the only book I'd read on business was Rav Dessler's Kuntres haChesed; and I still think if you're going to read one book on business that should be the one.
Anyway, I found two books that have good practical information -- Your Idea, Inc, which explains how to start a business; and the Nonprofit Kit for Dummies, which explains how to start a nonprofit - and the other interesting item was Good to Great, which is a study of what makes a corporation sustainable.
Most of the other books I found on business say, "Set your goal and pursue it aggressively!" but the Good to Great study found, it says, that the corporations that achieved lasting financial success are the ones that took a couple of years of experimentation to allow their ideas to gel; and then focused closely on what they found they could do well; and I think that rings truer.
Other factors mentioned are personal humility, and starting with having the right people rather than the right business plan ("get the right people on the bus, and then decide where you're going to drive it").
Something to think about.
Toward a Qualitative Reading Incentive
I had this discussion with my high school students recently.
Every reading incentive we've seen is based on the idea that children should be encouraged to read - a lot. -- e.g., the local elementary school awards prizes based on number of pages, and per book completed; and the local library does something similar.
We haven't seen any incentive programs that seek to direct children toward reading good books, only toward reading lots of books.
In fact, when I look at the lists of what the kids are reading, the worst possible writing seems to predominate.
We agreed that there is a difference between books and good books; and that it's worth encouraging children to choose the latter.
"What do you think?" I asked. "Is it possible to make an incentive program for children to read good books, or is the definition of a good book too subjective?"
Hm.
They suggested that you could give students a list of books to choose from.
Keep thinking about it.
Every reading incentive we've seen is based on the idea that children should be encouraged to read - a lot. -- e.g., the local elementary school awards prizes based on number of pages, and per book completed; and the local library does something similar.
We haven't seen any incentive programs that seek to direct children toward reading good books, only toward reading lots of books.
In fact, when I look at the lists of what the kids are reading, the worst possible writing seems to predominate.
We agreed that there is a difference between books and good books; and that it's worth encouraging children to choose the latter.
"What do you think?" I asked. "Is it possible to make an incentive program for children to read good books, or is the definition of a good book too subjective?"
Hm.
They suggested that you could give students a list of books to choose from.
Keep thinking about it.
Libi baMizrach in Chinook Wawa
This really has nothing to do with education (except perhaps to illustrate the idea that one of the best ways to learn a foreign language is to mess around with it) but someone just surprised me by asking for a copy of it, so I'm putting it where people can find it.
I translated R' Yehuda haLevi's lament "My heart is in the East..." into a language of the uttermost West, Chinook Wawa: the trade jargon of the peoples of the Pacific Northwest coast region.
Thanks to Wawa enthusiast Craig Delf for smoothing out some wrinkles in the translation.
I translated R' Yehuda haLevi's lament "My heart is in the East..." into a language of the uttermost West, Chinook Wawa: the trade jargon of the peoples of the Pacific Northwest coast region.
Thanks to Wawa enthusiast Craig Delf for smoothing out some wrinkles in the translation.
Nika mitlite tumtum siah
kopa sun-get-up illahee, pe nika mitlite siah-siah kopa klip-sun-illahee.
Howkwutl nika mukmuk, pe howkwutl mukmuk chaco tsee?
Howkwutl nika mamook huihui nawitka, pe
Tsiyon kow Pil lope, pe nika kow Alap lope?
Klah mahsh konaway kloshe Spanyolillahee, kahkwa
Hyas ticky nanitch polallie kokshut Hyas-Tyee-wawa-Home.
Howkwutl nika mukmuk, pe howkwutl mukmuk chaco tsee?
Howkwutl nika mamook huihui nawitka, pe
Tsiyon kow Pil lope, pe nika kow Alap lope?
Klah mahsh konaway kloshe Spanyolillahee, kahkwa
Hyas ticky nanitch polallie kokshut Hyas-Tyee-wawa-Home.
Anatomy of a Learning Initiative: What Worked, What Didn't
I'm always interested to hear about people's special learning or middos initiatives for kids - particularly those that sustain momentum. I'm deeply interested in what makes an initiative last.
This is the story of one special learning initiative for kids. I thought it might last a couple of weeks. It's been going on now for, gee, almost five months.
Here are some factors that seem to contribute to the success of the program:
1. The task is simple, small, and specific: read a perek of Navi in English and tell me what happened in it.
2. The prizes are varied, cute, and very low-key -- on the order of magnitude of M&Ms, but not edible. The girls pick out one prize per perek. They not infrequently spend several minutes deliberating over which one they want to choose; but - this is my criterion for prizes - although some girls are drawn in by the prizes, I think they take more pleasure in the mastery of the material.
3. The initiative is public. The narrations take place in the shul social hall after davening on Shabbos, so when a girl comes up to tell me about a perek, her friends see and are reminded about the program. As long as someone is doing it, the other someones are interested.
Also, I put the prizes in a translucent bag, so they're in everyone's face. A number of girls have gotten involved because they came over to ask what those are, and can they have one?
Here are a couple of things that surprised me:
1. The e-mail I sent to parents explaining the initiative (with the graphic above) never went further than the parents. The only way communicate with the girls is to speak with them directly.
2. The fact that the initiative is l'ilui nishmas someone significant in our lives, while it is a nice thing and I'm glad we're doing it, seems to make no difference in anyone's motivation.
3. I need to remember not to underestimate the attractiveness of bite-sized anything. I now have several girls who've started learning Pirkei Avos instead of or in addition to Navi. It isn't any easier -- but the bites are smaller.
4. We've had tremendous surges in participation from all ages around Purim and Shavuos, because Megillas Esther and Megillas Rus are particularly user-friendly Navi.
5. We also have higher-than-average participation rates on Shabbosos or yamim tovim when the girls come to shul more than once, e.g. on two-day yontifs.
6. The age range surprised me. Girls who can't read yet are now participating because they get their sisters to tell them the stories in Navi. There is a sharp cut-off in participation at age 11: no one older will condescend to play with us (although several have said they want the prizes). I thought we might have one playful adult or even teen from this whole community, but no: it's turned out to be strictly a kid thing, ages 4-11.
So.
To sum up, I attribute the fact that what I thought might be a three-week program is still running five months later to
(a) nissim v'niflaos
(b) the fact that it's so low-key. It's an easy task and the prizes are tiny and consistent. There's absolutely nothing splashy about it... except that
(c) the content is real. The accomplishment is real. The girls really appreciate that they are learning something.
The one outcome I am still hoping to see that I haven't seen is whether the girls' interest will spill over to others in the community. We are starting an outreach kollel here in Elul but it would be pretty cool, if equally unlikely, if a group of 4-to-11-year-old girls can get the whole kehilla talking in learning before that.
Now that a lot of the girls are learning Pirkei Avos, when they come to tell me a Mishnah I suspect they don't really understand, I tell them they have to find an explanation for it. So they are engaging their parents, which is great.
Artist: Stephanie Law
I heard of Stephanie Law because she has a following in sci-fi/fantasy circles; but I like her botanical work best, for its brilliant details.
You can see more of her work here.
You can see more of her work here.
Bhutanese fashion
My mother sent me, as something that particularly moved her, this film about a man who seeks to promote pride in traditional Bhutanese dress in Bhutan by taking pictures of people wearing it (which is what they just do in Bhutan) and putting them online. Bhutan Street Fashion
And my question is - what are the applications of the idea for day schools?
The fact that someone comes up to you and takes an interest in some aspect of your life that you take for granted is, I think, the useful point here -- not all the tangents we could go on about what tsnius means.
And my question is - what are the applications of the idea for day schools?
The fact that someone comes up to you and takes an interest in some aspect of your life that you take for granted is, I think, the useful point here -- not all the tangents we could go on about what tsnius means.
Oregon's Early Rural Schools Web Exhibit
Oregon's Early Rural Schools Web Exhibit - courtesy of the Oregon Blue Book.
That is, lots of photos of tiny little hand-built school buildings in gigantic sweeping landscapes.
Makes you think about what a school is and what a school might be and what a school ought to be.
That is, lots of photos of tiny little hand-built school buildings in gigantic sweeping landscapes.
Makes you think about what a school is and what a school might be and what a school ought to be.
Irlen Syndrome: my investigation
Someone sent me an article about a girl who ordinarily found reading difficult and fatiguing; but when she tried laying transparent colored plastic over the page or screen, she was able to read normally.
Well, that sounded intriguing; so I started looking up more about Irlen Syndrome...
...and what I read made me suspicious.
If this is a real syndrome, why does it have its own diagnosticians? And what is behind the claim that a high percentage of the population (and the vast majority of the prison population) has a reading problem that I never heard of?
There are a lot of articles online, like this one, quoting parents and teachers who say they've seen colored overlays make a big difference.
And there are a lot of articles written from a scientific perspective, like this one or this one, claiming that Irlen Syndrome doesn't exist and the overlays don't work.
So, I asked around: Who has some insight into this?
The responses that I got from people I know paralleled what I found in the articles: I heard from parents and teachers, telling me about students who found the overlays effective ("when she started wearing glasses with yellow lenses, she suddenly went from a D to an A+ average"); or about some who maybe sort of did but they weren't sure; or about a rare light-sensitive student who actually did among many with reading disabilities who didn't; and I heard from an optometrist who said she thinks it's all a very expensive placebo effect; and my friend the nurse sent me another article....
...and then the reading specialist, who happens to know everything about everything, gave a brief answer that explains everything, including the discrepancy between the scientific findings and the anecdotes.
He wrote:
For reading difficulties: if it works, and in most cases it doesn't, it fixes a symptom, not the source of the problem. Multi sensory reading is the answer.
For light sensitivity or vision loss, it can help.
So, that's my answer.
Here are links about multi-sensory reading:
Multi-Sensory Kriah - he didn't send me this link; I am promoting him; and
Multisensory Structured Language Teaching Fact Sheet
As a side note, one thing all the Irlen pro and con studies seem to agree on is that children enjoy experimenting with reading through colored cellophane.
Well, a novel kriyah activity is also something...
Well, that sounded intriguing; so I started looking up more about Irlen Syndrome...
...and what I read made me suspicious.
If this is a real syndrome, why does it have its own diagnosticians? And what is behind the claim that a high percentage of the population (and the vast majority of the prison population) has a reading problem that I never heard of?
There are a lot of articles online, like this one, quoting parents and teachers who say they've seen colored overlays make a big difference.
And there are a lot of articles written from a scientific perspective, like this one or this one, claiming that Irlen Syndrome doesn't exist and the overlays don't work.
So, I asked around: Who has some insight into this?
The responses that I got from people I know paralleled what I found in the articles: I heard from parents and teachers, telling me about students who found the overlays effective ("when she started wearing glasses with yellow lenses, she suddenly went from a D to an A+ average"); or about some who maybe sort of did but they weren't sure; or about a rare light-sensitive student who actually did among many with reading disabilities who didn't; and I heard from an optometrist who said she thinks it's all a very expensive placebo effect; and my friend the nurse sent me another article....
...and then the reading specialist, who happens to know everything about everything, gave a brief answer that explains everything, including the discrepancy between the scientific findings and the anecdotes.
He wrote:
For reading difficulties: if it works, and in most cases it doesn't, it fixes a symptom, not the source of the problem. Multi sensory reading is the answer.
For light sensitivity or vision loss, it can help.
So, that's my answer.
Here are links about multi-sensory reading:
Multi-Sensory Kriah - he didn't send me this link; I am promoting him; and
Multisensory Structured Language Teaching Fact Sheet
As a side note, one thing all the Irlen pro and con studies seem to agree on is that children enjoy experimenting with reading through colored cellophane.
Well, a novel kriyah activity is also something...
What Size Is Your Canvas?
Today we attended a child's birthday party (great party; thanks!) held at a local museum of modern art.
Participants were handed a canvas, a tray of paints, and some yarn for creating resist-work; and given some basic instructions.
Children were handed a small canvas. Adults were handed a large canvas.
I stared at that canvas and couldn't figure out what to do with it.
Mind you, I am the art teacher and the free spirit and the etc. etc. but before I use up something fancy like a huge stretched canvas I like to have a plan for what to do with it.
I took one of the small canvases, which seemed better proportioned to under an hour of winging it.
I was explaining this to a friend sitting next to me.
"Yes," put in mine host; "my wife asked the museum staff whether the canvases for children weren't rather small; and they said that children tend to be intimidated by larger canvases and would enjoy the small ones better."
...
I would like to see some information on the average age at which children cease to be intimidated by large canvases -- and what causes that transformation.
If, indeed, that particular transformation ever takes place. There were plenty of adults (no children) who declined to paint at all: "I have no artistic talent."
...
I am reminded of a certain historical reenactor who once wrote that whenever she visits a historical site, she instinctively looks for the servants' entrance.
What makes us become the lords and ladies of the manor, and the users of large canvases?
Participants were handed a canvas, a tray of paints, and some yarn for creating resist-work; and given some basic instructions.
Children were handed a small canvas. Adults were handed a large canvas.
I stared at that canvas and couldn't figure out what to do with it.
Mind you, I am the art teacher and the free spirit and the etc. etc. but before I use up something fancy like a huge stretched canvas I like to have a plan for what to do with it.
I took one of the small canvases, which seemed better proportioned to under an hour of winging it.
I was explaining this to a friend sitting next to me.
"Yes," put in mine host; "my wife asked the museum staff whether the canvases for children weren't rather small; and they said that children tend to be intimidated by larger canvases and would enjoy the small ones better."
...
I would like to see some information on the average age at which children cease to be intimidated by large canvases -- and what causes that transformation.
If, indeed, that particular transformation ever takes place. There were plenty of adults (no children) who declined to paint at all: "I have no artistic talent."
...
I am reminded of a certain historical reenactor who once wrote that whenever she visits a historical site, she instinctively looks for the servants' entrance.
What makes us become the lords and ladies of the manor, and the users of large canvases?
Artist: My Right Honourable Mother
Well, this one is self-explanatory.
My mother does not have a website. She knocks these out for her own amusement while she's talking on the phone.
My mother does not have a website. She knocks these out for her own amusement while she's talking on the phone.
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| My mother's version on top here is made entirely of fabric scraps. |
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| These are bottles of vinegar. |
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| The "Liberace Tricycle" was red when she bought it |
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| She made these costumes for the shul's Purim shpiel. She also made the house. |
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