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Is Undivided Attention Still the Best Practice in School?

We were deep in the trenches of distance learning with my daughter this winter when my 3-year-old decided to join in and learn right along with her. It was fun having him interact and adapt the lessons to his level. It was the first day we started reading Charlotte’s Web out loud together and almost immediately when he was required to sit still and listen to the book, he started bouncing off the walls. I urged him to sit down and listen, but that was met with him fidgeting with the pencils and crayons, and paper in front of him. 

To be honest, it was driving me mad! I know that everything I was feeling was straight from the social norms that I had in school and required as a teacher. However, times have changed! We’ve learned so much about the human brain and body and it’s a fact that sitting still with undivided attention is not the best way to learn for every single kid. 

The first day he fidgeted and messed with everything in front of him, it drove me crazy. I continued to tell him to stop, to sit down, and to listen. It was a fight until he finally just left the table altogether. 

The next day I was somewhat more prepared and allowed some Lego building while I read. It helped so much but didn’t completely keep him captivated and listening. 

In the days following, I adjusted my own expectations and emotions as he moved and jumped and crashed all around us as I read. It was hard for me to come to terms with him acting this way when I wanted him to listen. But the kicker was this, he was listening because I was allowing him to act this way. 

I was allowing his body to move freely and do what he needed to do best in order to listen. 

I also reflected on the times as a student when I would doodle during a lecture and I would take in more information by keeping my hands busy with a mindless activity instead of having my mind wander when I wasn’t allowed to doodle or fidget in some way. 

The way we learn is incredible and so vastly different among different personality types and students. It’s unfair to assume that just because we are not “distracted” and our eyes are looking directly at the teacher, we are taking in information and retaining what is being taught. 

It was interesting to see the difference in how much my son knew about the book based on what he was doing while I was reading. In the beginning, when I would dictate what he did during the reading time, he didn’t seem to retain much information Later on in the book when he was free to move and play as needed, he was able to tell me more about what was happening and knew who each of the characters was, even the smaller, less significant characters. 

It’s 2023- moving is listening. 

Photo by Pixabay via Pexels

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Raising Outdoor Readers: Picture Books in the Wild

While mindlessly scrolling social media I came across an Instagram post by @puddleparenting: 

I love how the trees in the book and the trees in the park match!

I love this idea and concept! Why haven’t we been taking picture books on more outdoor adventures with us in the past? They are a great addition to any outdoor learning.

Our town also recently acquired a little free library in the park thanks to a high school senior’s ambition to help a well-deserving community! This made it even easier for us to have a book to read while we were out and about at the park last week. 

The idea of reading a book outside at the park was so novel to my kids that they were more enthralled with reading than they were with playing. 

I can see many outdoor adventures that include picture books in our future. 

Do you take picture books outside with you on your outdoor adventures?

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Scholarship Reminder! Video Requirements

Here’s your weekly scholarship reminder. There is a video that is required for your final submission. This video can be uploaded to YouTube and shared with us, or uploaded to your Google Drive and shared with us. The video requirements are as follows:

2-5 minutes long including examples of your work in action (photos, video clips, etc.)

Include a few words directly from you regarding your project (can be a voice-over)

Include 1-3 brief interviews with people you are working with.

Address the following questions:

  • What would you improve with more time?
  • What new skills or concepts have you acquired?
  • What have you learned about yourself based on the experience?

If you already have a video created for your project for a different purpose, can you still use it for the scholarship application? Yes, if it still meets all of our requirements and answers all three questions within the video. You may also create a new video for this scholarship application specifically and send in a video you’ve already made as a supplement. But all video requirements must be met in order to qualify.

Our email is also always open to any questions you may have or guidance needed during the process.

You can see more about the scholarship requirements by downloading our checklist here.

For more information on the scholarship, head here.

For our 2023 final submission link, head here.

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Where We Draw the Line With Extracurriculars

My oldest is 5 years old and we are already deep in the trenches of managing extracurriculars. It’s mind-boggling that we would even be at this phase of life already when she’s only in kindergarten. Yet she comes home roughly every six weeks with a new flyer from our Recreation District about soccer signs up, t-ball the next time, and basketball the month after. And the discussion between friends always starts at school, “Are you playing soccer this year? I am, I want you to be on my team!”

While I am very impressed with our Rec District and happy they are providing these opportunities for our community, I’m also an overwhelmed parent that can’t keep up with practices and games and everything else that comes with each sport! So, we don’t. 

When do we finally call it quits? 

Well, there are a lot of factors to consider. I love Mary’s perspective on this topic. I’d also like to add that we live in a very small community and participating in extracurriculars and spending Saturdays on the soccer fields is a huge community event where we all know one another and have time to socialize. This factor plays in when making a decision! 

But my biggest selling point for this decision-making process is time for free play. Are my kids coming home from school, rushing to change clothes and eat a snack, just to get back in the car and head to soccer practice? Once in a while, that’s fine! One night a week we live this way so we can make it to a tumbling class, and it’s an overall benefit to our whole family. But the rest of the week they come home, have some downtime by themselves or with screens, and then spend the rest of the evening deep in play, sometimes inside, sometimes outside. Sometimes we involve friends and neighbors, sometimes we don’t! 

But play is the real work of childhood, not basketball. Not choir practice. So when all of these extracurricular activities start interfering with playtime, that’s where and when the line is drawn in our family. 

It’s always a tricky road to navigate, though! How do you decide which extracurriculars and how many your child can and will be involved in? 

Other helpful posts:

Are Extra Curriculars Helping or Harming?
Thoughts On Kid’s Extracurriculars
Why You Shouldn’t Feel Bad About Canceling Extracurriculars #TeacherMom
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Our Library Book Haul

This week’s library book haul was such a good one, I felt like I needed to share! We ended up with some amazing titles that I’ve been so impressed by.

I Am Enough by Grace Byers

This self-esteem booster book was very well written and I love the inclusivity of the illustrations. This book is sure to leave you and your kids feeling empowered!

Sofia Valdez, Future Prez by Andrea Beaty

The part where she is sent to every different office in City Hall to have her question answered made me giggle!

Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin Jr.

We chose this one to go with my daughter’s caterpillar and butterfly unit they are doing in her kindergarten class. I love how fun and simple this book is, and how they are able to incorporate a lot of information and learning in the text as well. Using this book in conjunction with Google Images was incredible!

We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins

This book was my son’s choice. I wouldn’t say it was my favorite! But it wasn’t horrible, either. He got a good laugh out of it though, so I’m still glad we picked it up!

Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel by Leslie Connor

I love the illustrations in this book! It was also a great conversation starter for talking about immigrants, Native Americans, and good old hard work.

Carmela Full of Wishes by Matt De La Peña

Carmela takes us on her adventure of running errands with her brother, and it’s fun to see a peek into their day and the errands that are important to their family.

One Little Bag An Amazing Journey by Henry Cole

I am absolutely in awe of these illustrations. Henry tells us an entire story over generations without writing a single word. Add this one to your Earth Day rotation, it’s incredible! I also loved how much talking and conversation came from the wordless picture book by studying the images.

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Alternatives to Assigned Reading in High School

This post is specifically for upper grades- middle school and high school- but can be applied to younger grades with some adaptations if needed. 

Assigned reading is a very popular practice in Language Arts/ English classrooms across the nation, but what if there’s a better way? Here are a few alternatives to getting your students reading, but without the dreaded assigned books. 

For individual reading: 

Offer a large list of books for them to choose from. If there are certain guidelines or books you have to stay within the parameters of, this is a great option. It keeps you within the guidelines but gives the students their own choice in the literature they are reading. 

Do a one-on-one book report discussion. If the goal is for the student to read and comprehend a book, this works beautifully. Let them choose a book that interests them and schedule a day or two where you take students aside during independent work time to discuss the book with them and verify that they read it. Ask provoking questions about the characters and the plot. Even if you haven’t read every single book, teachers are typically pretty good at spotting those telling the truth and those wanting to fib a bit. 

For classroom reading involving the whole class: 

Have a class discussion and vote. If you’re choosing a book for the whole class to read, why not allow the students to bring suggestions to the table, discuss together, and vote? Keep in mind, books are books! Every suggestion is valid and worth bringing to the table. Yes, even comic books! 

Similarly, allow students to choose a book and defend it. Let the student or group of students choose the book for the next classroom read (again, all books are valid!). Give them a chance to build their case on their specific book and take turns defending their choice to the rest of the class on why their book should be chosen. This activity can be done in a day or it can be drug out over several days depending on how in-depth you want to go! 

What do you do in your classroom to find ways to bring out students’ voices in choosing books to read? 

Photo by Pixabay via Pexels

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Scholarship Reminder! Add Pictures to Your Submission

Here’s your weekly scholarship reminder: 

Add photos of your work to your scholarship application! Not only is this a requirement in order to qualify for the scholarship, but adding these pictures only helps your application. 

No amount of pictures is too many, I promise. There is a limit on how many you can submit on our actual submission page, but additional photos can always be emailed to us after your final application has been sent in. You can also insert photos on a Word, Google Document, or PDF and submit this as evidence as well to work around the picture limitations on our submission form. 

By giving us a good visual representation of your community project, it helps us verify the legitimacy as well as literally “see the big picture” of what you’ve been working on. 

Our email is also always open to any questions you may have or guidance needed during the process.

For more information on the scholarship, head here.

For our 2023 final submission link, head here.