Who knew, right? Who knew the world would change this drastically over the course of a few very short months? But it has and one of the most profound disruptions are the school closings going on all around the world. As a result, many parents are now faced with homeschooling or something of the sort now that we may find ourselves all at home together...all day long...for what could be a very long time... While this might seem daunting, don’t worry, you got this and teachers have a few quick pointers for you that will help. But before I drop those at you, here’s something to consider - no doubt this is going to be a challenge, but one of the best things you can do to set you and your child up for success is to take a look around the house or apartment and see if you can create a learning space. This should be someplace where your child can concentrate and be relatively free from distractions. That might be hard as you might be working at home now too. But for the sake of sanity and learning it would be great if you could carve out a place, nothing grandiose, but a place that says, “learning takes place here.” Then, give yourself some grace and compassion during this stressful time. We’re all doing the best we can. #1 How you praise your child for their academic work (heck, all work) is really important. Praise is a critical part of learning, no doubt about it. But how that praise is delivered and what is highlighted is important. Children do need praise, encouragement and, at times, a reward to help their motivation. But herein lies the trick - it’s important to help a child build internal motivation rather than external motivation. Praise should be given mindfully and authentically. I know this firsthand because the middle schoolers I teach will spot false or empty praise from ten miles away and then they simply stop listening to what you say because they perceive that it’s empty and meaningless. Praise is terrific and helps build self-motivation when it’s tied to effort, is specific, and acknowledges the importance of finishing an activity or a process. “Don’t stop until you’re proud of what you’ve done” is a poster on the walls of our middle school. I believe this is a great adage to live by. #2 Encourage your child to have a growth mindset. While the term “growth mindset” is certainly trending in educational circles, there’s nothing new or trendy about it. Growth mindset, simply stated, means that you (or the child) acknowledge that while you may not fully understand the task or learning you are involved in YET, you will keep going until you do. This is the exact opposite of the fixed mindset which people demonstrate with statements such as this, “I just don’t get this, I’m no good at it” or “I can’t do this, I’m not smart enough.” Turn that fixed mindset around by encouraging your child to embrace the word YET. “I don’t understand this yet, but I’m going to continue to work at it” or “It’s too hard, but I’m going to give it more time and effort.” Then, as the parent/teacher, give them some time, let them take a breather, take a quick walk outside if you can, come back at it with a clear head. It takes guts to come back at something that doesn’t come easy, give your child some credit and support them in this. #3 Parents don’t have to be the expert. This is a tough one for parents. I’ve talked with many, many parents who have created an expectation in their own heads that they need to know everything that their own child is trying to learn - even if their child is in high school studying advanced courses! But that simply isn’t the case. You don’t have to know everything you just need to be willing and able to encourage your child and be willing to seek out resources. Teachers have a phrase called ‘productive struggle’ and they encourage it in the classroom. We don’t want to be the expert in the room, we want students to wrestle with concepts so that when they finally get it and the metaphorical lightbulb turns on, it’s embedded at a much deeper level than having a teacher tell them how to do it. But being there to encourage your child, supporting them when they are frustrated, helping them seek out resources who could help - that’s a fantastic role for parents. Some of those resources include online learning sites like Khan Academy for Math, noredink for grammar and punctuation, spellingcity for vocabulary games, teacher websites, emails of their teachers, a classmate or older student who can possibly tutor - all of those will work in this unusual time. #4 Reflection is one of the best tools you can give your child. If I touch a hot stove, I get instant feedback from the burn. But academic learning is rarely that simple or obvious. What if I’m a sixth grade student distracted by everything from what I’m going to have for lunch to the buddy across the room to the orthodontist appointment I’m going to that afternoon? If I take a math test during that time and don’t do well, chances are good that I’m not going to be able to clearly see and explain why I didn’t do well. But reflecting on our learning - what we did or didn’t do well, our progress/growth, and where to go from that point forward - is something that is critical to effective learning. While you are home with your child and helping them with their academic learning, provide time and support for reflection on what they are doing. Reflection is key if we want learning to move from short-term memory to long-term memory. John Dewey said, “We don’t learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” So provide time and space for your child to reflect on their learning, it’s one of the most valuable gifts you can give them while they are home. #5 Read, Read, Read some more! Okay, so I’m a reading specialist and of course I’m going to say this. But seriously, reading is the key to everything! According to a study done at Sam Houston State University in 2016, students who read for pleasure scored higher than their non-reading peers in every single academic area. But here’s the trick - teachers and schools are required to cover so much material in every academic content area that we don’t have adequate time for our students to just read for pleasure. But things are different right now, for a while, so let’s take advantage of that. In Donalynn Miller’s “The Book Whisperer” she talks about trying to grow a love of reading in her students and the push back she got. I used her book this year to revolutionize the reading program in my own classroom and it has made a tremendous difference. Middle school students, on average, will read 1-2 books a year and that includes required reading when classes do whole-class novel studies. After setting up my classroom to take on the 40 Book Reading Challenge, my students are currently averaging 23-30 books each! Our goal became one that every student embraced - each student would read 40 books by the end of the school year (840 total). While COVID-19 has definitely put a kink in that plan we were at 556 books last Friday, we were well on track to meet our goal. What’s the trick you ask? Give them access to books that are about things that interest them. It was simple. The second most important trick is this - give the child the permission to put the book down if they don’t like it. Somewhere along the line we made it mandatory for our students to finish any book they picked up. Ugh! I’ve picked up and started any number of books that I didn’t like by one chapter, heck even one page, in. I’d steer clear of reading too if I had been made to finish all those books. Twenty minutes a day of reading will make all the difference in the world for your child and their academic learning. Here’s a bonus - according to the podcast Hidden Brain - reading fiction helps people grow their empathy quotient. That’s something schools have been working hard on and definitely a cornerstone of social-emotional learning. Here’s #6 - a bonus, if you will. Start each day with a loose plan, then do what every good teacher does - monitor and adjust. Rigidity is the enemy of learning. You will discover teachable moments throughout each day with your children at home. Basic math facts are hidden in every recipe, science too! Reading and discussing current events - like it or not we are experiencing an historical event. But most of all play, do art, garden, dance, do all the many things we don’t have the flexibility to do in the classrooms.
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