Learning on Other People's Kids


Book Description

This work captures the voices of TFA novices who offer candid accounts of their experiences in Becoming Teach For America Teachers. Previously unanswered questions are addressed: Why do recent college graduates apply to Teach For America? How are they recruited, trained, and hired? How do they learn the culture (s) of the community, schools, grade level, curriculum, and children they teach? Is there a “culture” of the TFA organization? What recommendations do they offer to TFA donors, policy-makers, future corps members and the public? Woven into this book, are perspectives from mentors who worked alongside TFAers, administrators who hired them, corporate C.E.O.’s who supported them, and policies (both local and national) that privileged TFA over non-TFA teachers. Finally, a compelling series of eyewitness narratives introduces each chapter’s theme, documented from the author’s own, “Notes from the Field.” These accounts offer rich, descriptive vignettes that present the challenges TFAers faced, as they occurred. Schools reflect the multitiered and often non-level playing field that comprises America’s educational landscape. Learning on Other People’s Kids: Becoming a Teach For America Teacher provides readers a glimpse into the corps member experience in a rare ethnographic account.




Learning to Listen, Learning to Care


Book Description

A workbook with forty activities designed to help children learn self-control and empathy.




Other People's Children


Book Description

An updated edition of the award-winning analysis of the role of race in the classroom features a new author introduction and framing essays by Herbert Kohl and Charles Payne, in an account that shares ideas about how teachers can function as "cultural transmitters" in contemporary schools and communicate more effectively to overcome race-related academic challenges. Original.




Trusting What You’re Told


Book Description

If children were little scientists who learn best through firsthand observations and mini-experiments, as conventional wisdom holds, how would a child discover that the earth is round—never mind conceive of heaven as a place someone might go after death? Overturning both cognitive and commonplace theories about how children learn, Trusting What You’re Told begins by reminding us of a basic truth: Most of what we know we learned from others. Children recognize early on that other people are an excellent source of information. And so they ask questions. But youngsters are also remarkably discriminating as they weigh the responses they elicit. And how much they trust what they are told has a lot to do with their assessment of its source. Trusting What You’re Told opens a window into the moral reasoning of elementary school vegetarians, the preschooler’s ability to distinguish historical narrative from fiction, and the six-year-old’s nuanced stance toward magic: skeptical, while still open to miracles. Paul Harris shares striking cross-cultural findings, too, such as that children in religious communities in rural Central America resemble Bostonian children in being more confident about the existence of germs and oxygen than they are about souls and God. We are biologically designed to learn from one another, Harris demonstrates, and this greediness for explanation marks a key difference between human beings and our primate cousins. Even Kanzi, a genius among bonobos, never uses his keyboard to ask for information: he only asks for treats.







Trusting What You're Told


Book Description

If children were little scientists who learn best through firsthand observations and mini-experiments, how would a child discover that the earth is round—never mind conceive of heaven as a place someone might go after death? Trusting What You’re Told begins by reminding us of a basic truth: Most of what we know we learned from others.




Getting Along with Others


Book Description

All children need to learn how to get along with others. It's an ability that may have as much or more to do with success in later life as children's educational accomplishments. And just like reading and math skills, social skills can be taught to children. Getting Along with Others is an engaging activity book parents will love to share with their children. Twenty-four fun-filled and creatively illustrated charts encourage youth to tell the truth, ask permission, share with others, say they're sorry, and more. Plus, six additional charts allow adults to target skills they want kids to learn. Also included, suggestions on how to effectively use the book and offer rewards that will keep children interested and motivated to improve. Getting Along with Others is a simple, satisfying way for parents to enjoy quality time and, ultimately, more meaningful relationships with their children.




Social Skills Activities for Kids


Book Description

Do you have children that seem to be far more unruly than their peers? Do they struggle to make friends or to know how to act when they are around other people? Do you find that they are always interrupting you or they are constantly causing problems for people around you? If so, then keep reading.... Children everywhere are learning--that much is true. Much of this learning happens naturally over time. Children learn how to behave and how to act with other people by being taught. However, sometimes, there is a bit of a disconnect there--instead of being taught what to do, children just fail to do what was expected of them altogether. Maybe they struggle to make their friends. Maybe they act in inappropriate manners, such as constantly cutting off what people are saying, not managing their emotions, or seeming not to recognize their emotions at all. These are signs that your child lacks social skills that are crucial. These social skills are what teach your child how it is that they should be behaving in the first place. Without the social skills that your child needs to know, he or she will not be able to interact with peers in an effective manner. They will not manage to deal with their emotions in a meaningful manner, and instead, they can lash out at other people. They can cause problems. They can yell and scream. All of this can lead to very serious problems that will need to be corrected as soon as possible to grant your child the best chance at success possible. This book is here to help you with all of that--in buying this book and reading through it, you will find that you are guided through understanding precisely why these social skills matter and how to ensure that your child can develop them. You do not want your child to suffer or struggle in life--and for that reason, you will find that spending the time to better their relationships and the skills that go along with being able to maintain them is precisely what you need to do. Within this book, you will find that following information that will help you do just that: All sorts of information on why social skills matter, how to recognize when a child is struggling with social skills, and why they will need extra help to better deal with their relationships Several activities that will guide your child through learning the skills necessary to make friends More activities on how to maintain relationships to engage with your child to support that development Activities that are centralized around communication--both in learning to talk to other people, and in learning how to listen actively and effectively to ensure that your child will have these crucial life skills AND MORE! There is no need to hesitate--reading this book and implementing the activities within it will help you take your child far in life, and all you have to do is sit down and get started. All you will need is a few minutes out of each and every day. If you are ready to start helping your child learn and grow, then scroll up right now and click on that BUY NOW button today!




Confident Parents, Confident Kids


Book Description

Confident Parents, Confident Kids lays out an approach for helping parents—and the kids they love—hone their emotional intelligence so that they can make wise choices, connect and communicate well with others (even when patience is thin), and become socially conscious and confident human beings. How do we raise a happy, confident kid? And how can we be confident that our parenting is preparing our child for success? Our confidence develops from understanding and having a mastery over our emotions (aka emotional intelligence)—and helping our children do the same. Like learning to play a musical instrument, we can fine-tune our ability to skillfully react to those crazy, wonderful, big feelings that naturally arise from our child’s constant growth and changes, moving from chaos to harmony. We want our children to trust that they can conquer any challenge with hard work and persistence; that they can love boundlessly; that they will find their unique sense of purpose; and they will act wisely in a complex world. This book shows you how. With author and educator Jennifer Miller as your supportive guide, you'll learn: the lies we’ve been told about emotions, how they shape our choices, and how we can reshape our parenting decisions in better alignment with our deepest values. how to identify the temperaments your child was born with so you can support those tendencies rather than fight them. how to align your biggest hopes and dreams for your kids with specific skills that can be practiced, along with new research to support those powerful connections. about each age and stage your child goes through and the range of learning opportunities available. how to identify and manage those big emotions (that only the parenting process can bring out in us!) and how to model emotional intelligence for your children. how to deal with the emotions and influences of your choir—the many outside individuals and communities who directly impact your child’s life, including school, the digital world, extended family, neighbors, and friends. Raising confident, centered, happy kids—while feeling the same way about yourself—is possible with Confident Parents, Confident Kids.




Raising Global Children


Book Description

Today’s children need to develop a global mindset – an indispensable tool for success. Together, as parents and educators, we must instill in our children an interest in learning about the world early on. Raising Global Children provides the rationale and concrete steps you can take to open up the world to young people – and to do so in a fun and entertaining way without spending a whole lot of money. Packed with practical information, hundreds of tips and dozens of real-life stories, this combination parenting-educational advocacy book is the first of its kind to detail what raising global children means, why global awareness is important and how to develop a global mindset. Inside the pages of Raising Global Children, the authors make a strong case for the importance of both small and big ways that adults can influence and shape the development of a global mindset in children, including: Encouraging curiosity, empathy, flexibility and independence Supporting learning a second language as early as possible Exploring culture through books, food, music and friends Expanding a child’s world through travel at home and abroad Helping teens to spread their own global wings Advocating for teaching global education in schools Enthusiastically praised by parents and professionals alike, Raising Global Children is filled with inspiring advice that will change the way you think about raising and educating children. Raising Global Children is published by The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), which is dedicated to the improvement and expansion of the teaching and learning of all languages at all levels of instruction. Find out more at www.actfl.org. PRAISE: “In the increasingly interconnected and competitive world that our young people find themselves in, Stacie and Mike Berdan’s Raising Global Children is one sure fire way for today’s busy parents to help give their kids a step up and get ahead.” —Curtis S. Chin, former U.S. Ambassador and international business executive "Raising Global Children is an essential guide for preparing our children for a successful future in a globally competitive and interconnected world, one that is far different than the world we grew up in." —Diane Gulyas, President of DuPont Performance Polymers "Raising Global Children is a book for parents who know the world is changing and want their children to experience it, embrace it and benefit from it. It is a must have guide for bringing up globally aware kids." —Carolyn Tieger, President of entrePReneur Communications, LLC “The Berdans have done an excellent job of outlining how adults can influence and shape the development of a global mindset among children. Raising Global Children clearly illustrates how parents and educators can open up the world to the young people in their lives by developing the necessary skills and attitude to fully embrace it!” —Marty Abbott, Executive Director, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages