The Death of Boredom vs. Bored to Death

I worry about my grandchildren, specifically, and our youngest generation of students, generally, and their overall inability to accept boredom into their lives.  Without boredom, how will they think? 

When I was a child, my mother and father expected me to rake, shovel, dust, and do a whole host of very boring things.  Yet, while I did these chores, my mind was active.  As a duster, I remember ‘staging’ commercials in my mind.  I could dramatically wave my hands and ad lib about my streak-free shine and Pledge’s ability to bring out the natural beauty of the wood.  As I got older, I used the boring times, such as walking home from field hockey practice or washing dishes at Friendlies, to problem-solve the ‘major’ issues in my young life.  I ran scenarios; I pre-scripted upcoming events (as in, I’ll say this, and then he’ll say that, and then I’ll say…); I made plans, both for the weekend … and for the future.  Even now, when I’m driving home to Massachusetts or gardening in the backyard, my mind is active.  Boredom is important to my mental processes.  Boredom is where I reminisce about the past and sift through new opportunities, ideas, and solutions.  Boredom leads to a clear mind.  A clear mind leads to creativity.

The problem I see in my beloved and beautiful grandchildren is their desire to fill every moment with activity and their complete uneasiness with ‘boredom.’  If we are waiting for a table in a restaurant, riding the escalator in the mall, or even standing in the kitchen, waiting for the toast to pop up, they are texting or playing a quick game of ‘Draw Something.’   In the back seat of the car, they have headsets on, cutting them off from both conversation and observation. 

They call it multi-tasking, but they watch TV and are on their computers or cell phones at the same time making even TV-watching less cerebral (if that’s possible!), because they aren’t processing either the facial expressions or the dialogue.  If you ask them a thought question about the show, they respond, ‘I don’t know. Why?’ as if thinking about the story-line was absurd. 

I love them dearly, but I worry that I never, ever hear them complain ‘I’m bored;’ and as a result, I never, ever get to say, ‘Well, think of something to do.’

For more information about kids, creativity, and boredom, check out:

Aha! Parenting's "Why Boredom is Good for Your Child"

Essential Kids'  "The Battle to Let Them Be Bored"

 

 

 

 

Schools and the Social Networking Terrain

I don't think social media is getting any easier to navigate.  There's a lot of information circling amongst my peers purporting the merits of 'going social' by creating a district Facebook page or by joining the ranks of the 'twittering Superintendents' ... or by doing both, since each has its separate merits. 

 

Racing through my head lately is that piece of professional advice, coupled with a nagging fear that Orange isn't doing enough to make our kids as cybersmart as they should be before hitting middle school, ... and tripled by this information I just read this week:  Author Emily Bazelon wrote an article in The Atlantic detailing how an anonymous student created a Facebook page called "let's Start Drama" at a Middletown, Connecticut, middle school and used the page to bully her fellow students.  She called herself simply 'Drama Queen.'   Bazelon writes, “She hovered over them in cyberspace like a bad fairy, with the power to needle kids into ending friendships and starting feuds and fistfights… Wrapped in her cloak of anonymity, she was free to pass along cruel gossip without personal consequences.  She started by posting a few idle rumors, and when that gained her followers, she asked them to send her private messages relaying more gossip, promising not to disclose the source. Which girl had just lost her virginity? What boy had asked a girl to sext him a nude photo?” Before long, Drama Queen had an audience of 500, many of whom had follow-up comments on the rumors. She pitted students against each other by posting side-by-side photos of girls and asking who was hotter and photos of boys asking, “Who would win a fight?”  It turns out that after investigating, the middle school turned up 12 other pages of the same ilk.

 

Any parent and educator would find this scenario scary.  She had 500 like-minded participants -- or, at least voyeurs into this dehumanizing world she had created?  

 

In my mind, we should be teaching our children to be exactly the same person on-line as they are in person... they should be the same person they are when they walk the corridors of the school... and the streets of any new city they visit.  If they wouldn't go up to other classmates, in person, and call them names or say cruel things, then they shouldn't do it online either.  If they wouldn't walk up to a stranger in the mall and hand that stranger a picture of themselves in their underwear, then they shouldn't 'sext' that picture, or post it online, either.  There's something about the 'artificiality' of social media that has stripped us of the basic sensibilities we know to be true in our daily interactions with 'real' people.  It's as if in the social media arena we aren't 'responsible' for what we say in the same way we are responsible for ourselves in public. 

 

In the Bazelton article, she talks about two 'organizations' who are tackling the cruelty of cyberbullying; one is BullySpace and the other is Anonymous (yes! that same controversial vigilante group).  Both are using artificial intelligence and algorithms to detect bullying language and posts and then targeting those message posters with pop-ups which read anything from, "That was nasty! Wait 60-seconds before you post!" to expletive-driven, 'What gives you the right!' messages.  Facebook, who reports that kids would rather be expelled from school than expelled from Facebook, has started shutting down offensive pages.  But, in truth, they are coming late to the party!

 

If you haven't already, it's not too late to talk to your pre-teen about social media and what your expectations are for his or behavior in that arena as well as in public.  We can't assume that they are naturally transferring those values, and the consequences for mistakes can be devastating.  Often, when cyberbullies are caught, or when a community finds out about a bullying page and lashes out at the kids who started it, the kids are shocked.  They say they 'were only trying to have some fun!'  They claim they 'didn't know anyone would be hurt by it!'  They rationalize 'it's not like it was real or anything!'

 

It's not easy to navigate, and it's real!

         

The 'Smart' vs. 'Capable' Perspective

Almost every day, for one reason or another, I reach back to my childhood and find myself grateful for my parents' innate ability to foster what I now think of as 'perspective,' or the healthy ability to be both confident in my success and humbled by the lack of it.

Sometimes, my recollection is something funny.  I might trip on a crack in the sidewalk in front of MLT and hear my father's voice in my ear, "There goes 'Grace' again."  He never said, "Don't be so clumsy," which would have been denigrating; but he didn't blame the sidewalk, either.  He laughed a lot when we were kids, but never at us... unless, we were being ridiculous! 

Sometimes, the recollection is much more practical; and thus, when I'm fielding a complaint or a working through a difficult report I end up with his sayings running through my head: messages like "Don't judge, until you've walked a mile in that person's shoes," or "If you quit, who's going to finish for you?"

When I was child, my father might ask me to hold a flashlight for him under the kitchen sink, but I knew what that request really meant... it meant lots of questions about what I saw him doing: "What if I turn this...?"  "What do you think is holding this in place?" "Why might we try to ...?"

All of this was about 'growth' and 'becoming more capable,' which intrigued me as I read "Fostering a 'Growth' Mindset in Students," in Principal Leadership, by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey.  In this article, the authors discuss the importance of helping students to develop what they call 'personal narratives' or belief statements about who they are.  The authors state that, "one crucial aspect is helping students move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset."  They go on to describe students with a fixed mindset as those kids who believe their personal 'smartness' was fixed at birth and, therefore, they must keep proving they are smart to others.   On the other hand, students who have a growth mindset believe their basic qualities can be continuously cultivated through effort and persistence.

I think it's obvious which lifestyle approach will serve our kids, their parents, and our society at large the best.  Especially as we move into the 21st Century economy, we need young people who believe "I can learn anything if I put in the effort."  It can't be about getting the answer the quickest, ("I'm smart!"); because, when when the answer doesn't come easily, but takes time, concentration, and effort, which it will in our contemporary world, our kids will need persistence. 

"Praise for being 'smart' leads kids to believe that learning should be easy – and if it feels difficult, then they’re not smart.  On the other hand, praise for focusing and sticking with a task fosters a much more positive mindset – you can 'get smart' through effective effort.

I remember reading a study done at Brown University, and I think it was Varton Gregorian who quoted it.  In the study, elementary school students were given a multiple-choice math problem that went something like this: "The Army wants to move 729 soldiers.  If each bus holds 65 soldiers, how many buses will the Army need?"  The 'smarter' the kids, the more likely they were to choose '11.22' as their answer.  In other words, 11.22, which carried the answer out to the hundredth decimal place, seemed more correct to them than 12.  Yet, there is no such thing as .22 of a bus. 

So, how do we foster 'capable growth' rather than reverence for 'being smart.' Fisher and Frey tell us that when parents and teachers compliment children in a way in which children see their own roles in the accomplishment, they will begin to see that their effort allowed them to meet their goals."  Just as my father did, under the kitchen sink, with a wrench in his hand: "Huh, you figured that out, did you?  Feels good doesn't it?"

 

Growing up, my successes were my own, not my parents.  In their eyes, I wasn't born either smart or lucky.  My actions led to the results, whether good or bad.   They were very interested in my effort, always wanting to know how I accomplished something, what I might do differently next time, and how my success felt.

 

Aren't Happy, Successful Children Everyone's Dream?

In a thoughtful New York Times article, "Raising Successful Children," author and practicing psychologist Madeline Levine offers some poignant advice about striking the right balance between good practice and malpractice in parenting.  Levine makes a distinction between childhood 'happiness' and 'well-being,' and says that while most of us (I use 'us' because I'm a parent, too) would say we want our kids to be happy in life, what we really mean is we want them to be able cope with life's challenges with confidence.  "Life is difficult," Levine explains, "and the idea of keeping our children happy all the time -- that’s about over- parenting."  Thus, 'parenting malpractice' is any parenting action in which parents, in their efforts to protect their children from unpleasantness, cannot find the 'happy' median between being overly protective ... and overly permissive. 

 

The word 'malpractice' struck me as harsh.  There is something unethical or immoral sounding about the word; and, as I write this, I had to resist the urge to edit it out.  What won me over was the 'guilt' factor inherent in parenting.  Let's face it, when we make mistakes (which sometimes can be 'doozies' ), we do feel a little bit criminal, so maybe 'malpractice' is not really that far off the mark. 

 

One of the concepts that most resonated with me was this: “The happiest, most successful children have parents who do not do for them what they are capable of doing, or almost capable of doing, themselves.”  No doubt this would be true for the teachers in our schools, as well.  Even sadder, Levine points out, is when we do things for our kids that satisfy our own needs rather than the needs of our children themselves.  I'm reminded of the many years of dance classes I took my daughter to only to be told when she was 11 that, while she 'liked dancing OK, she hated performing.'  How can that be? I thought. She is an excellent dancer, and I love to watch her perform. 

Levine is firm that dealing with disappointment is essential to good health.  "The central task of growing up,” she says, “is to develop a sense of self that is autonomous, confident, and generally in accord with reality.”  Over-parenting, which includes unnecessary monitoring and control, actually diminishes our children's confidence and distorts the reality of life.

But, let's be honest, it's painful to watch when our children make mistakes.  I didn't want my own children to 'suffer' when they were left out of a birthday party or didn't start in a soccer game.  If they misunderstood the directions to an assignment and got a poor grade, I wanted a 'do-over' -- for them, of course!   But, Levine is right, it is in this "gray area of 'just beyond the comfortable' where resilience is born.”  She points out that kids need small daily risks and disappointments for growth to take place.  We knew this when they were little and first started to walk.  We didn't pick them up every time they fell and protect them from any future disappointments or bumps.  We actually were amazed by them and took pleasure in the sheer determination it took for them to try, try, and try again. 

Levine claims if you can't stand to see your child cry, you got into the wrong business.   Kids need the opportunity for ‘successful failures' -- failures they can live with and grow from. "To shield them," Levine writes, "to deprive them of those challenges is to deprive them of the tools they will need to handle the inevitable, difficult, challenging and sometimes devastating demands of life.”  Better to remember the lessons of infancy, to allow them to resolve it themselves, and to amaze us with their resiliency as they once did.

There is a difference, Levine points out, between top-down parenting which focused on clear expectations...  and parental behavior which is controlling.  It's OK to insist that a child turn off the television and finish the math homework.  It's not OK to tell a child what to feel and how to resolve that feeling.  Pushing, bribing, probing, implanting, which always come the outside, (i.e. from the parent) are malpractice because "the child never has the opportunity to craft an inside.”

“A loving parent is warm, willing to set limits and unwilling to breach a child’s psychological boundaries by invoking shame or guilt,” Levine concludes. It’s also vital that parents set a good example in their own lives. “One of the most important things we do for our children is to present them with a version of adult life that is appealing and worth striving for.”

 

“RaisingSuccessful Children” by Madeline Levine in TheNew York Times, and "Teach Your Children Well': An Interview With Psychologist and Author Madeline Levine" in The Huffington Post.

Opening Day, August 2012

I have thought about and awaited my first ‘opening day’ in Orange for eight long months. I knew that when the day finally came I would talk about change, because ‘change’ is in the very air we breathe right now. But, what to say?

I grew up with my father’s voice in my ear, and his wisdom has always served me well. Whether it was a high school algebra test or field hockey game, or later in life, a tricky relationship or a financial crisis, “You want it to turn out better?” he’d say, “Change something. Nothing gets better by accident.”

On the other hand, I also recall having a conversation with a former colleague, who has since passed away.   I was trying to convince him to introduce some contemporary chapter books into the curriculum.   At the conclusion of the conversation, he simply said, “Not everyone likes change, you know. Some people go on vacation every year to the same cottage on the same lake and always order the lime rickey at the same ice cream stand.” 

It brought me up short and caused me to appreciate the paradox of change. In the end, however, it’s always my father’s voice in my head; and while I truly appreciated what this teacher said, I often wondered if routine comes at too great a price. Sometimes, change comes very hard to us because we over-estimate the value of what we have, and we under-estimate the greatness of what we might have … should we be agreeable to change.
 
It’s that ‘potential greatness’ that I want to emphasize as we begin the new school year!

So, what are the changes a foot in Orange? First of all, not one single change has been made ‘simply for the sake of change.’  Everything we’re doing has a well-thought out ‘rationale.’ With the exception of the implementation of our new math curriculum, Math Expressions, none of the changes is huge or demanding.  And, even considering the implementation of our new math curriculum, none of them is beyond our capacity!

As we face these changes together, I’m hoping we will always consider whether or not the change requires planning and effort … or simply requires open mindedness.  I’m hoping we will not throw all the changes into the same basket.  

As you’ve already noticed, we have many new people in our buildings.   We chose these people and invited them to join us.   Each deserves our warmest welcome to the school community.   Please extend a hand in community spirit whenever you can.   Be generous with your friendship and collegiality.   This kind of change does not really take effort on our part; it takes simple open-mindedness.

We have made a change in our website and switched from CMS, which was rather ‘static,’ to a new district webpage provider, Finalsite, which is dynamic.  In the process, we have gained a great number of features.   Our visitors can sign up for rss feeds and alerts. The new site has ‘virtual backpacks’ for school and community notices.   The directory is cleaner.   The calendar will be reliable.   The ‘Directions’ tab takes you to Google maps.   This change to Finalsite will require an adjustment on everyone’s part, but this is NOT a new initiative. The heavy lifting has already been done; and this change requires open-mindedness.

My hope is that our teachers will have their webpages up and running as soon as possible. The dream for the webpage is that it becomes the first place our community goes for the information.   The calendar will be updated daily!   You will be able to depend on it!   If we do our part, and the webpage does its job, we’ll save paper and photocopying (making us greener!) and a great deal of time.
 
Other changes we’ve made include the purchase and implementation of new ‘suite of SRBI’ intervention tools to support our struggling learners.  Most of these tools are Internet-based and students will be able to access them in 21st Century after-school programming (if they are participants) or at home.  

This coming year, we’ll need to rewrite our Teacher Evaluation Plan to meet the new State legislation. We also need to complete our State-mandated Safe Schools Plans.   We need deeply committed and interested members of our community for the District’s Long-Range Planning Committee.   These changes will take time, effort, and thought.  If you are interested in these kinds of community leadership opportunities, they are open to you.   Please call your school and apply.

Finally, I want to mention the district’s only three goals for the year.   The first, as I mentioned, is the implementation of Math Expressions!  It will take time and our steadfast energy, enthusiasm, and effort.  Our Specials teachers have been given equally weighty and significant curriculum initiatives to work on.   Some are developing common assessments because that practice makes great sense, but also in anticipation of the new State teacher evaluation model.  Others are working on the Student Success Plans for 6th graders.  Some are working on Accelerated Reader.
 
Before, I introduce the second and third goals, I want to mention that our Administrative-level discussions about CMT testing results have been healthy and worthwhile.   Our kids do great!   They show growth over time, and they are well above the state averages.   Often, about 50% of them are in the Advanced band – not 'Goal', but 'Advanced!'   However, when we compare ourselves to other schools in our DRG, we do not often enough fall into the top half of the DRG.  

We do NOT need to do an in-depth study of this.   We do NOT need to make significant changes in curriculum or instructional strategies.   Our curriculum and our instruction are already excellent.   We DO, however, need to do two things better… and these two things are the next two goals on the list.

Our second goal is the protection of instructional time. Philosophically, the Orange School District needs to believe that the teacher’s time in the classroom, with the students, is sacrosanct!   And, then, we need to act according to that belief.   If there was one resounding message I heard over and over again from teachers last year, it was this: “I don’t have enough time!”

Thus, teachers will no longer be routinely pulled from their classrooms for curriculum writing or for meetings.   Our students are not better off in the hands of a substitute, and what an incorrect message we send when we act as if the common practice of replacing teachers with subs is 'the same'!  Except in the case of emergencies, we will try to protect the teachers from phone calls and unexpected visitors. (The principals, by the way, aren’t considered visitors!)

The principals were given the charge to protect instructional time through careful scheduling over the summer and, now that school has started, through ‘buffering.’   It will be their jobs to protect classroom instruction from external interruptions.   Within the classroom, the protection of instructional time will be the responsibility of the teachers, by focusing on what’s important. Our shared goal will be that we will rarely sacrifice core curriculum time, and when we do, we will do it intentionally and with planning.

And, thus, the final ‘change’ I am going to mention is significant, but will take only a few minutes a day. It’s another one of those changes that is more about ‘open-mindedness’ than effort.  I’m asking that before each lesson, the teachers write the ‘target,’ or lesson objective, on the board or post it where students can see it.   This is as simple as writing out a list of Saturday chores for your family and posting it on the refrigerator.  This target, or ‘objective, is simply a focus for the lesson, written in ‘kid-friendly language.’   It gives the learning purpose and structure in the students’ minds.

I have been in classrooms and observed first graders whose attention has wandered off.  I have seen them, a moment or two later, refocus themselves by looking at the right spot on the chart paper and seeing in very simple words or even pictures, what it is they should be doing, and then getting back to work.  Just as the ‘list’ gives Saturday morning structure, so does the ‘target’ give classroom learning structure.  

Equally important, this ‘target’ or ‘focus’ will help us protect our precious instructional time because when something isn’t on the list, or we can’t find a worthwhile curriculum target or objective to go along with it, we tend to do less of it.  I am not suggesting that our teachers will give up precious ‘teachable moments’ when they occur; I asking simply that they provide their students with an ‘agenda item’ to guide their learning.

Thus, with all of the ‘change’ bursting out around us, I’m asking that all of us distinguish the deep systemic changes from simple changes which require only a little thought and an open mind.  Our school-based goals for the year are: 1. Implementing the Math Expressions, and the curriculum equivalent for our specialists; 2. Protecting instructional time; and 3. Posting our objective or target in kid-speak.
 
This is an excellent school community with quality teachers, the purest motivations, and very big hearts.   I have no doubt in our capacity for change.

And with that, your very proud and privileged Superintendent, is thrilled to open the 2012-2013 school year!

Lynn

You're Never Too Old for the Prom!

On May 8th, I went to the Senior Prom. No fancy dress… or flowers… or boyfriend on my arm. But, this Senior Prom was memorable none-the-less.

That day, the Peck Place Student Council, with their teachers and parents hosted a Senior Prom for about 80 senior citizens from the local area. Rumor has it the kids invited everyone they could think of, and I was thrilled for them that so many people took them up on their invitation.  I had an interesting conversation with one senior who had brought his signed dance card, complete with its satin tassel; his wife’s name was written in it next to the dances she had promised him. (You have to go back a ways to remember this dance card tradition!)

The prom authenticated so many of the virtues of a ‘real’ prom – there were decorations, music, and so much good food. Several of the students worked as DJ’s, playing a variety of tunes from today and ‘back in the day’. Other students arranged a bench where you could pose with a ‘date’ and have your prom pictures taken. But, the greatest fun took place on the dance where the Peck Place students and the seniors danced in conga lines, did the Macarena and the Hustle, twisted, and just had a wonderful time together. It was a mystery as to who was teaching whom these dances.

Events such as these are so important in a school community for a variety of reasons. Certainly, a elementary school and senior citizen prom helps to close that ever-talked-about ‘generation gap’ which has widened over the past two decades as extended families have been affected by job relocations. But more importantly, an event such as this requires that students come out of their comfort zones and enjoy themselves by giving of their time, attention, and talents to others. You couldn’t have been in the gymnasium with them without recognizing they ended their day with a positive sense of self, the spirit of altruism, and a sense of responsibility for the happiness of someone else.

I’ll let pictures tell the rest of the story…

"I Gotta Crow..."

I had the best time Saturday night at Turkey Hill School’s production of Peter Pan -- all thanks to the tireless efforts of Deborah Sansone and at least 40 mothers and fathers who rehearsed lines with the kids, sewed costumes, built props, took photos, sold snacks, and on and on.
The kids were amazing – there’s no doubt about it! But nothing could top how amazing it was to see over 100 of them enjoy the chance to act, sing, and dance in a play for their friends and families. Nothing in my past experience prepared me for either the energy or the sheer joy of this undertaking.

I’ve been to school plays before and loved them. Generally, 10 – 15 kids auditioned and got speaking or chorus parts and another 10 or so kids worked in the stage crew. There were costumes and scenery and programs. These
performances were always a lot of fun.

But TH’s Peter Pan was HUGE – a true spectacular! – and no child who wanted to try it was turned away! I think I counted a dozen different Peter Pans, including one with itchy poison ivy who performed like the trouper he was. There were nine Wendys, three Michaels, three Tinkerbells, and four or five Smees. There were Twinkle Stars and Sparkle Stars and Winkie Stars. There were two dozen dancing mermaids! Some of the actors were laugh-out-loud funny. Some of them were so little and so cute, they brought tears to my eyes. The ‘lost’ boys and girls of Neverland made me just want to take them home, like the Wendys did, and read fairy tales to them!

Mrs. Sansone, the Drama Club Producer, wrote in her stage notes that people often ask her and her crew of parent directors why in the world they would do this. Are they crazy? Why would anyone take all that time to rewrite a new script that exited one Peter, so another could slip in? Why would they sew three or four Hook costumes when they could have gotten away with one? Why hold Drama Club rehearsals with 101 actors when the exits and entrances would be so much more manageable if you divided that number by four and told the rest of the kids, ‘maybe next year.’ Mrs. Sansone told the audience that last year only five 6th graders came out for the play; this year there were three times that number.

As this school district’s new superintendent, I am once again amazed by a commitment to kids in evidence everywhere I turn. Thank you to these wonderful parents who wanted 101 actors this year, and next year are hoping for more. Their gift, like the gift of so many of Orange’s parents i have met, is immeasurable! And if I might take liberties with Peter Pan’s lyrics a bit, I’ll admit this to you:  “I'm just the luckiest ‘fellow’ / 'Twas ever my fortune to know! / How can I hide it / When deep down inside it / just tickles me so / That I've gotta let go / and crow!”

Connecting Reading to Life

Yesterday, I was taking my 10-year-old grandson to an away soccer game which gave us that momentously valuable opportunity for a car-ride conversation.   Anyone who loves a child knows that sometimes the best conversations can happen in the midst of everyday activities when we are not eye-to-eye.


I wanted to discuss a bullying scene from a movie we had been watching just before we left, and I asked him what he would have done if he had seen the same thing happen at his school.   “Gramma,” he said. “It’s fake! It’s only a movie.”   I was struck once again with the difficulty we have as parents and educators helping our kids connect to what they read, or in this case, what they view.   It’s the difference between merely seeing the picture and internalizing what that picture means in terms of being human.  And, it's important!

Readers may already know that ‘making connections between the text and outside experiences and knowledge’ is a tough portion of the Reading CMT (Connecticut Mastery Test).   But, much more important than standardized testing is our need to develop a child’s ability to connect with what he or she reads or views simply because empathy is a significant life-long success factor.   The best leaders, (as well as spouses and parents), have the ability to understand the patterns of human behavior and predict with accuracy what motivates others.   In addition, people who connect with others and feel empathy are better able to withstand adversity.  Connecting with others provides a feeling of belonging and reduces feelings of loneliness.


Typically, regardless of whether it's a movie or a book, our children connect to the events in a story -- in other words, its plot.  And, if they have never experienced that particular series of events themselves, they can have difficulty imagining themselves in the same situation.   Our job as teachers and parents is to help children move beyond the situation itself (the plot) to explore the elements of human nature embedded within.   This human connection can come from pictures in magazines, television story lines, books, and movies -- for me, even Hallmark commercials!  It involves considering what the people are thinking and feeling, and why.  Helping kids develop this skill involves asking them important questions about what they read and view.


Try this out with your child. Use the picture below and ask a few questions such as:   How did the boy get into this jam? [You don’t want the obvious: ‘he put his head through the chair.’   Rather, maybe someone dared him to do it.   Maybe he was showing off for his friends.]  What is the boy thinking now? [He might be embarrassed because everyone knows he did something foolish. He might be afraid of getting in trouble. He might be afraid of getting hurt.]   What do think is going through the mind of the lady in the tan jacket and who do you think she is? [She might be afraid the boy will get hurt… She might be angry …]   How about the man in blue with the saw?


Any example of human experience will do, but if you’re game there is an incredible video on youtube.com at “Sailor Surprises His Son.”   After viewing the video together, ask your child:  If the boy is happy, why is he crying?   How does the father feel?   Do you think the surprise was a good one?


Even our littlest readers and viewers can begin to connect to what they read, hear, and view with practice.   Good connection questions help us draw conclusions about people in general.   They help us understand jealousy, loyalty, shyness, embarrassment, and a whole wealth of feelings we humans share in common.   They also enable us to understand reactions which are not common to most people.   Next time you’re reading a story or watching a movie, ask your children to think about whether or not they would like to be friends with a particular character or person.   Ask them what they might have done in that same situation, or if they would like to visit that place or meet that person you read about.   Ask which part of the story or movie they liked best, or if one of the characters reminds them of anyone they know.  And, of course, always ask why.

Did you know about the CAT?

Did you know that today's kindergarteners will never take a CMT? 

The CMT, or Connecticut Mastery Test, is the standardized test currently taken by all students in Grades 3 - 8 in Reading, Writing, and Math.  Students in Grades 5 and 8 also take a Science CMT.  The test takes place in March in all our public schools; test results are provided to districts in July and generally made available to the public sometime during the summer.  Students are sorted into five bands of achievement: Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, Goal, and Mastery.  The results are used to adjust curriculum and instruction.

But, a new test is on the way.  It will be a Computer Adaptive Test, or a CAT.  It's being developed by a 31 state consortium called the Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium, of which Connecticut is a 'governing' partner. 

An 'adaptive test' is not a new concept, as IQ testing which has been around for over a century, uses the same principles.  The 'new' part of thsi test will be the computer delivery of the questions and scoring of the answers.  The test begins with a 43,000 item bank, and every students will experience a different set of questions.  From the first question, the test will branch itself up or down in skill level depending upon whether or not the student gets the right answer.  It will continue to branch up or down based on the student's answers.  In the end, the test will accurately determine each student's achievement level, but every student will have answered 1/2 of the questions right and 1/2 of the questions wrong.

The CAT will change how students are prepared for testing; but its alignment with the new Common Core State Standards will change our curriculum and instruction models.  In addition, we will need to ensure that all students are thoroughly comfortable with computer-based questions.  They will need to know, for example, that when a word is underlined, you can click on it to read its definition.  They will need to know how to drag and drop and what to do with an item such as the one below, which requires you click on the 'sound' symbol.

I had the pleasure of presenting an overview of the SBAC and the new CAT to the Orange Board of Education this past month, so your BOE understands how our current decisions about curriculum and instruction will need to address our students future needs.   The CAT will be here by 2015, which is closer than we think!  If you would like to view the full presentation, see below.

On the Horizon: Sueprintendent's Report to the BOE

View more presentations from Lynn McMullin