A Well-Lit Path: A Blog from Westtown School

Empathy and action are at the heart of Quaker education. These attributes are also central to design thinking (DT), where students are asked to discover and understand needs, and then collaborate to meet them. They are asked to empathize, to interview, to dig deeper, and to ask Why? or How Might We?

Developed by Tim Brown of Stanford University, design thinking is both a mindset and a process. We begin by modeling the mindsets of design thinking: curiosity, creative confidence, fail up/fail fast/fail often, just make it, embrace ambiguity,empathize, iterate, and optimism, or a “Yes, And” attitude. As students engage in design thinking, they develop these mindsets.

So You Want to be President, by Judith St. George, was the 2001 Caldecott Winner, with watercolor illustrations by David Small. This book has been updated and revised several times and includes information about each president, accompanied by Small’s wonderful artwork. All ages.

As parents, we try to protect our children with immunizations, sunscreen, bicycle helmets, seat belts, and good health habits. But what can we do to prevent “summer slide” - academic loss that occurs over the summer-  and instead, foster “summer gain?”

Research shows that leisure reading is the best predictor of comprehension, vocabulary, and reading speed.  Regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic level, or previous achievement, children who read four or more books over the summer perform better on reading-comprehension tests in the fall than their peers who read one or no books over the summer. Academic losses over the summer months are cumulative, creating a wider gap each year between more proficient and less proficient students.

The shorter days and longer nights of the season offer the perfect time to read aloud with your children. Even if your child  is reading independently, it is still important to read aloud together. It is good for children to hear fluent readers and reading aloud offers the opportunity for them to learn more challenging vocabulary and content.

When reading picture books together, make sure to take time to look at the illustrations or photos together. Talk about what you notice. Search for the visual details that add so much to the story. This helps develop visual literacy skills that are important for children. Academic skills aside, reading together is a cozy way to spend a chilly evening with your child!

The Tween years are perhaps the most volatile and complex years in human development. While the child is at an age in which the focus is on trying to figure out self-identity in relation to others, it can be a phenomenal time to foster global awareness.

By now, your not-so-little-one will have developed a sense of intentionality. By that, I mean the ability to generate an idea they wish to pursue and the capacity to act with focus and persistence in order to make it happen. They can look into the future and understand the effects of their actions. Thus, it is a ripe age for pushing forth toward global awareness.

So, how can you capitalize on your child’s new sense of self in order to engage with the collective global village? Here are a few suggestions:

I am the mother of three Puerto-Rican bred, North American girls who are also bilingual. And so my husband and I focus on developing their cultural literacy in age-appropriate ways on a regular basis. We can’t assume, though, that they will become global citizens solely by virtue of their cultural and linguistic heritage. Over the years, I’ve acquired some wisdom on this topic and will share what I’ve learned in a three-part series of articles that will help you teach your children to be global citizens at different developmental ages.

So, your child has been studying a language for years now. She dreams of traveling abroad and becoming immersed in the sights and sounds that accompany the language she’s been studying. Now that she has the key to open global doors, you want to do everything you can to help her get to her next destination.

Back when you were in high school, travel abroad was mostly a college thing, a rite of passage of sorts into adulthood. Not so anymore. The world our children live in is much more connected. This generation of children has the world at their fingertips, literally. For them, it’s not enough to hear about it and see it on their screen. They want to live it, to experience it first-hand.

As parents, it used to be hard to support young language learning kids as they work to expand their communication skills.

Often time parents are not confident in their own knowledge of the language students are pursuing at school. Other times, parents have had no exposure to it at all and are unable to support their children at home.

The good news is that, at most innovative schools, objectives in the language acquisition field have morphed and changed in recent years. Although we continue to hone in on refining reading, listening, speaking and writing skills, our ultimate goal is to foster communication first. Accuracy will follow as your student becomes developmentally ready.

So, in order to support your child’s language acquisition endeavors, I offer you three free online sites that will help students review, practice, and refine their language skills.