Category Archives: Videos

I recently spent about an hour listening to a podcast my husband downloaded from NPR’s This American Life.  I was hesitant to “waste” an hour of my time listening to a news story, even one highly recommended by my hubby.  But I’m glad I did.  And so I realize that you, too, might need some convincing.  Because I’d like to strongly recommend this Back to School story to you.

WHY?
Have you ever had a discussion about standardized testing and the state of education?  If so, it’s likely that you’re either a parent (or family member) or taxpayer, or both.  This topic affects just about everyone.

This American Life’s Back to School news story is refreshingly not a political discourse on policy.

As kids and teachers head back to school, we wanted to turn away from questions about politics and unions and money and all the regular school stuff people argue about, and turn to something more optimistic — an emerging theory about what to teach kids, from Paul Tough’s new book How Children Succeed.

It begins by asking two huge questions:
How much should teachers be evaluated on standardized test scores? Host Ira Glass, a former reporter in Chicago, believes, “Where you stand pretty much comes down to whether you think teachers have a lot of power to raise those scores or not.  Are they lazy, excuse-making quasi-professionals or alternately life-savers…The truth is more complicated.”

And in light of the recent Chicago teachers strike, the question was:
How much could we expect teachers to actually accomplish…with the students they were given?

This story moves the discussion from teachers to focusing on the students in the “achievement gap.”  By looking at research from neuroscience, as well as social sciences like economics and psychology, it details the body of science that explores what a difficult home life can do to the actual biology of the brain of a school kid. The conclusions will excite you and give you hope as you learn the answers to: “What are the determinants of human success?  How fixed are these determinants?  How much can you change them?”

CONVINCED?
I hope so.  Here’s the link to the full story.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/play_full.php?play=474

HIGHLIGHTS
Not convinced, or perhaps short on time?  I’ve compiled some highlights that can paint the picture for you.  This post will cover part 1, The Problem.  Part 2 will cover The Solution.  You can also view the transcript at http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/474/transcript.

What should kids be learning in school?
James Heckman came across the GED in the early 90’s and, as an economist, was amazed at this test.  It basically says that, by passing this test, millions of people’s cognitive skills are just as good as graduates.  But the average study time for the GED is 32 hours whereas the average study time for high school students is 1000 hours per year.  His logical conclusion: “All eighth graders should take the GEDs…instead of going to high school.”  This would save money and time.

This raised some questions in his mind, which led him to devise a study to follow these students into adult life.  After comparing graduates to people with GEDs, he found that those who passed the GED performed significantly lower in life: performance in earnings and occupation, success in college, success in marriage, and even the military.

But what struck Heckman is that this didn’t show up in the test results. Our entire education system is organized around the idea that testing and the kind of smarts that you can measure on a test, are the most important information we could have about a student. That’s how we evaluate whether a school is well-run. There are kids who do better on standardized tests. That’s at the heart of huge policy initiatives, like No Child Left Behind.

So Heckman concluded that these test scores don’t explain the full picture of what measures success.  There are other factors that public policy isn’t accounting for.  Heckman wanted to find these mystery skills.

And specifically, he was interested in finding skills that he could prove, empirically prove, help kids succeed– and succeed in the ways that an economist measure success. Things like how much money do you earn, and do you end up in prison, and are you on welfare? And he then wanted to try to understand how these things could be taught.

So what are these mystery skills?  We turn to Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character.  He explains that there isn’t a master list but he gave a few terms and examples: non-cognitive skills, character, soft skills, social skills, and personality traits…they’re a bit hard to define with one word.  Examples would include things like self-control, delaying gratification, resisting impulse, keeping your temper, etc…

Theo

A famous example is the Marshmallow test.  Search for this test in YouTube and you’ll be highly entertained as children are given the choice between getting one marshmallow immediately, or 2 marshmallows if they can wait an unspecified amount of time.  The psychology professor at Stanford, Walter Mischel, who conducted the original test in the 60’s found that these kids’ ability to resist temptation as 4 year-olds had huge correlations to their SAT scores and earnings later in life.

Marshmallow test–

Theo has his meltdown at the 3 minute mark of this hilarious video–

Conclusion
Schools teach and test things that are measurable—cognitive skills like reading and math.  While these are important, the overemphasis leaves a large body of non-cognitive skills unaccounted for.

The next post will summarize Paul Tough’s and James Heckman’s solutions.

Helping Your Child “Read between the lines”
to Increase Comprehension

Starting in kindergarten, your child is expected to make inferences and draw conclusions about stories he reads.  He must also be able to use textual evidence to support understanding of fiction elements such as plot, author’s purpose, making predictions, fact and opinion, characters, setting, problem and solution, cause and effect, etc…. Similar expectations apply when reading nonfiction.

If this sounds like a lot, never fear.  I’m going to make it fun and easy for you…even do all the legwork for you.  Whether you’re a parent or teacher, I’ve chosen a great dog book to get you started.

Charlie the Ranch Dog by Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman Cooks)
Illustrated by Diane deGroat
Published 2011

This story is told from Charlie’s point of view.  He’s a Basset Hound that thinks he is pretty important on this ranch.  His best friend is Suzie, but she’s just not much help in Charlie’s opinion.  For your child, the fun will lie in picking up on clues and drawing conclusions that prove Charlie has it all backwards.  The pictures are key to understanding the humor and your child will love being in on the secret!

PARENTS

Before reading:
Before you and your child dive into this book, have him look at the front cover.  What do you think this book will be about? What other animals might we see on a ranch?  What do you think a dog does on a ranch?  What do you think might happen to Charlie in this story?

If the child is in kindergarten or first grade, have her take a “picture walk” of the book.  This means she leafs through the pages WITHOUT reading, just looking at the pictures briefly.  This helps her anticipate what to expect in the story.  This also aids in decoding phonics and recalling related sight words.

During reading:
Choose as many, or as few, of these to discuss with your child as you’d like.

1. When Charlie introduces himself and Suzie, he describes their looks.  Does he wish he looked like her?  What words clue you in to how he feels about his looks?  What do you think “unfortunately” means?  What does he mean by “hold it against her?”
   “Oh, hello. My name is Charlie. This is Suzie.  She’s my best friend.  We sure don’t look much alike, do we? Suzie, unfortunately, doesn’t have the paws I have. Or the droopy eyes.  Or the floppy skin. Or…the big dangly ears. I try not to hold that against her.”
2. How does Charlie feel about getting up early?  Point to the words that give you the clue he wants to keep sleeping.  Does Suzie seem to like getting up early?
   “The first thing we do every day is get out of bed early. Too early. Dark early. I’d better go wake up Suzie. She’s never been much of a morning dog. [Suzie is at door running with smile while Charlie is in bed, with one eye open, one shut.]  Well, I guess she was a morning dog for once. First time for everything.”
3. “The next thing I have to do is chase Daisy the cow out of the yard.  Some cows never listen.” [Suzie is in corner of picture staring at cow, cow staring back.]  Suzie barks and the cow leaves.  Charlie is seen in window.  “Well…I guess I’ll let Suzie go ahead and do it this time.  I like to give her a chance to shine every now and then.  It’s the kind of dog I am.”
   This is the second time Charlie has decided to go ahead and let Suzie do his job.  Do you think he normally does it himself?  Why or why not?  What does Charlie mean by give Suzie a “chance to shine?”  Will she glow or look brighter like the sun?  How do you know?
4. When Charlie and Suzie sniff the front porch to get rid of critters, do his words match the picture?
5. “Mama loves her garden. I lend a hand” [nap in grass on back while Suzie is planting radishes].  What is Charlie doing to lend a hand?  Who is really helping while he naps?
6. There are cattle to round up and Charlie is in the jeep while Suzie is running and actually rounding up the cattle.  Who’s doing more work rounding up the cattle?
7. There are fences to fix.  Charlie sleeps while Suzie holds tools. Who’s doing more work fixing fences?  Do you see a pattern here?  Which character REALLY is a ranch dog?  What would you call Charlie…a lazy dog!
8. For lunch and naptime, Charlie claims he is only stopping because he doesn’t want Suzie to be alone.  Do Charlie’s words match the picture? Does Suzie look lonely without Charlie? What two things does Charlie seem to really like to do? (eat and sleep)
9. At the end of the story, Charlie wakes up and everyone is gone, out working.  He hears cows, sees Daisy eating the garden, and barks to get her to leave.   “Good thing I was here.”  How does Charlie save the day?

 After reading
Do you remember your predictions before we read this story?  Was the book about _________ like you guessed?  Did we see any of the animals you predicted? What jobs can a dog help with on a ranch?  What did Charlie spend most of his time doing in this story?  Was he ever any help?  Do you think Suzie minds working hard?  What clue from the story makes you think that?

Be sure to scroll down to watch an actual video with your child of Charlie and the Pioneer Woman.

TEACHERS
After reading the story, have students help you:

• list on chart paper all the “truths” about Charlie, despite what he may think, or
• draw a Venn Diagram—one circle lists How Charlie Sees Himself; the other circle lists Truths about Charlie, or
• create a t-chart—on the left, the child states his inference; on the right, he provides the corresponding evidence from the text or pictures that proves his conclusion, or
• compare the story with the real-life video about Charlie. (literary nonfiction) Scroll down to see the YouTube link or visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doJdtD_FR1o, or
• list on chart paper the following figures of speech and have students infer what the text really means (literal vs. figurative meanings): “give a chance to shine” not really glowing like the sun; “lend a hand”  not giving your hand away for someone to borrow; “hold it against her” hold it up to her fur?

See the REAL Charlie on his ranch!

I hope this helps your child more fully enjoy a good story.  Remember, good readers are critical thinkers who ask themselves questions about the text as they read each page.  Then they strive to answer those questions using clues from the pictures, text, own past experience, etc…  That is called reading comprehension!