Overloaded

My wife and I have only been home from our winter break for less than a week and already our life feels like it’s spinning out of control with busyness-and we are retired!  Patrick Lencioni is a business man who has written a book about how to apply some of the principles he’s learned in business that …

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Closing the Achievement Gap

Wilson has researched why African-American youngsters score lower on Intelligence tests than Caucasians.  Since my school job was to give IQ testing, I was fascinated by his research.  He confirmed there is no innate difference.  He touched on the usual reason given for the lower scores of non-white students.  They include poverty, prenatal exposure to …

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Write on!

Did you know that March 31 is National MULE Day? Talk to your child about what it means to be stubborn. Are you ever stubborn? Does your child think they are ever stubborn? Is it ever good to be stubborn? Write a short paragraph on this topic and be sure to draw a mule to …

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Reducing Prejudice

Wilson points out that one of the best ways to reduce prejudice is for students of different races and ethnic backgrounds to work together to solve a problem.  He calls this cooperative learning.  Although much of his work was with older students than the ones we mentor, I believe this technique could be used successfully with …

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Shaping Behavior

Wilson talks about how adults use rewards and punishments to shape children’s behavior. From his research, he has concluded that both can be effective if used in moderation.  He concludes, “Use the minimal sufficiency principle , whereby you dole out rewards and punishments that are strong enough to get your kids to do what you want …

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