Month: September 2019

How important is it for children to be able to write well?  

Am I talking about writing neatly?

No, I am talking about putting your thoughts down onto paper.

We accept that not every child desires to become a poet or an author. Nevertheless, every child must be confident enough to put his thoughts down well.

Writing is powerful, and the process of writing requires students to form and articulate their own thoughts, opinions, and arguments. Writing requires students to exhibit creativity and thoughtfulness,

Writing assignments cause anxiety for most students. Students have difficulty in writing their own personal statement. Who can express about himself better than himself? Yet, fear of judgment and the belief of not being good enough stops most from even trying.

And not to miss, writing assignments are definitely time-consuming too.

Low stakes writing is an important tool that builds confidence and interest in writing. Low stakes writing is a writing that is not graded and is usually half a page to one page. It should be a regular practice with children at home and in schools. Time should be set aside each day for the child to write what he is feeling, thinking, noticing or wondering. Setting aside ten minutes every day is sufficient. It is his time with his thoughts. Well, it could also be a poem that he wishes to compose or a story that he wishes to write. I would leave the child to make the choice. A child will write without inhibitions if he is not going to be judged. Low stakes writing is the beginning of good high stake writing.

Low stakes writing can be a powerful way for students to develop their metacognition

Metacognition is “cognition about cognition”, “thinking about thinking”, “knowing about knowing”, becoming “aware of one’s awareness” and higher-order thinking skills.

I would suggest that children should initially write on what they wish to. Gradually, we need to frame the thinking behind the writing to develop these skills. The next step could be asking the children to reflect on how their day has been, what they found challenging or what questions arose during an assignment/exam/project, how could they do better, what worked well for me or did not work well.

Low stakes writing is not just frivolous writing. It harnesses the Social-Emotional Learning.

As Cassel has defined, “Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.”

Children can be asked to write about their noticing of the way society works. They could be asked to write about their beliefs about the environment or people. Children should be encouraged to write solutions to problems they notice in society.

Research has proved that children who can manage their thinking get higher grades and perform better in standardized tests. Children with strong social skills can maintain enduring friendships and relationships.

Low stakes writing requires and enhances critical and independent thinking in a non-judgemental and stress-free environment.

I have been using low stakes writing with my students. It also seems to be a stress buster for them along with all the other benefits. They call it free writing. Some children decide to be risk-takers and share what they have written. This activates the class and leads to a brainstorming discussion.

I aim to begin the same with my children at home. I hope to share the experience with my readers soon. Do let me know if you try out low stake writing with your students in school or children at home.

Hi friends, I know it’s been a while since I have blogged. Excuse me for that as I have been too occupied at work as a member of the Individualized Support Team in a school that follows the International Baccalaureate Program. My last blog was about logical consequences. I promised that I would come out with logical consequences for the situations that you send me. I have received too many situations and I will answer the most general ones. If you missed my previous blog, you can click on the following link.

Logical Consequences

Let’s address the situations:

1. The child makes promises to play the iPad for one hour but refuses to stop and we get into a fight.

Logical Consequence with the appropriate language:

“I understand that you enjoy playing the iPad. The expectation was to play for an hour. Since we found it difficult to follow the expectation. We need to make a choice between giving up the iPad for an x number of days or reducing the iPad time to half-hour.”

If the child still finds it difficult to follow the expectation, the child must be told that the privilege of playing with the iPad will have to be taken away until he shows that he is ready.

2. The child hits or verbally hurts another child.

Logical Consequence with the appropriate language:

You break it, you fix it.

The child needs to fix the problem by finding a strategy. He can apologize, make an apology card for the child, discuss with the friend. He needs to be told, “If you find it difficult to follow the expectation, the privilege of playing with friends will be take away until you believe that you are ready to play safely. Because, right now your friends do not feel safe with you around. So, you make a choice how would you like to fix this.”

3. The child talks disrespectfully.

Logical Consequence with the appropriate language:

“If we cannot say anything kind, then we must not say at all.”

The child must be told firmly that his words were unkind and disrespectful. He needs to decide if he would like to make a good choice by being careful of the words that he uses, or he would like to pull himself out until he is ready to be respectful. There could be a peace corner made in a house where the child is expected to take a break and reflect on his behavior.

The children must always receive a chance to correct their behavior before receiving a consequence. Children want to be trusted. They feel respected when given the responsibility of making good choices.

It is imperative that adults make the right choice of words when they speak to the children.

I reiterate consequences are not to punish or hurt the children but to give them an opportunity to learn.

Are IB Schools the right choice for Indian students?

 Is IB style of education the right approach to educate children?

How different is International Baccalaureate from the Indian Board of Education?

These are the questions that always seeked answers in my mind as a teacher and as a mother of two children.

I was fortunate to get an opportunity to observe, interact and be a part of the inner circle of the most prestigious IB school of Mumbai. I spent a couple of hours in a classroom of grade 2 in the elementary section. I could learn about the functioning of the IB curriculum in a natural setting. The mission of the school came out exactly clear to me in those few hours.

The IB curriculum, being the most advanced in its approach, in fact, reminded me of the Ancient Indian System of Education. A school without walls. How true and good does that sound? That is exactly how this school was! A dream for children and I’d say teachers too.

The Ancient System of Education as we know stressed on value education and real life skills. This school too focused on self –discipline, cooperation, and collaboration, respect, sharing and putting the other person before you. It was a school with students from different nations and cultures. The teachers and the children respected each individual irrespective of the differences. The school planned activities for craft, creative writing, and unit of inquiry to be done in pairs in which one child would first assist the other to complete his work and vice versa. Thus, instilling values from a very young age. I was amazed to see the self discipline in the children. It almost looked magical to me. I believe this was possible due to the close contact between the teachers and the students as chalked out by the Vedic Education System.

They waited for their turn to answer and understood that it was disrespectful to cross talk when another child was answering. They stood in a queue at one instruction without having being reminded the second time. They spoke at a volume low enough not to disturb the others. They practised greeting each other in the activities chosen by them in the morning meetings. These little qualities make up our personality, don’t they?

The teachers never raised their voice or talked down at the children .Any correction needed in behaviour was politely brought to the notice of the child and the child was trusted by giving the responsibility of fixing the problem.

Every lesson had been allotted sufficient type to benefit all kinds of learners. They obviously did not believe in rote learning but learning the concept well enough to be able to apply in real life situations. Instead of going to the librarian, they scanned the barcode at the age of eight. Thus, learning life skills.

The program was structured and yet the children felt the freedom. They were free to choose their friends but encouraged to befriend everyone in a very subtle way. They were free to sit where and how they like and yet encouraged to follow basic guidelines. The expectations were clearly spelled out to the children and the children were happy to follow them and not have to be enforced upon them. A Culture of Mutual Respect!

I could see the future of humanity in these wise, little children. Education must aim at bringing out the best in an individual, not just academically but in every aspect. In this era of unrest, our world needs institutions that bring up children who are humane with the right values.

It is for you to decide what is important to you as a parent.

It is for you to decide what kind of education do you want to give your children.

We may not be able to send our children to an International school but let us make sure to practise and instil these values at home.