#5 Reasons to Stop using Workbooks

As an educator I feel that workbooks are overused and here are 5 reasons why I think we should stop using them:

#1 Cost

Workbooks are expensive.  One of the biggest issues parents have is that they cannot be reused because they have been written in. This is particularly annoying when they have a younger sibling coming up behind and they have to fork out for another workbook.  I have noticed a trend by publishers to bundle a textbook and workbook together meaning that they can only be bought together.  On the flip side of the workbook being written in, I had a parent last week complaining that her only child’s teacher wouldn’t allow her class to write into the workbook.  The teacher had them write out everything in their copies (which encourages fine motor skills, see #3 later on).  This mum felt that the workbook was a complete waste of money because they weren’t using it as a work book.  It looks like the poor old workbook loses on all sides

#2 Prescribed thinking

Regular readers will know that I spent years working on a playground for my community. During that time I learned a lot about the psychology that goes into playgrounds.  Traditionally playgrounds were designed to be used in a particular way, you went up the steps to the slide and you slid down the front. It was designed that way and children were supposed to use it as it was designed. In other words you used it only in the way the creator had decided that you use it. That is prescribed thinking.

Nowadays, playgrounds are far more fluid and are designed to allow the children use them in both a prescribed and un-prescribed manner.  This different focus allows children to think for themselves, use their imagination and aid in decision and risk taking.

So what has this to do with workbooks?  Well, workbooks are an example of prescribed thinking.  The author leave blanks and you have to find the word that fills in that blank.  When used for reading & spelling based on phonics, strange words can sometimes be used to simply fit the phonetic example being learned.  There is little, if any, opportunity to move outside of the parameters prescribed by the author.  They children may learn the phonetic sound and learn off the spelling, but the meaning & context of words can be lost.  Without meaning and context, the child might be able to spell and read the word but have no ability to use that word correctly in the future.

#3 Fine motor skills

In my experience, workbooks do little to hone fine motor skills.  Children are asked to fill in spaces.  Those spaces are designed to fit the publishers and graphic designers’ requirements and may not suit the individual child.  Workbooks promote print writing rather than joined or cursive writing.  There tends to be very little room for expansive writing and so workbooks can inadvertently discourage writing long sentences.  This slows down the important skill of putting one’s thoughts down on paper and holding and writing with a pen for longer periods of time.

#4 Risk taking & Problem Solving

Problem solving involves an element of risk taking.  It is a vital life skill and one that needs to be nurtured from the start.  Playgrounds are a wonderful example of how a child learns how to take risks. If we want a child to learn to solve problems we must create safe environments in  which they feel confident taking risks, making mistakes, learning from them and attempting again ( Fordham & Anderson 1992).

Workbooks typically have only one ‘right’ answer.  It’s a pass / fail system.  You either got it right or it’s wrong.  This type of activity can teach children that putting down a wrong answer means failure on their part.  It leaves little opportunity for the child to learn about taking risks by guessing or working through a problem in a logical manner.

Project Maths in secondary school places a lot of emphasis on problem solving, yet in primary school the proliferation of maths workbooks could actually be an inhibitor.

#5 Flow

In communication, flow is defined as the continuous, uninhibited, eloquent expression of thoughts or ideas in speech or writing.  In order for flow to occur, one needs to be able to expand.  Workbooks, by their nature, constrain flow.  The child must follow exactly the prescribed thinking of the author, and so looks to answer that question only.

As the child moves into secondary school, they now have to expand their answers, give their opinions and back them up with quotations and reasoning.  The child who was very diligent with their workbook, can really struggle with this new requirement.  I frequently see report cards from teachers saying that the answers given on the tests were too short and lacked detail.  I feel that workbooks contribute to this.  The children were trained to be brief, to answer in a prescribed manner and not give their own opinions.

Workbooks do make life easier for teachers and I do believe that used sparingly they can be useful, however when parents feel that they are too expensive and the overuse of them can actual limit children, perhaps teachers, authors and publishers could design alternatives.

If you think that you, or someone you know could benefit from one of our programs, please contact me at elaine@hummingbirdlearning.com.

Elaine Sparling is the CEO of the award winning Hummingbird Learning Centre®. Based in Adare, Co Limerick and Tralee, Co Kerry, Ireland she works with clients on a one to one basis and can be contacted on 087-2996054 or through their website www.hummingbirdlearning.com. They are currently developing a week long Irish Course for summer 2016.

The online version of their popular workshop The Secrets to Successful Spelling™ is available through their website and Facebook page and they have launched their Study Success Program™ for second & third level students.

Dealing with a Difficult Teacher

In an ideal world, school would be an amazing, productive, happy place where enthusiastic educators nurtured young minds & taught them to love learning.  Most of the teachers I have met over the years strive towards that ideal, but just like in every workplace, there are difficult people in teaching too.

Parents often ask me for tips on how to deal with difficult teachers.  Their fear is that by tackling the teacher they may in fact make the situation worse for their child.  This is particularly true of small schools where the student may have the same teacher for a number of years.

When dealing with difficult teachers, I suggest the following;

Respect:  Like them or loath them, the teacher deserves to be treated with respect.  Treat them as you would like them to treat your child. You can never directly change a person’s behaviour.  You can however, control your behaviour and when you behave in a respectful manner you will ultimately change that person’s behaviour towards you.

Communication:  Nobody likes to be door stepped so arrange an appointment just as you would with a doctor or dentist.  Have your diary ready – know when you are available.  If the teacher cannot meet you within a few days, give them some alternative times when you are available.  That way you are giving them a choice but not control.  Do not be bullied into a time.  Your time is just as valuable as the teacher’s.  You need to be calm & ready for the meeting, not stressed about it.  Keep a record of how many appointments are proposed, dates, times, phone calls etc

Unemotional:  Talking about our children leaves us very open to being emotional and when emotional sometimes things can be said rashly.  A good way to detach at these times is to imagine yourself observing the meeting.  This helps you to disassociate from what is being said & to remain calm.

Prepare:  No doubt the difficult teacher will have prepared themselves for the meeting, so you need to be prepared too.  If you are unprepared it will be very difficult for you to refute anything the teacher says.   Check out the school policy, read the latest Whole School Evaluation on the Department of Education website. Have a look at the NCCA website and the teacher union websites.  They all hold lots of valuable information – not forgetting the National Parent Councils websites.

When preparing, make sure that you have lots of items to celebrate about your child.  Remember that they are very successful human beings and are learning in their own way.  You may have a lot of negativity coming from the difficult teacher & you need to be able to focus on what is going well & how to turn around what is not going well yet.

Language:  When I say watch your language, I don’t mean bad language (that goes without saying).  What I mean is listen carefully to every word as  the teacher may  use absolute words such as never, always, all, only, everyone, e.g. everyone else sits quietly all the time.  The only way to challenge this type of language is to calmly repeat the absolute word and make it into a question – everyone? All the time?  Never?  Always?   It undermines the absolute and allows the conversation to move forward.

Track:  Track everything!  I know it sounds a bit over the top but if a teacher is proving to be difficult you need a record and a timeline.  If you asked to be rung and no calls were made, record it. Appointment rescheduled – record it.   In the event that you need to bring the matter further you will need to show that you have been the reasonable party.

Meeting:  When at the meeting ask that the teacher sit beside you away from a school desk – this is a meeting of equals, you are not student. If you know the teacher’s first name use it, if you don’t ask them and introduce yourself with your first name.  It is the 21^st century & hiding behind Mr or Mrs is an attempt to assert their dominance.  Be friendly, you are here to help both the teacher and your child.  Be open to what the teacher has to say.  Ask how together you can solve the issue.  Agree a time & date for the follow-up meeting, say in 2 weeks time, to evaluate progress.

After the meeting:  Follow up with a handwritten thank you card and a written copy of what was agreed at the meeting and confirm the date & time of the follow-up meeting. Be at that follow-up meeting! Move heaven & earth to be there!

Escalate: If after your meeting(s), you are not getting a favourable outcome then you must escalate the issue to the next level.  This is where your tracking will be invaluable.  Yes it may mean more hassle for you but you are your child’s advocate and they need you.

Like all bad situations, ignoring the problem won’t make it go away.  Sometimes difficult decisions may have to be made, but those decisions can be come to easier when approached correctly.  The majority of teachers have their pupils’ welfare at heart and want them to do well.  Most teachers are reasonable and welcome parental involvement, particularly if any issue arises that is causing difficulty in the class.  Thankfully, these open-minded, caring teachers are the teachers your children will meet, most of the time.

If you need some help here are some useful websites:

Hummingbird Learning centre                                    www.hummingbirdlearning.com

National Council for Curriculum and Development:          www.ncca.ie

Gifted Children                                                                                 www.giftedkids.ie

Department of Education & Skills                                              www.education.ie

#DyslexiaAwarenessMonth #DyslexiaAwarenessWeek

This month is International Dyslexia Awareness Month & here in Ireland, this week is Dyslexia Awareness Week.

Whenever someone tells me that they are dyslexic, I always say ‘Hi Dyslexic, I’m Elaine’.  Usually they’ll look at me quizzically and say ‘no – I have dyslexia’, to which I reply with ‘great, show it to me’. With their patience beginning to grow thin, they will explain that they have it in their head but I’m curious, so I want to know where in their head they have it. ‘In my brain’ they practically shout at me but I’m tenacious, I want to know specifically where they have it and how do they know that they have it and when do they know that they have it.

Interestingly, they are usually only aware of it when reading, writing or spelling.  The rest of the time they are completely unaware that they are doing dyslexia.  That is it – you are not dyslexic! Dyslexia is something that you do!

Dyslexia is a pattern that you run and because it is something that you do naturally, you are really unaware of it. You are unaware of all the wonderful abilities dyslexia brings to you because it’s just a part of you.  People who do dyslexia can be incredible problem solvers and innovators. They are fantastic with machinery and engineering.  They are amazing crafts people, golfers, builders and snooker players because they can see angles and potential in lumps of rock and clay.

This very ability though, is not a great strategy to run when reading, writing & spelling.  The ability to move & manipulate images in your head, means that you can also do this with words & letters.  Words & letters however, must remain visable, be still and keep their shape in order for us to read, write and spell.  So a person who does dyslexia needs a different strategy to be able to do this with ease.

In school, the curriculum is taught with a massive emphasis on phonics – even though English is not a particularly phonetic language.  It works reasonably well for most children but for others it doesn’t. They need a completely different strategy, one that compliments their natural abilities, rather than shoehorning them into a size that doesn’t fit.  Yes if you push hard enough, they can squeeze into phonics, but they will be hobbling along for the rest of their lives.

A visual strategy, such as the Hummingbird Learning Method® where they learn to control their images, works like magic for people who do dyslexia and indeed for anyone who struggles with spelling.  The beauty of a visual strategy is that it works for every language as it doesn’t depend on sounds, so the student’s Irish, French, Spanish, Japanese, or any other language also improves.

So remember – Dyslexia is a wonderful gift to have, it is just not the best strategy to run when reading, writing or spelling.  Dyslexia is simply something you do – it’s not who you are.

If you , or someone you know is struggling with Dyslexia, please let them know about us.  We are in Adare & Tralee.  If they are too far to travel (people come to us from all over), let them know about our online course, The Secrets to Successful Spelling™.  It will shortly be available.  Just email me at elaine@hummingbirdlearning.com & I will put them on my notification list so that they will be among the first to know when it is launched & can avail of the special launch price.

Have a great week,

Elaine

Homework – A Thorny Issue

“Homework is one of the thorniest issues at primary level”. Not my words but those of Peter Mullen of the Irish National Teachers Organisation, in an article in the Irish Examiner in November 2013.

The Department of Education in Ireland has no formal policy on the length of time homework should take. I’m going to repeat that – there is no national policy on the length of time that homework should take or how much homework is given.  Each school is free to make its own policy.  In many ways, the lack of a formal policy is a good thing. Nobody wants a situation where home work is done with a stopwatch – not a second more, not a second less.

Homework is a contentious issue.  Some parents rate teachers based on how much homework they give – too much & the teacher mustn’t be teaching them in class at all, too little and the teacher is way too laid back.  Other parents decide that a school is more or less academic than other schools based on the amount of homework given. The consensus being that the longer the students spend on homework the more academic (and therefore better) the school.

I know of one parent, who decided that the teacher, who was also the principal, wasn’t giving enough homework to the class. That parent went to town on the teacher, who gave in and increased the homework from 30 – 40 min to 2.5 hours per night!  The pupils were in 4^th class and no other parents were consulted before the massive increase in workload.  The fact that there isn’t a formal national policy gave the other parents little comeback when this happened.  The school set the policy.

There is a lot more to doing homework than the time it takes to do it but giving a time frame is at least an easy guideline for parents.  However, when I checked the homework policies of various national schools on time to be spent on homework in sixth class, some schools recommend up to 50% more time than others.

An article in The Irish Teachers’ Journal in November 2014 entitled ‘An Evaluation of the Utility of Homework in Irish Primary School Classrooms’ by Joanne Jackson and Lorraine Harbison, concluded that,  based on their research  it is not the giving of homework per se that is of value but that the type of homework that is administered is more important.

They go on to say:  Homework remains a central part of the primary school curriculum that affects teachers and teaching, children and learning, families and home-school communication. Despite this reality, there is limited evidence on the utility of homework. As with the findings of Van Voorhis (2004), too little attention has been given to the purposes of homework and communication between home and school about homework policies. Communication should work both ways, but all the literature refers to home-school communication in relation to homework rather than what could really be deemed the more appropriate term, school-home!

A number of key themes arose during the questionnaire, namely the lack of knowledge of the expectations of parents, partially due to the homework policy being poorly communicated to parents and the juxtaposition of positive and negative views of homework amongst parents. Even more disappointing, is the absence of the voice of the child in the debate although the curriculum advocates that children should be active agents in their own learning rather than submissive partakers. What is apparent is that radical overhaul of homework needs to take place and it is vital that all involved are given opportunities to voice opinions in order to develop the most effective strategies possible which will maximise children’s learning potential.

In March 2015 the UK newspaper The Telegraph ran a story called ‘Homework around the world: how much is too much?’ In it they claim that there is little data on how much time primary school students spend working on homework, but studies have failed to find any relationship between time spent of homework during primary school and academic achievement.

The debate continues in secondary school. The amount of time secondary school children spend on homework varies hugely around the world, depending on the pressures and expectations of each country.

According to the international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and various education research partners, 15-year-olds in Shanghai spend the most amount of time on homework, at an average of 13.8 hours per week. Students in Finland spend just 2.8 hours on homework per week, but manage to still perform well on academic tests, despite the correlation between time spent on homework and success. British 15-year-olds spend an average of 4.9 hours per week on homework, which is exactly the same as the overall OECD average.

Ireland was not included in the list of 62 countries.

Elaine Sparling is the creator of the Hummingbird Learning Method® and is about to launch an online version of their the popular workshop The Secrets to Successful Spelling™. Based in Adare, Co Limerick and now also in Tralee Co Kerry, she works with clients on a one to one basis and can be contacted on 087-2996054 or through their website www.hummingbirdlearning.com

Allowing our children to take responsibility for themselves

My husband is terrible at remembering dates. He just doesn’t know birthdays or anniversaries. He has a constant fear of forgetting his god-son’s birthday & every so often he’ll panic about it, even though it could still be months away!

I have a theory about it.  His twin remembers all important dates. I believe that my hubby never had to remember dates because his twin did that for him. His twin would always let him know when a birthday or anniversary was coming up, so over the years hubby abdicated that responsibility to him.

Tuesday morning I was not a happy camper! The Ploughing Championship had started in Ratheniska, Co Laois and it seemed like the world & his mother were heading there – just as I was leaving the house to drop my teenage boys to the school bus. Traffic was unusually heavy but moving and I was grateful that we had left the house a little early.

Then #1 son pipes up – ‘oh damn, I forgot my lunch’.  I won’t go into the next 15 minutes except to say it involved turning the car, getting the lunch-box, taking a back road into the village to avoid the worsening traffic, frantic calls to pals to hold the bus, missing the bus and chasing it to the next stop.

Yet when I told my husband about the forgotten lunch-box, somehow it became MY fault that the lunch-box was forgotten! You see, hubby asks them very morning if they have their lunch with them. I didn’t, ergo it’s my fault.

Lake Mary High School in Seminole County, Florida has a rule, clearly posted in the front office: “Attention students and parents: We do not accept items for drop-off such as lunches, backpacks, homework, and sports equipment. Please plan accordingly.”  They have taken the view that, by the time you are in High School, you are well able to remember to bring what you need with you. If you forget, then you deal with the consequences.

My children have been taking their lunch to school since they were 4. It’s not like it was an unusual item that had to be brought to school that day, but they are now conditioned not to have to think about it until reminded by dad.

There comes a time in life, when we as parents have to let go.  We have to allow our children make their own mistakes. It is how they learn to deal with stress, how to come up with innovative solutions, how to cope when life doesn’t go smoothly.  On the grand scale of things, forgetting to bring lunch to school was a minor event.  The consequence though was missing the bus and the slagging that he got from his pals when we eventually caught up with it, just as it was pulling away from the final stop – cue honking of horns & flashing of lights.

On Tuesday my son learned that he has to be self-reliant and his dad & I learned that there comes a point where we have to allow our boys make mistakes.  Of course, we will always protect them, but big lessons can be learned from making little mistakes.

And what else did I learn?  The date for the 2016 Ploughing Championship is already in my diary AND I’ve texted it to the hubby’s twin!

Back to School : How to survive the SECOND week!

First week down, breathe a sigh of relief. You’ve gotten through the drama of ‘Back to School’.  Well done you. Unfortunately, come Monday, you’re going to have to do it all again – and not just this Monday, but the one after that & the one after that and on and on to Christmas & beyond.  In addition, the mornings and evening will get darker and the weather will get worse (maybe I should say colder rather than worse, given the summer we just had!). Aren’t I just a bundle of joy today?

Back to school can be overwhelming for everyone. The first week can often be the easiest time.  We plan it.  The uniforms are bought, the books covered, the lunches planned, but is in the second and third week that routines are created and once a good routine is established, life becomes much easier.  Here are some tips for the second week at school:

Your children will have been more active over the summer, even if that meant that they simply got up from the couch and walked into their bedrooms whenever they wanted. Now even that limited physical activity is curtailed, they will for the most part be sitting down for almost all of the day.  Therefore it is really important to maintain physical activity when they go back to school.  If they are into sports, keep them playing – even in big exam years.  You might need to reduce the time spent training but don’t cut it out completely.  The mind and body needs that physical activity.  It is an excellent form of stress relief.

Make sure that you know exactly what events are coming up in school.  Your child relies on you to be their anchor. Mark your calendar and check it regularly. Make sure you use one that has plenty of space to write on.  It can be useful to have a weekly planner as well.  I have one framed so that I can reuse it like a whiteboard.  That way I can remind everyone of what’s happening that week like birthday parties, play dates, meetings, training, and doctor’s appointments.  As I say, if it’s not on the board it’s not happening.  If you’d like a copy of it, just contact me at elaine@hummingbirdlearning.com & I will email it to you.

School is back but if your kids are on sports teams, training seems to be as regular as ever so a good idea, to prevent overwhelm for you, is to have some easy meals ready in the freezer.  This will ensure everyone will have time for homework and sport, and gets to eat properly, without mum or dad having to cook from scratch.

Adjusting to the rhythm of school can be stressful for children, so as parents it is important that we don’t over react.  Reinforce the ability to cope. Children absorb their parent’s anxiety, so model optimism and confidence for your child. Let your child know that it is natural to be a little nervous anytime you start something new but that your child will be just fine once he or she becomes familiar with classmates, teachers, and school routine.

Turn off the TV and other devices.  There was a time when the telly was the only distraction in the house, but now there are so many others.  Establish rules and stick to them.  Have a place where the phones go to be recharged and they are plugged in the moment the kids come home from school and not touched until after homework has been completed.  Even then limit the amount of time to half an hour. Children need to relax before going to bed and the tiny flicker of screens prevents this.

Reinstate bedtime and stick to it.  Children are experts at the war of attrition and they will wear you down, taking 5 minutes extra at a time until bedtime is now a completely new time.  Be strong.

Arrange playdates – at school, friendships can be forever but sometimes they can be for a short time.  Your child’s friends can move school, be in different classes or for some unfathomable reason no longer want to be friends with your child.  You can help your child through this by arranging play dates with other children.  These are also a great way for you to get to know other parents, especially if you are working.  Knowing the parents can be very handy for carpooling or being able to contact them about school issues.

Finally, make sure that you take care of YOU!  If you are frazzled, the whole household becomes frazzled.  Take some time for yourself.  Do something that you enjoy, for some it might be an uninterrupted lingering hot bath, for others it might be a lung bursting spinning class. It doesn’t matter what it is, what matters is that you do it for you.

One last tip – Highlight the midterm breaks, bank holidays and holidays on your calendar, every day you are one step closer to them!! Good luck.

#4 Tips on How to create a Homework Station that works

If I had my way, I would drastically reduce or even ban homework! Radical I know, but seeing as how Hummingbird Learning world domination is a while off (yet), homework is something that everyone with school going children has to cope with.

Creating a dedicated spot in your home for them to complete their work can help improve their focus and develop proper study habits.  A really good place to go for inspiration is the Ikea or Argos catalogue. A study nook doesn’t have to a staid serious place.  In fact a fun, quirky desk can make studying a far more pleasurable event; simply because it becomes a place you like and want to be.

To achieve this, here are some tips to create that Dr Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory) Spot:

#1 Location

• Lighting: Good light is essential.  A good desk lamp coupled with softer overhead lighting works really well.
• Heat: The study nook needs to be warm but take care not to overheat the room as this can make the student drowsy
• Ventilation: Fresh air is really important. If possible, open the windows for a while when the kids are at school.  A good supply of oxygen will help the brain remain focused for longer.
• Quiet: While our brain becomes really good at blocking out continuous background sounds over time, it is important to create a calm, quiet study area
• Sockets: When deciding on a great location be sure to consider where the plug points are. You are going to need lots!

 #2 Fixtures & Fittings

• Plants: Plants lift the sterile look of a desk, brings actual life to the table and if you use a plant such as a Peace Lily or Spider plant, even increases the oxygen levels in the room, making plants an aid to studying.
• Desk: It is really important to get a desk that suits the child. It doesn’t have to be an office type desk.  Have a look in Ikea & Argos for ideas.
• Good Chair: This is vital.  Your child is going to be sitting for a long time & needs to have good posture to prevent back problems in the future and also to maximise oxygen intake.  If they are young, put a step under the desk for them to rest their feet on.  It also helps them be more grounded.
• Notice Boards: These are great for keeping reminders, notes & personal items close at hand.
• Storage boxes: Keep everything tidy in cool storage boxes or tins.  Catalogues are full of ideas.  Convert old boxes or tins you have already into something bespoke to reflect your child’s personality.
• Clock: A silent one – no ticking but an alarm can be handy!  It will help to train your child to work within time segments – vital when doing exams.
• Book shelves: Great for keeping a desk tidy& having reference books & stationery to hand

#3 Technology

• Computer: There is no way of getting around this one – computers have become part & parcel of a student’s life.  I recommend using a laptop though, that way it can be taken away to stop it becoming a distraction.  There are loads of applications, such as Net Nanny, available block or limit access to websites, especially social media ones!
• Printer: Set up the printer at the homework station for ease of access.
• WiFi: Be sure to have good internet access at the homework station.  If the signal is poor invest in a booster. It will repay itself over and over in hours saved from listening to moaning about bad wifi!

#4 Stationery supplies

• Dictionaries: We may be in the digital age, but I still think old school is best when it comes to dictionaries.  Make sure to have ones for foreign language classes’ and invest in a really good thesaurus dictionary.  Nothing beats a thesaurus for vocabulary expansion.
• Timetable: This is where the cork board comes in handy.  Have the corkboard on the wall in front of the desk and pin the timetable to it.  No excuses for not knowing what classes you have tomorrow.
• Calendar: Use a type of calendar that has space for writing and fill in the school events, holidays, exam weeks etc. This forward planning means that you are organised for the year ahead
• Store Supplies: Be prepared! Avoid late night panics when supplies run out and have all of the following in a storage box; tape, staples, paperclips, pencils, biros, paper punch, poly pockets, spare folders / files, printer paper, spare copy books, writing pads & notebooks, Art supplies – glue, glitter, felt-tip pens.
• Desk Supplies: Calculator, maths set, stapler, paperclips, pens, ruler, correction ink. Folder to keep completed work / ongoing projects

Having a defined space to study creates a pattern in your brain.  Just as picking up your car keys brings you into a type of automation for driving ( for example, without thinking you automatically go to the driver’s side), sitting at your homework spot immediately tells your brain I’m going studying and I need to focus.

Now, before the kids go back to school, is the perfect time to create that perfect spot.

Elaine Sparling is the creator of the Hummingbird Learning Method® and is about to launch online the popular Secrets to Successful Spelling™ workshop at the end of August. Based in Adare, Co Limerick, where she works with clients on a one to one basis, she can be contacted on 087-2996054 or through their website http://www.hummingbirdlearning.com

Use Your Brain For a Change

One of my favourite quotes is by Dr Richard Bandler and it is “When you want new results, it requires new thinking”.  Thinking is just something we do.  We are always thinking about something.  Even when we are asleep our brain is still working.

We are born with this amazing inbuilt computer but unfortunately it didn’t come with a set of instructions.  We have to learn how to use it as we go along and mostly we use it out of habits we have formed from watching and listening to others, so if we want to change those habits we have to think differently and to think differently we have to use our brain to get that change.

Your Brain

There is a lot of talk about people being right-brained and left-brained.  You might have taken one of those quizzes online to determine which you are.  The assumption is that a person who is ‘left-brained’ is more logical, analytical and objective and suitable for jobs such as accountant, solicitor or programmer.  The ‘right-brained’ person is said to be more creative, intuitive, thoughtful and subjective and might want to be an actor, graphic designer or therapist.

The reality is that people are not one or the other, they are not ‘right-brained’ or ‘left-brained’.  The theory grew out of the work of Nobel Prize winner Roger W Sperry.  He discovered that cutting the corpus callosum, the structure that connects the two hemispheres of the brain, reduced or eliminated seizures in people with epilepsy.

However, patients who had undergone the procedure also had new symptoms after the communication pathway between the two sides of the brain was cut. Some patients found that they could no longer name objects that were processed by the right side of the brain, yet they could still name objects processed by the left side of the brain. This led Sperry to suggest that language was controlled by the left side of the brain.

However, later research has shown that the brain is not nearly as neatly divided as this. The brain actually works best when both sides of the brain are engaged at the same time. Neuroscientists have found that the two sides of the brain work together to perform a wide variety of tasks and the two sides communicate through the corpus callosum.

In a study of over 1000 participants by the University of Utah, it was revealed that while activity was sometimes higher on one side or the other in certain critical regions, on average both sides of the brain were essentially equal in their activity. Dr Jeff Anderson, the study’s lead researcher explains “It’s absolutely true that some brain functions occur in one or other side of the brain. Language tends to be on the left, attention more to the right, but people don’t tend to have a stronger left or right sided brain network.  It seems to be determined more connection by connection”.

This makes the corpus callosum key in using our brain to evoke and strengthen new thinking.  Mid line exercises help to make those connections.  We need both sides of our brain working together to create strong neuropathways, making focus and recall much better and easier.

So the next time you take one of those quizzes, know that it’s just a bit of fun. Now I must go and check my horoscope.

So, what is Fluent Reading?

A while ago I was on a course and the trainer told us a story about the time that he was dead late for a course he was due to give. He rang the hotel to ask them to pass on the message that he was on his way & would be there as fast as he could.  The receptionist asked him where exactly he was & when he told her, her reply was “you can drive as fast as like, but it won’t make any difference when you’re going in the wrong direction”.

Like everything, reading with fluency takes practice, however there is no point in practicing & practicing unless you are practicing the right thing. Reading aloud is right up there with public speaking as one of the biggest fears people have.  It’s easy to see why. In many ways they are one and the same thing.  Making a mistake while reading aloud in a class full of your friends (& mortal enemies too), is every child’s nightmare. Nobody wants to be laughed or sniggered at.

Reading Tips from Hummingbird Learning Centre

So what exactly is ‘fluent reading’?  Fluent Reading is the ability to read smoothly and automatically with expression and attention to punctuation.  The speed at which you read is called the ‘Pace’.  The goal is to read at just the right pace, I call it the Goldilocks pace, not too fast, not too slow, just right!

‘Phrasing’ is chunking words together into meaningful phrases rather than reading, each, word, at, a time.

When reading aloud, it is important to make it interesting for the listener, to engage them, and this is done using your voice. Reading with feeling, changing your voice to match a character, adding excitement or other emotion by moving your voice up and down, or making it louder or softer, adds expression to text.  Using intonation and expression adds to reading fluency. In a nutshell, you should read as you would speak.

Finally, punctuation is there for a reason!  When reading pay attention to the punctuation.  It is there to help you to read aloud with meaning.  It is an aid to fluent reading because it tells you where to pause, where to breathe, where to stop, where to change voices and add dramatic effect.  You stop for a second at every full stop (period). You have an intake of breath at a comma.  Your voice goes up for a question mark. You add excitement when you see an exclamation mark!!! (You read that with excitement, didn’t you?).  You can change your voice for a character when you see “inverted commas”.

I think it is really important that before you read aloud, you read the text silently to yourself first.  You may only have time to scan it but this gives your brain a chance to see what the text is about.  Then when you actually read it aloud, it will feel more familiar and this helps to create fluent reading.  If you are helping your child with homework, give them time to read silently first, that way if there are any new or unfamiliar words they can ask about them in advance, rather than getting stuck on them mid-sentence.  Stopping to sound out a word while reading interrupts the reading fluency, so a little bit of preparation goes a very long way.

When I was a teenager I used to read at mass and one Sunday I was to read the second reading.  Unfortunately, the person was doing the first reading didn’t show up and I got an elbow from my dad for me to go up to the altar and do both readings. Panic!  I had only practiced the second one! Panic turned into sheer horror when I started to read.  The second paragraph had lists of names and places and tribes that were just about pronounceable had I practiced them, but now were double Dutch!! I stumbled through the first five or six, feeling my face go redder and redder and then I got some divine inspiration – I just skipped the rest!  A quick glance down the page got me onto the final straight and it was over.  Thankfully I was able to read the second lesson with ease, because I had practiced it.  I thought my dad would be livid with me but I later realised that nobody (except perhaps the priest, although I couldn’t even be sure about him), noticed that I had left out a huge chunk from the first reading.  I think that if I had tried to continue to read that difficult passage I would probably never have read in public again.

So, give your child a chance.  Allow them to scan and silently read the piece before they read aloud.  It will definitely help them to become more fluent readers.

Elaine Sparling is the CEO of the Hummingbird Learning Centre who help adults and children maximise their learning potential.  Based in Adare, Co Limerick, she can be contacted on 087-2996054, through their website www.hummingbirdlearning.com or on their Facebook Page

Keeping Old Copybooks

I went to a small two teacher school in Kerry. In 2010 the school celebrated its centenary and held a daylong celebration over the June bank holiday weekend.  The day was magnificent, as if you had written away for it.  The sea sparkled and the sun shone and generation after generation reminisced about their time at school.  The teachers and the masters were recalled along with stories of going down to the beach to see the whale that been washed ashore, remembering the coal buckets and outside toilets, wearing coats when the weather was particularly cold and going outside for lessons when the sun was shining.

A huge amount of effort had been made by the organising committee and items of yesteryear were begged and borrowed for the event. Laid out in the junior classroom (or Low babies and High babies as we called them) was a stack of old copybooks.  Some were over 60 years old, kept as treasured items in boxes that rarely saw the light of day.

To me, the old copy books were masterpieces; masterpieces in the art that is handwriting.  Beautiful cursive script written in ink taken from the inkwells that sat into the old school desks.  The writing was clear and the letters uniform but each child’s own identity was evident in the personal flourishes that they added. Great care was taken, there were very few errors – it would be decades before tippex was invented, ink is not very forgiving.

By the time I started school, modern teaching practices had decided that cursive writing was no longer needed and we were taught to print. As a result many people of my age, our writing never matured.  I taught myself to ‘do joined writing’ and the result is my own distinctive hybrid but it will never be as beautiful as my mother’s or my aunts’.

Thankfully, teaching cursive writing is back in schools again.  This is important because cursive writing is much more than just a style of writing.  It is faster than printing and because the pen stays on the paper as you write, thoughts and answers just flow.  Print writing involves lifting the pen from the paper for each letter which can result in disjointed thinking or losing one’s train of thought.

When reading we talk about the need for fluency, when writing we need flow.  Our thoughts and ideas need to flow from our minds and onto the paper.  Cursive writing helps this process.  If a person is struggling to get their ideas on to paper, even simply drawing a line of looped ‘L’s will help to get the words flowing.

If your child is learning cursive writing, encourage it.  It will help them to develop academically.  As they get older, their handwriting will mature and be impressive to prospective employers and maybe in years to come, their handwriting will inspire others, just as the past pupils of Derryquay National School inspired me.  In the meantime, ask some of the older generations if they kept their old copybooks.

Elaine Sparling is the creator of the Hummingbird Learning Method® and is based in Adare, Co Limerick, Ireland   She can be contacted on +353 872996054 or through their website http://www.hummingbirdlearning.com