Just Education Blog

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January 15, 2019

January 2019, Blog Two Do you know where the word “discipline” comes from? It came from the word “disciple” which means a follower; one who believes in the teachings and wants to learn.. In my mind, our children are like our disciples and when we apply discipline, we should be teaching them our values and priorities. I am not sure how the word came to be equated with punishment. But it didn’t start out that way. On the other hand, going into long explanations is not supportive of the learning process. In fact, kids of all ages stop listening after the first few sentences and we lose them. All they hear is "Bla, Bla, Bla". So where is the productive middle between shouting out a punishment or a threat for repeated offences and spending time after each event reviewing the logic behind the requirement. I think we can all agree that if the behavior does not stop after threatening punishment or after instituting a punishment, the consequence of the ac

January 01, 2019

Blog January 2019 Welcome back everyone! I hope you had a special holiday season filled with good food and those you love. We are going to pick up this year by extending some of the topics that were introduced last year. One way I will do that is to introduce a new component to our menu. I will be starting to do podcasting by the end of the month. I will be speaking to professionals around the country and the world who are graciously offering their time. The varied topics will be of interest to parents, teachers, students and anyone who works with students. I have always had a dream to make professionals available without the high hourly rates. We have such a wealth of information available to us, but often it is expensive to access it. I hope to provide a forum for knowledgeable and respected experts to introduce themselves, share their views and provide a basis of information, so that we can then move forward and explore the topics on our own. We can access t

November 01, 2018

Blog #8- Homework: final episode If you have had the discussion with your student and taken a week or so to brainstorm some approaches to support the homework struggle, and agreed on what approaches would be best to address first, you will be ready for the next step; Initiating the plan. Please keep in mind that this entire process is non-confrontational. Use Socratic questioning described is an earlier blog. Without attacking faulty reasoning, ask for the thought process that supports the conclusions. Make an attempt to understand the reasoning behind the conclusions. No meaningful change happens without a buy-in. Allowing your student to be part of the planning and decision-making process is the buy-in needed for long term changes. Possible choices for long term solutions: Creating a study area; A study area does not need to be in the bedroom. If a student shares a room or if the room is too small, think about making a study space in the hall or in the

October 25, 2018

Blog #7 Homework Saga , Continued I recently found this and felt it was too good not to share given our current topic. The Parent's Homework Prayer Homework and I have irreconcilable differences. Please grant me the serenity to accept the Homework I can not change .......the courage to support my child to complete it the best I can .....and the strength to finish it without either of us ending up in a body bag. My guess is that, as parents, we have experienced these thoughts on more than one occasion. Let's review the first step, from the previous Blog, in addressing homework issues: Step one A -Mention to your student your concerns about homework and any observations you have on this topic. Share any communications from the teachers that relate. Ask your student his/her perspective on the topic. If the student does not agree that homework is a struggle, ask for their interpretation of the information you shared (your obser

Stop telling me what to do!

October 11, 2018

My "Summer" break lasted a little longer than I had planned. Unexpected events took priority and extra time. October is a good time, actually, to begin addressing some important issues. Homework is always a big concern about this time of year as teachers and parents grapple with kids who are not, for whatever reason, successful in following through with their home responsibilities. I thought I would start this year's blogs by putting out some tips for parents so they can better communicate with their students in a non-confrontational discussion to collaborate on how they can move forward and address some of the issues at hand. The worst approach is to point the finger and tell your student what they should and should not be doing. If your boss did that at work to you, what would your response be to him? I probably can't print it here.😊 The first step: to agree on and define the problem. I would suggest mentioning to your student that you have noti

June 18, 2018

Blog 5-June, 2018 Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Collaborative Problem Solving (now called Collaborative Proactive Solutions) and Social Thinking all have some very important concepts that they share. Thoughts drive feelings which affect behavior Ones concept of Self (Bandura's self-efficacy) affects the decisions we make and how we interact with others If we feel we are being judged rather than being listened to, we are most likely not open to anything that person has to say (Rita Pierson and Ross Greene) Social thinking is the trade name for a protocol of behavior remediation used with kids on the spectrum. It is a wonderful approach which uses humor, practical applications and visual characters. Some of the most popular characters with my students are Superflex, Rock Brain, Glass Man, Wasfunnyonce and Worry Wall. The younger kids love it. The older kids can relate to the mirror that is held up of the character traits they are displaying. I would highly recomm