Victoria Carlton ~ The Child Whisperer

We are in my favourite month- January! Janus is the Roman god of gates and doorways- depicted with a head looking both ways. This of course is highly appropriate and signifies our need to both look ahead and behind at this time. For me it is a month of refection, goal setting, heat, holiday programs with new children, opportunities to catch the breath and above all PLAY! In this 43 degree heat we cannot do too much other than rest, reflect and play!
As I sit outside typing this I can hear the fire engines rushing up Great Eastern Highway to the hills and I am concerned for my friends who live in the beautiful but rather dangerously, dry forest!
Children learn how to live through play and so do we!
“In play a child always behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behaviour. In play it is as though he were a head taller than himself.” Lev Vygotsky
We so often forget the importance of this play for children and I am determined it will be a part of all our programs at ICE this year. We have structured, purposeful learning but delivered in a multisensory,, hands-on and playful way whenever possible and the same goes for our courses for educators and organisations. We ALL learn more when we play!
So- how have you played this week? I have escaped with a great Susan Howatch book and been to the beach and both activities have renewed me and helped me relax and grow.
Why not join me and program in playtime for each week and indulge in some favourite pursuits and even discover a hobby? (What an old-fashioned work that is becoming- sadly!)
And- above all- if you are a parent or teacher- allow time for play and playful learning! You will have happier, better balanced children who learn more and retain what they have learned.
Let’s declare A regular PLAYTIME for all in 2014!

CHRISTMAS GIVING     

At this magical time of year we try to express our love with gifts and children dream of Christmas morning and what it may bring! With a little forethought it is possible to buy toys, games and books that foster the imagination and enhance creativity. Some games will even improve learning skills. The following lists are simply guides that may help you in your choices.

 Remember: while computer games head up most children’s Dear Santa list, they need to be controlled. Research shows us that playing on these toys for over an hour a day will most definitely cause difficulties such as-

• Lack of communication skills including poor speech skills.
• Possible neurological dysfunction with fewer connections in the brain.
• Lack of ability to use the imagination to comprehend when reading and produce ideas for written expression.

 You CAN go across the grain and control TV and electronic toys. The toys and games we suggest have been grouped into the 8 intelligences so you can consider which intelligences need building up and buy appropriate toys.

 Remember that the greatest gift of all is always your time! No toy can replace the fun to be had with Mum and Dad on the floor playing a game or reading a book.

 BACKGROUND TO MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

Some revolutionary research in psychology has changed forever the way we assess and judge the intelligence levels of children. Howard Gardner from Harvard University has discovered that we all have many types of intelligence. 

We used to only measure mathematical/logical and word intelligences. We now consider all the intelligences we have and determine children’s strengths and weaknesses in all areas so we can build on the strengths, work to improve weaknesses and help all children to achieve their full potentials. Understanding and assessing children’s intelligences assists teachers to plan their teaching programmes and choose effective teaching methods.  

We now know that intelligence is not fixed at birth and that careful nurturing of each intelligence can lead to higher levels of academic, social and cultural achievements.

These intelligences are: BODY, WORD, LOGIC AND MATHS, SPACE AND VISION, MUSICAL, SELF and PEOPLE, and NATURALIST. 

TIPS AND TOYS TO DEVELOP THE 8 INTELLIGENCES

WORD INTELLIGENCE

• Read to your child and listen to them read.
• Play word games and encourage them to do crosswords.
• Encourage them to write stories, keep a journal, and write letters to friends and relatives.
• Write notes to your child and leave in their lunchboxes or on their bed.
• Encourage them to talk about their opinions and feelings.
• Buy them jokes and riddle books.
• Provide a good dictionary and thesaurus.
• Buy books of word searches to improve visual discrimination, spelling and vocabulary.

  PRESENT BUYING

• Books-fiction, non-fiction, poetry, books on CDs, picture books, short novels.
• Spelling games
• Word games
• Reading Rods
• Phonics computer games such as JOLLY PHONICS CD Rom
• Alphabet Zoo and music CD for 2-5 year olds.
• Games involving general knowledge

   

  LOGIC AND MATHS INTELLIGENCE

• Play board and card games that involve number and logic.
• Provide brainteasers and number puzzles.
• Encourage children to ask questions.
• Computer strategy games.
• Encourage children to classify their belongings and keep in an orderly way.
• Visit museums, planetariums, SciTech.
• Follow directions e.g. cooking, making models from patterns.
• Help children to become interested in real-life maths e.g. How many litres of petrol do you think it will take to fill the car and how much is it likely to cost?

  PRESENT BUYING

Any games that involve rules.

The new game: Worst Case Scenario looks great for big kids and adults who love to play!

UNO

Computer games that encourage maths or logical thinking.

Smart boxes

Experiments

Chemistry sets

Weather gauges

Lego

Gears and pulley sets

Bead threading

Providing appropriate storage for toys helps to develop this intelligence. Chests, shelves and hammocks for soft toys, can encourage children to pick up after themselves.

 

SPACE AND VISION INTELLIGENCE

• Encourage children to make things with left over packaging, wrapping paper, old buttons etc. Keep scraps in a special “Making Things” box.
• Provide clay and play dough.
• Allow your child to draw and paint and display their efforts.
• Jigsaws and Junior Pictionary.
• Take them to art galleries whenever possible.

  PRESENT BUYING

  Pictionary

  Crayons

  Chalkboard

  Whiteboard

  Crafts

  Bead sets

  Books with “mind’s eye” pictures

  Mazes

  “Where’s Wally?” books

  Books that stimulate the imagination

  Jigsaws

  Quality children’s movies

  Maps

  Atlas

 

BODY INTELLIGENCE

• Provide lots of construction toys and help your child to use them.
• Encourage your child to keep fit by walking, jogging, swimming or participation in team sports.
• Encourage participation in some type of dancing or drama.
• Allow children to pull apart old appliances and toys and put them back together again.
• Play computer games that need fast reflexes.
• Throwing and catching balls or Frisbees.

PRESENT GIVING

Flippers

All sizes and shapes of balls-including juggling balls

Jump-rope

Disco games

Pedal cars

Trikes

Surf mats

Swimming pool toys

Bungee jumping pass for older children.

Trip canoeing or rock climbing.

Skates

Construction and art/craft equipment.

Clay, playdough or Beady Dough.

 

MUSIC INTELLIGENCE

• Encourage children to listen to many types of music.
• Sing along to songs and encourage family sing-a-longs.
• Show your children how to make simple musical instruments and encourage them to play along with their favourite music.
• Buy your children simple percussion instruments and if possible let them learn a musical instrument.
• Kagan brain development CDs.

PRESENT BUYING

CDs of favourite songs, music from movies.

Karaoke sets

Books of songs

Earphones

I Pods

Personal CD players

Percussion instruments such as drums, xylophones, shakers and triangles.

 

PEOPLE INTELLIGENCE

• Buy your child some biographies and encourage them to learn about famous people.
• Make sure your children have sufficient free time to play with their friends.
• Let your child join scouts, Brownies or join organised sporting groups.
• Make sure your child has the opportunities to mix with children of different ages and interests.

PRESENT BUYING

Games that are played in groups.

Puppets

Bats and balls

Visits to theme parks and mini golf.

2 tickets to an event.

Club membership eg.riding/archery.

Books about heroes, heroines, famous people.

 

SELF-INTELLIGENCE

• Encourage children to keep a journal for reflection.
• Talk about your own feelings regularly so that they learn that it is O.K. to do this.
• Model strong I MESSAGES to help them to become more assertive. E.g. “I feel sad when you call me names and I would like you to stop it.”
• Drawing self-portraits
• Making a family tree.
• Keep records of all your children’s milestones and regularly let them have access to these records and old photos so they can know themselves as well as possible and be aware of their changing lives.

PRESENT BUYING

Soft toys

Journals

Drawing supplies-any art equipment.

Giving the gift of spare time.

Kaleidoscope

Books and CDs of guided visualisations/Star Kids affirmations cards.

 

NATURALIST INTELLIGENCE

• Make sure your children get to experience nature as often as possible.
• Take time to stop and look at plants, insects etc
• Talk to your children about pollution and ways we can help to save the earth.
• Establish a nature study table for interesting rocks, plants etc.

PRESENT GIVING

• FLIPPERS/Goggles and masks/Underwater cameras
• Books about nature.
• Science experiments
• Seeds/Gardening supplies-children LOVE to have their own gardens!
• Toy Skeletons/Take-apart human bodies.
• Microscopes
• Visits to nature reserves.

   

  Importantly –don’t forget to buy a present for yourself! What would really put a smile on your face and a spring into your step?

       Victoria Carlton, Director INTERNATIONAL CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

www.ice-au.com

I see so many children without boundaries, rules, guidelines and my heart aches for them. It seems that many parents are not able to take up their responsibilities and manage their families. Parents ring up and complain,
” I can’t get him to behave, go to school, get dressed etc “, and we are talking about children 5-10 years of age!
When we get to meet these children they look scared as well they might be. The world is a scary place without rules, (try driving in Bali!) and it is the rules and the “edges” that keep us safe.

Of course as we grow we push out the edges and explore but in order to do that you have to know where the edges are! These poor children are allowed to lose their tempers, make inappropriate decisions and make choices that are far too heavy for young shoulders. Do we not love our children enough to model, demonstrate, explain and show kids the pathways that will lead to happiness and peace of mind

Enough of this- all parents take your power back and give your children the loving discipline they need. They don’t want fuzzy boundaries. They want to feel safe enough to get on with the job of being kids and exploring their worlds- both inner and outer. These children are lost in a miasma of fuzzy thinking and lack of clear thinking about parental responsibility. Let’s rescue them and give them all the protection, direction and loving guidance they need!

I am angry-WAY angry and will not be silenced. All thinking educators in Australia, if not the whole world need to raise their voices!

I have just finished assessing a perfectly normal 7 year old. She is reading a little ahead of her age level, knows most sounds, has reasonable phonological awareness, can spell at the appropriate level and has a lovely bubbly friendly manner- yet she hates school! She is convinced she is “no good” at her school-work.
WHY?
Because she is forced to write “too fast” (her speed of writing is normal ) and she has to attend extra classes most day to help her catch up.
Catch up to what?
Catch up to some raving lunatic’s idea of what a 7 year old should be able to do.
So- all these extra classes, homework, meetings to let her Mum know her “problems” have eventually caused some nervous behaviours that have now attracted the school psychologist’s attention.

For pity’s sake STOP this nonsense and let children be children.
They do 5 hours at school and need to run and play, socialise and enjoy their learning and find out who they are.

We have actually had a couple of complaints from parents because the children enjoy their learning at ICE!!!!!

Why are we punishing children like this? It IS cruelty and Principals and teachers need to stop before more children have nervous breakdowns, rates of suicides go up and all children HATE school.

It is quite possible to teach in an explicit, “hands-on”, planned manner that ensures all children learn, have appropriate learning activities and actually enjoy the process. Sure- there will be hard bits. There always are. This does not mean we have to destroy their childhoods and make the whole thing hard.

We are making the fear of NAPLAN like some sort of dreadful threat that hovers over all schools and so the test has become the default curriculum.

So what if the scores are a bit low? The teachers can adjust, improve their teaching and ensure all children’s needs are catered for- they do not need to wield this huge hammer over children and Principals need to develop their spines and refuse to bend to the shameful practice of teaching to the test and putting children under this much pressure.

We have had an education system that teaches children to think, wonder and dream and achieve their goals. Sure- we have needed to address some literacy and numeracy deficits caused in large part by lack of curriculum documents, teaching materials and lack of teacher support. So fix the problems- not actually that hard! Stop taking the lazy way out by fixating on a national test as being the only way we can be sure children are learning.

The children are suffering.
Who from our senseless system will fix this young child’s broken spirit?
SHAME SHAME SHAME!

I am here in Singapore on one of my usual trips and this is always such a special time of the year for me. When I visit during Ramadan there is a special feeling here. Sure there are the delights of the Ramadan markets in Geylang Serai or the amazing Malay foods such as delicious kuih- but it is  and almost indefinable “something else” I am referring to.

That something else is about the uniting self-discipline of the Muslim faith- a faith where people from 5 years onwards can fast from sunrise to sundown and not complain or whinge! I have had many fasters in my classes during this trip and past ones and not once heard a complaint!

I think of my feeble efforts to fast at Lent and Advent and wonder! This ability to take united action and fast with love and self-discipline must be so good for children as well as adults. We are severely short of self-discipline in the world today and we can all learn from the steadfastness of our Muslim friends during this special time!

Each time I hear the call to prayer from a mosque my spirit is uplifted and I am reminded to nurture and recognise the sacred in each person I meet. We also need to do this with children. I have conducted many assessments during the last 2 weeks- both here in Singapore and in Perth. Each one of these children had truly different learning styles, personalities, dreams and yearnings and totally different cocktails of the various intelligences. Each one must be helped with love to reach their potential and accorded respect and honour.

Teaching is a sacred duty that requires heart, soul, prayer and a great deal of self-discipline as well as creativity. Once again I feel revitalised by being here at this special sacred time and I honour and salute all my Muslim colleagues and friends around the world!

We are in Singapore to train teachers and on the way here we saw and heard something wonderful!

We sat at the back of the plane and so did a couple with their 3 children-ranging from 3-8 years. These children had obviously not flown before and were very excited about the proceedings.

As we lifted into the air, the kids screamed loudly with absolute fear and delight. We all smiled and the mood was contagious and each one of us disappeared into our own private thoughts and remembered our first flight. We remembered the fear and the thrill and each of us wondered that we have become so deadened to the thrill, speed and sheer excitement of taking off into the air! Somehow I know none of us will forget that flight!We all gained from that experience and we all felt revitalised and more in touch with our inner child!

As educators, we need to be able to identify with the feelings of excitement and fear children feel when confronted by something new and challenging. These three kids coped well-their parents had assured them that they would be safe, strapped them in and trusted they would manage their fear. When the children screamed loudly they smiled indulgently and allowed the children to express their joy and fear.

If only we could always trust our children to manage challenges, assure them and provide support but stop wrapping them in cotton wool. Children are amazingly resilient and most definitely will achieve far more than we expect if we allow them some breathing space. There is a strong message for educators here. Stop putting limits on children. I hear so many teachers talking about the labels they might place on children and how they will not be able to achieve academically as they have these various “conditions”.

We make self-fulfilling prophecies. I ask my teachers to take the labels OFF children and find out who they really are underneath this plethora of limiting labels. Children need to be pushed slightly beyond their comfort zone- we all need this! They can do it and they have to learn to throw their heart over the bar and give their absolute best! Let’s encourage all our kids to all aim for the stars.

Come to the edge, he said.

 They said:  We are afraid.

 Come to the edge, he said.

 They came

 He pushed them……………and they flew.

 (Guillaume Apollinaire)