Many people ask me why I have always included JOLLY LEARNING as part of the Victoria Carlton programs.
Reason is- they work! They help ALL learners to grasp the all important basics of phonics and grammar.
Then we use our brain stimulation, literature, comprehension and writing programs to build on this skeleton and add the “flesh” so that children become fully literate and really enjoy the process.
I refuse to use any program that is not grounded in careful research as children are not guinea pigs- they deserve the best- ALWAYS!
This is the reason we always include JOLLY LEARNING in our training for new licensees.
My vision for all students at my centers around the world to be fully literate and able to speak, read and write clearly in English.
Any of you who would like to know more about our licenses or programs for schools and children- please contact us directly at victoriacarlton@ iinet.net.au or call on 08 9 2714200.
Alternatively, if you are reading this in South East Asia, please contact Chew Yeh <chewyeh@september21.com.sg>
I recently spoke at a conference in Singapore to Pre-School teachers about the importance of self-care.
The thing is, stressed teachers are not effective and teaching is one of the most highly stressed jobs in the world.This is particularly true of pre-school teaching. You simply cannot get away from little children. It is not possible to say, “Open your book to page 123 and carry on with your maths” while you take a moment to leave the room and breathe!
So you have to be PRESENT all the time and that means very good stress management principles are needed. A recent survey of 30, 000 US teachers in New York found most of them were highly stressed but wanted to stay with their profession because they CARE!
“We ask teachers to be a combination of Albert Einstein, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr. and, I’m dating myself here, Tony Soprano,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT. “We ask them to be Mom and Dad and impart tough love but also be a shoulder to lean on. And when they don’t do these things, we blame them for not being saviors of the world. What is the effect? The effect has been teachers are in¬cred¬ibly stressed out.”
Teachers often still have young children at home so they do “double duty!”
When we train teachers to use our EQ4KIDZ program we insist on spending 1 day where we focus on teachers’ mental health issues, EQ and stress management. We demonstrate ways to pause and be mindful and discuss helpful daily stress management.
In order to be able to drop all problems at the door of the classroom before entering, teachers need time to spend alone, to think, to plan and to manage their stress levels.
The busy school day must make some “intervals” or “gaps” where teachers can gather thoughts, reflect and re-group.
It is a great blessing to be able to teach the next generation but it is also one of the most taxing, enervating, highly skilled and stressful professionson earth so let’s ensure we do not lose our amazing teachers. The profession needs help!
With the many curriculum changes and challenging behaviours teachers must deal with, stress management is not just a soft option. It is a necessity. Unless all teachers are taught how to manage their stress, care for themselves and recognise unhealthy signs of tension we will have burnt out, fed up and stressed out teachers and unhappy, unsuccessful students.
I am bilingual, I can speak Maths. Not many of us master a second language especially at just two or three years of age but this is exactly what we ask of our children when we introduce maths without a good, hands on, interactive program.
Like a jumble of ancient hieroglyphics or complicated Japanese Kanji, those lines on a page hold little meaning for the beginner and we need to decode and demystify them by linking them to all other aspects of their learning.
We might not remember all the words but we know that it was “five little ducks” that went out one day, over those hills and far away and that the “hungry caterpillar” ate through not one, not two but through five oranges!
It was Confucius who said “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand” and it is this principle we need to take with us when teaching math, not just to our toddlers but to all of those children who do not hold a high maths/logic intelligence.
What is a 6? What does it look like (can we draw it, can we pile up 6 objects), what does it sound like (can we clap out six beats, can we blow a whistle six times) what does it feel like (can we jump on the spot six times, can we roll a six out of clay). What happens when numbers go up, do we have more or less, is our pile getting bigger or smaller are we jumping more times or less times?
This approach extends beyond the toddler too. How many lollies do I get if I share them equally among my friends, what portion of the cake will I get if I divide it among eight people and is it the same if there are six of us? How many will I need altogether if my 3 guinea pigs need four carrot sticks each and how long will I be revising if I spend 20 minutes on four subjects and start at 4:30 in the afternoon?
Maths is all around us all the time. It is in the songs we sing, the books we read, the games we play, the order of our day. We don’t learn to drive a car, bake a cake or teach a child without ‘doing’! We can help all of our children to be fluent speakers of maths if we remember this simple fact and let them ‘do’ as they learn.
