Give your child a daily dose of affection and understanding

To help your child become an autonomous and resilient learner:

Give her a daily dose of affection and understanding.

This month, I will be focusing on lessons I have learned from the book, Age of Opportunity, by Dr. Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D. Steinberg is one of the world’s leading experts on adolescent psychology.

In the book, Steinberg explains how adolescence has evolved and how we need to adapt, as parents and educators, so we raise happier, more confident, more driven and more successful teens. As he points-out, the adolescent brain is particularly malleable, so it is critical that we intervene and invest in our teens to guide their development.

Steinberg suggests that parents adopt an “authoritative” style of parenting, which combines equal parts warmth (e.g., affection and understanding), firmness (e.g., clear expectations and fair consequences), and support (e.g., encouragement and praise).

As a starting point for expressing warmth, consider making it part of your daily routine to ask your child about the good things and bad things that happened during the course of her day, to listen attentively to her responses, and to validate her emotions. And remember: everyone needs a hug now and then – even a surly teen!

Help your child develop a more positive attitude about himself and the world around him

To help your child become an autonomous and resilient learner:

Help him develop a more positive attitude about himself and the world around him.

Research across many scientific fields has linked positivity to improved health, higher rates of success and increased happiness. It can also lead to a higher degree of openness to new experiences as well as a good attitude toward critical feedback.

In their book Micro-Resilience, Bonnie St. John and Allen P. Haines explain how we can actually increase the number of positive emotions we feel each day by purposefully choosing thoughts and creating habits that support positivity. Below are some of the practical tips they provide for “reframing our attitude” from negative to positive, so that we can respond more effectively to what life throws our way.

  • When you experience an unpleasant situation: Instead of assuming the worst and reacting impulsively, take the time to de-escalate your emotions and to challenge your beliefs about the motivations behind the situation. This will allow you to react much more rationally.
  • When you confront an obstacle: Instead of believing that you can’t overcome it, see what happens if you start believing the very opposite. This will help you think more optimistically about the problem and increase your chances of succeeding.
  • When you are feeling pessimistic about yourself or your chances of success: Develop a growth mindset, by reframing problems as challenges and failures as learning opportunities.

Give these techniques a try. You are your child’s – and your own – best coach!

Encourage your child to maximise her brain’s performance by keeping her body in balance

To help your child become an autonomous and resilient learner:

Encourage her maximise her brain’s performance by keeping her body in balance.

In their book Micro-Resilience, Bonnie St. John and Allen P. Haines explain how making some “minor shifts” in one’s life can lead to major improvements in one’s focus, drive and energy. One of these ”minor shifts” is to keep our body in balance by optimising our hydration and glucose levels.

Many studies have shown that our brain’s capacity for complex thinking and social interactions is highly-dependent on our body’s state of hydration. The brain actually dehydrates before the rest of the body, so it is important to drink water regularly, especially when you need to focus and concentrate, or when you feel stressed.

What’s more, our brain requires enormous amounts of energy to carry-out complex executive functions and to exercise emotional control and self-regulation. The best way to ensure that your brain gets a steady supply of energy is to eat a steady supply of low-sugar, minimally-processed foods, and to avoid both under and over-eating.

In short, to help your child learn and regulate her emotions better, encourage her to reach for her water bottle and a healthy snack!

 

Teach your child how to refocus his brain by avoiding multitasking.

To help your child become an autonomous and resilient learner:

Teach him how to refocus his brain by avoiding multitasking.

This month, I will focus on tips for building resilience and boosting focus, drive and energy, based on an approach developed by Olympian and leadership coach Bonnie St. John, and CEO and seasoned entertainment executive coach Allen P. Haines. We are living in a world in which we have many competing demands on our time, and St. John and Haines have created a program that helps people thrive in such a challenging environment.

Multitasking is a trap that most of us fall into to get through everything we have to accomplish in a day. In their book Micro-Resilience, St. John and Haines explain that performing several mentally-demanding tasks at once, instead of focusing on one at a time, results in diminished concentration, effectiveness, and recall. So, although we may have the impression that we are getting more done by working on several tasks simultaneously, the reality is that we are working less efficiently and are exhausting our energy and creativity.

Here are a few techniques that Haines and St. John propose to minimize disruptions and maximise concentration:

Create a “zone” for completing important tasks that require accuracy, quality and creativity

  • Block times in your daily schedule for completing specific tasks that require you to focus.
  • Establish a quiet location where you can go to complete these tasks.
  • Communicate clearly with your family and colleagues so they know when they can interrupt you while you are in your “zone”.
  • Cancel your alerts and silence your phone when you are in your “zone”.

Encourage your child to spend more time chatting in person and less time chatting online

To help your child become an autonomous and resilient learner:

Encourage her to spend more time chatting in person and less time chatting online.

Teens today socialize very differently than their parents did. Smart phones and social media have transformed the way in which teens communicate with their friends. Instead of hanging-out together after school and chatting with their friends on the phone, they send text messages and have group chats on platforms like Instagram and Skype.

In her book The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age, Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair explains how over-using these types of communication technologies erodes our ability to formulate our thoughts and to express them orally. Studies have actually shown that teens who spend a lot of time communicating electronically have more difficulty expressing themselves orally and having meaningful conversations with their family and peers. On the other hand, teens who spend more time together away from technology – at camps or social activities, for example – converse more effectively.

With two weeks of vacation ahead, now is the perfect time to help your child develop better conversational skills. Consider banning technology during family gatherings and encouraging your child to get together with friends.

Foster empathy in your child by favouring family time over screen time

To help your child become an autonomous and resilient learner:

Foster empathy by favouring family time over screen time.

In her book The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age, Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair examines the technology paradox : how technology both enriches and erodes our lives.

In addition to the detrimental effects that technology has on development and learning, Dr. Steiner-Adair points-out that the adolescent brain is not mature enough to make good judgements about what to watch and how to behave online. Even teenagers are not yet fully able to distinguish between right and wrong, tasteful and distasteful, or even funny and cruel content, and can therefore end-up being exposed to things that are harmful to them. What’s more, the anonymity associated with the online world means that young people are not learning to be accountable for their words or actions and often engage in much crueller behaviour than they would in real life.

Children learn values, ethics, accountability and empathy – critical skills for navigating the world successfully –  through the normal ups and downs of authentic family relationships. So, if you want to foster empathy in your child, try reducing your child’s exposure to technology and increasing the amount of time you spend together.

Boost your child’s brain power by limiting her screen time

To help your child become an autonomous and resilient learner:

Boost her brain power by limiting her screen time.

Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair is an internationally-recognized clinical psychologist, school consultant and award-winning author. In her book The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age, Dr. Steiner-Adair examines ways in which today’s amazing technologies and media are changing how children develop and presenting them with unprecedented opportunities and risks.

One of the most important messages she conveys is that “screen time” actually interferes with learning. Research has conclusively shown that exposure to activity on a screen, whether it be playing video games, browsing the internet, using social media, or watching television, adversely affects a child’s ability to concentrate, focus, understand, and even sleep. In fact, technology has also been shown to interfere with the development of the neural pathways used for reading!

With that in mind, and with the exam period about to begin, consider limiting the time your child spends in front of a screen and encouraging real-life social interactions and learning experiences. This will help create the best conditions for success.

An Interview with Centennial Academy Teacher Meighan Diggle

Introduce yourself and the courses you teach. What, in your opinion, is the best thing about being a teacher at Centennial Academy?

My name is Meighan Diggle and I teach grade 7 and 8 French as a second language.
The best thing about being a teacher at Centennial is the fact that we are encouraged to be lifelong learners and risk takers. It is a place where students and teachers alike are always learning, so as a teacher there is an emphasis placed on being innovative and trying new things in the classroom regardless of the outcome, then reflecting on our own practices to see whether it was effective or not.
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What are the top 3 things that you think make Centennial Academy unique?

  1. The strategic approach that we use.
  2. The tools that are created to help students succeed.
  3. Data driven collaboration among staff members.

Tell me about one of your favorite teaching memories/story?

In grade 10 French, we watch a movie called “Les intouchables”. When I taught grade 10, 2 years ago, we were watching the movie and all of a sudden the song “September” by Earth Wind and Fire came on and I looked away from the screen and saw all of my grade 10 students lip syncing and dancing in their seats. I started laughing hysterically and then it became something that we spoke about often in class. It was so nice seeing these students enjoying themselves while watching a French movie.

What do you think your students like the most about you?

I think that they would say that I am structured, but that I have a good balance of serious and fun in the classroom.

Describe a typical classroom experience or a typical day at Centennial?

In French class, we always start with a routine. The students know that when they get into class, they take out their notebook, write the date and start working on whatever is projected on the board. We then go into an opening activity where I introduce the topic of the day with either a video, a powerpoint or a discussion. Then they have about 30 minutes to work on their learning activity which is either individual, in pairs or in groups of 4. We have a lot of opportunity to discuss and collaborate in French class. At the end of the class, we do a short activity so that I can check what was understood and what needs further clarification.

Describe in your own words the Centennial Academy Approach and how UDL really works.

Universal design for learning is about teaching to diverse learners regardless of their learning profile. Creating structures and using strategies in class that help ensure that everyone in the classroom can access the material and be successful no matter their learning challenges. Centennial is a unique school because we do not focus on the needs of one particular student in the class, but rather the needs of everyone and determine how we can alter our teaching practices to ensure that all student needs are being met.

Adopt an authoritative, psychologically-wise parenting style

To help your child become an autonomous and resilient learner:

Adopt an authoritative, psychologically-wise parenting style.

A psychologically-wise, authoritative parenting style combines warmth, sensitivity and the setting of limits. Parents use positive reinforcement and reasoning to guide children and avoid resorting to threats or punishments.

When internationally-renowned adolescent psychology expert Dr. Laurence Steinberg delivered his 2001 presidential address to the Society for Researchers on Adolesence, he proposed a moratorium on further research on parenting styles because, as he explained, there was so much evidence for the benefits of supportive and demanding parenting that scientists could profitably move on to thornier research questions!

If your child would say the following things about you, you are on the right track to becoming a warm, respectful, supportive and demanding parent:

  • I can count on my parents to help me if I have a problem.
  • My parents spend time just talking with me.
  • My parents and I do fun activities together.
  • My parents believe that I have a right to my own point of view.
  • My parents respect my privacy.
  • My parents give me a lot of freedom.
  • My parents really expect me to follow family rules.
  • My parents point out ways in which I could do better.
  • My parents expect me to do my best, even when it’s hard.

An Interview with Centennial Academy Teacher Rebecca Martorella

Introduce yourself and the courses you teach. What, in your opinion, is the best thing about being a teacher at Centennial Academy?

My name is Rebecca Martorella and I’m a social studies teacher in both the English and the French stream. I teach both geography and history for the grade 7, 8 and 9 levels. The best thing about being a teacher at Centennial Academy is the collaboration amongst teachers to find strategies that will help each one of our students’ learning. [/row]

What are the top 3 things that you think make Centennial Academy unique?

Centennial Academy is unique for several reasons:

The first thing that makes Centennial unique is how teachers scaffold major projects and assignment for students. Teachers break down projects into smaller chunks, making it easier for the students to learn and complete tasks. Students are provided with a model that clearly indicates the steps that need to be followed in order to reach the final goal of the project or assignment.

The second thing that makes Centennial unique is that teachers do minimal teaching in the classroom. Teacher’s coach and guide while students work We don’t spend an entire class period talking and students simply take notes down. Students spend the majority of class time working on an activity (assignment, project, review, etc.) in which they learn to become autonomous and resilient learners. With the steps provided to the student by their teacher, the student is able to work independently.

The third thing that makes Centennial unique is the approach we take in implementing effective learning strategies. We know that students don’t all learn at the same pace or in the same way. We recognize that students learn differently, which is why we provide students with different learning strategies they can use in order to succeed.

Tell me about one of your favorite teaching memories/story?

One of my favourite teaching memories was in May 2018 with my grade 8 history classes. We were studying the unit on the American Revolution and the students found it a little difficult. I decided to group the students in groups of 4 in which they would select a particular event from the American Revolution unit and they would write a script. They were then asked to put on a skit in which they brought in props and other visuals. The skits were funny and well done, but most of all it helped to get a better understanding of the course content. The students loved it and it was definitely a learning moment for them.

What do you think your students like the most about you?

I think the students appreciate that I try to make learning and understanding history enjoyable. History can be a difficult course with many dates and concepts to remember, but I try to find ways to help my students understand the material by making connections.

Describe a typical classroom experience or a typical day at Centennial?

Routine and predictability are key components in the classroom. The class typically starts with a routine and then followed by teaching/instruction at a minimal level from the teacher. The teacher usually teaches and/or instructs for about 10 minutes. The students are asked to work on a follow up activity for the remainder of the class while the teacher teacher’s coach and guide while students work. The last few minutes of class, the students are asked to put their material away and to get ready for their next class.

Describe in your own words the Centennial Academy Approach and how UDL really works.

At Centennial, we recognize that students have different learning needs, which is why we provide our students with various forms of learning and engagement in the course material. Using the UDL model allows us to use various tools to help remove learning barriers for our students. Tools include WordQ, reading strategies, graphic organizers, course packs, work models and various visual tools.