These boys always have a good time together. Papa is so patient with Jake, and Jake will stay with him through an entire meal. This is Jake sneaking back to the table to get more food after he was supposedly done eating.
15 October, 2006
03 October, 2006
Notes to a friend
..when we sent Jake to camp this summer for 5 days (and nights!).. I really really missed him, and the noise and the hard work.. so the good news is... we do love our life.
Although last night at about 7:30 when Lucy was nursing for the gazillionth time (building up milk supply for next plateau I assume...) I said, "Uhm Descartes, I think I'm going to quit my job. It's just no fun anymore"...then I got the burst of smile from babyLucy and well, I opened a beer and reminded myself that I will probably never get to do any of this again.
No more labor, or nursing, or bathing baby butts or smelling like various stages of decaying milk. None of it lasts very long, even the hardest parts don't normally last longer than a few weeks. With Jake things have been stretched out over time, but even he looks like a big boy now. He just turned six on Sunday...
Although last night at about 7:30 when Lucy was nursing for the gazillionth time (building up milk supply for next plateau I assume...) I said, "Uhm Descartes, I think I'm going to quit my job. It's just no fun anymore"...then I got the burst of smile from babyLucy and well, I opened a beer and reminded myself that I will probably never get to do any of this again.
No more labor, or nursing, or bathing baby butts or smelling like various stages of decaying milk. None of it lasts very long, even the hardest parts don't normally last longer than a few weeks. With Jake things have been stretched out over time, but even he looks like a big boy now. He just turned six on Sunday...
24 September, 2006
ugh. get selling
So I think I may hate eBay. I know it is hard to imagine, but I was thinking today that I have almost an entire room's worth of items that I think I should sell on eBay. What happened to a plain old garage sale? What happened to donating it to charity. I wonder if donations of quality items has decreased as the popularity of eBay has risen.
Celebrating Banned Book week
That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write "Fuck you" right under your nose.
Catcher in the Rye
Catcher in the Rye
23 September, 2006
The Future of Homework
Loved this article in the SF Chronicle about homework
***************************************************
The Future of Homework
Over the past decade there has been a significant increase in the amount of homework schools require. Not many adults experienced an hour or more of nightly homework when they were ten years old. This increase may have come in response to the call for higher expectations, comparisons of American student performance with that of children from European and Asian countries, and the pressure created because of state testing programs. When I talk to teacher groups about the explosion of homework, it’s often stated that, ‘we give homework because parents expect it of us.’ Teachers report that parents believe that the homework is a sign of a rigorous program. It has also been reported that parents want the homework because it keeps the kids busy. When I talk with parents the viewpoint I most often hear is, ‘the teacher believes this work is important and we feel we must support the school.’
Ever increasing amounts of homework for younger children has become the norm and accepted practice. A majority of both teachers and parents support this position because they feel the system demands and believes in the efficacy of homework. More than any other single person, I believe I most represent the Oak Knoll “system”. Here is what I know and believe about homework.
The preponderance of research clearly shows that homework for elementary students does not make a difference in student achievement. It is hard to believe that a strategy used so extensively has no foundation. Even the most ardent supporters of homework have only been able to produce evidence of associative rather than causal relationships. In addition, it is not surprising that there is no research that demonstrates that homework increases a child’s level of understanding, improves their attitude towards school or inspires a love of learning. For a large number of students we know the opposite is true-- large amounts of homework stifle motivation, diminish a child’s love of learning, turn reading into a chore, negatively affect the quality of family time, diminish creativity, and turn learning to drudgery.
Unable to produce evidence that homework improves student performance, proponents often site outcomes that seem true because they make some kind of intuitive sense. “We give homework because it develops responsibility, study skills and work habits. Once again, there is no research to support any of these claims. If there was, we would be able to say with some level of authority how much homework it takes to develop good work habits--- two hours a week, four hours a week, or maybe a half hour every other day. We don’t know what is necessary- there is no data. I would suggest that our present one hour, four days a week, thirty-six weeks a year, following a six-hour school day is much more than is needed to develop age appropriate work habits in nine and ten year old children. I certainly don’t believe that homework teaches our children responsibility. There are very few choices in homework. The children are completing work that is required. They are complying with adult demands. Comply or suffer the consequences. This is not my idea of responsibility.
The argument for homework that makes the least sense to me is, “they get lots of homework in the middle school so we better get them used to it”. Parents and teachers say this resigned to the fact that this homework experience may be painful, work against quality family time, and diminish a young child’s fondness for learning. We want to get them ready to do something they are not going to want to do when they are older--- by forcing them to do it when they are younger. Young children are not the same as older children. What is good for older children is not what is good for younger children. There are developmental differences. Author Alfie Kohn says, “The fundamental choice we face as parents and teachers is whether our primary obligation is to help children love learning, or get them accustomed to gratuitous unpleasantness so they can learn to deal with it.”
With all that being said, what are we going to do about homework at Oak Knoll? How will we work and support the homework policies of Menlo Park? In no particular order:
• We will promote reading as the central aspect of our homework. Preferably, reading of the child’s choice.
• We will not provide weekly homework packets that have not been differentiated based on individual student needs. Weekly packets help parents and students manage time. However, packets of this nature almost always include homework of which the child has demonstrated in class that he has absolutely no need to complete.
• At no time will homework exceed the district maximum time limits.
• We will not assign homework for homework’s sake.
• Homework, other than reading, will be assigned when a specific need arises, when it’s necessary to practice a skill or complete important work.
With these directions in place, most parents will notice a considerable reduction in the amount of homework. The Oak Knoll teachers will be working to comply with my direction as principal and with the policies adopted by the Menlo Park Board of Education. Parents should also notice an increase in the relevance of the homework to their child’s needs. Should you have questions about the quantity and quality of homework please feel free to contact me.
*************************************************
***************************************************
The Future of Homework
Over the past decade there has been a significant increase in the amount of homework schools require. Not many adults experienced an hour or more of nightly homework when they were ten years old. This increase may have come in response to the call for higher expectations, comparisons of American student performance with that of children from European and Asian countries, and the pressure created because of state testing programs. When I talk to teacher groups about the explosion of homework, it’s often stated that, ‘we give homework because parents expect it of us.’ Teachers report that parents believe that the homework is a sign of a rigorous program. It has also been reported that parents want the homework because it keeps the kids busy. When I talk with parents the viewpoint I most often hear is, ‘the teacher believes this work is important and we feel we must support the school.’
Ever increasing amounts of homework for younger children has become the norm and accepted practice. A majority of both teachers and parents support this position because they feel the system demands and believes in the efficacy of homework. More than any other single person, I believe I most represent the Oak Knoll “system”. Here is what I know and believe about homework.
The preponderance of research clearly shows that homework for elementary students does not make a difference in student achievement. It is hard to believe that a strategy used so extensively has no foundation. Even the most ardent supporters of homework have only been able to produce evidence of associative rather than causal relationships. In addition, it is not surprising that there is no research that demonstrates that homework increases a child’s level of understanding, improves their attitude towards school or inspires a love of learning. For a large number of students we know the opposite is true-- large amounts of homework stifle motivation, diminish a child’s love of learning, turn reading into a chore, negatively affect the quality of family time, diminish creativity, and turn learning to drudgery.
Unable to produce evidence that homework improves student performance, proponents often site outcomes that seem true because they make some kind of intuitive sense. “We give homework because it develops responsibility, study skills and work habits. Once again, there is no research to support any of these claims. If there was, we would be able to say with some level of authority how much homework it takes to develop good work habits--- two hours a week, four hours a week, or maybe a half hour every other day. We don’t know what is necessary- there is no data. I would suggest that our present one hour, four days a week, thirty-six weeks a year, following a six-hour school day is much more than is needed to develop age appropriate work habits in nine and ten year old children. I certainly don’t believe that homework teaches our children responsibility. There are very few choices in homework. The children are completing work that is required. They are complying with adult demands. Comply or suffer the consequences. This is not my idea of responsibility.
The argument for homework that makes the least sense to me is, “they get lots of homework in the middle school so we better get them used to it”. Parents and teachers say this resigned to the fact that this homework experience may be painful, work against quality family time, and diminish a young child’s fondness for learning. We want to get them ready to do something they are not going to want to do when they are older--- by forcing them to do it when they are younger. Young children are not the same as older children. What is good for older children is not what is good for younger children. There are developmental differences. Author Alfie Kohn says, “The fundamental choice we face as parents and teachers is whether our primary obligation is to help children love learning, or get them accustomed to gratuitous unpleasantness so they can learn to deal with it.”
With all that being said, what are we going to do about homework at Oak Knoll? How will we work and support the homework policies of Menlo Park? In no particular order:
• We will promote reading as the central aspect of our homework. Preferably, reading of the child’s choice.
• We will not provide weekly homework packets that have not been differentiated based on individual student needs. Weekly packets help parents and students manage time. However, packets of this nature almost always include homework of which the child has demonstrated in class that he has absolutely no need to complete.
• At no time will homework exceed the district maximum time limits.
• We will not assign homework for homework’s sake.
• Homework, other than reading, will be assigned when a specific need arises, when it’s necessary to practice a skill or complete important work.
With these directions in place, most parents will notice a considerable reduction in the amount of homework. The Oak Knoll teachers will be working to comply with my direction as principal and with the policies adopted by the Menlo Park Board of Education. Parents should also notice an increase in the relevance of the homework to their child’s needs. Should you have questions about the quantity and quality of homework please feel free to contact me.
*************************************************
18 September, 2006
Quarantine
I have been rarely checking email for the last week or two we have been running from doctor's appointment to the pharmacy.
We have been dealing with Jake.. no surprise there, but he has had a recurrence of MRSA . Basically it is a staph infection that does not respond to most antibiotics. He had it right when Lucy came home from the hospital and we thought we beat it. This time it made terrible horrible wounds on his lower body and was very painful (even for a kid with a VERY high pain tolerance) and we have needed to be extremely conscientious above and beyond my normal geraphobiness to keep things bleached and hands clean, and of course there I am with eczema and nursing a newborn...we just spent the three days in the hospital (Descartes slept there) getting Jake intramuscular shots of antibiotic ever 8 hours. We weren't even allowed to leave our room. We have been reported to the CDC etc.
Lovely
We have been dealing with Jake.. no surprise there, but he has had a recurrence of MRSA . Basically it is a staph infection that does not respond to most antibiotics. He had it right when Lucy came home from the hospital and we thought we beat it. This time it made terrible horrible wounds on his lower body and was very painful (even for a kid with a VERY high pain tolerance) and we have needed to be extremely conscientious above and beyond my normal geraphobiness to keep things bleached and hands clean, and of course there I am with eczema and nursing a newborn...we just spent the three days in the hospital (Descartes slept there) getting Jake intramuscular shots of antibiotic ever 8 hours. We weren't even allowed to leave our room. We have been reported to the CDC etc.
Lovely
09 September, 2006
babyLucy
Here is a picture of baby Lucy. She is scary alert and interested and interesting for a three month old...she loves Sesame Street and yelled at me the other day when I put it on mute so I could hear better the conversation I was having with Descartes. It appears that I would have one child on each end of the spectrum, thus am I blessed in this world. She has a pleasant disposition, happy kid unless she has a wet diaper or needs some more milk.. she is just like her mom...zero to ballistic in three seconds, then happily sated with good customer service. All she wants is for each of us to do our best. Luckily I still get points for trying. She is in love with Jake, watching his every move, and he has been the ever-gentle big brother. Very calm and slow around her. A tremendous relief to us all.
22 August, 2006
Autism linked to delayed brain development - health - 21 August 2006 - New Scientist
Autism linked to delayed brain development - health - 21 August 2006 - New Scientist
Autism may be the result of a delay in neuronal development in the first year of life, despite the fact that autistic children have larger brains, a new study suggests.
The findings challenge a previously held theory that brain abnormalities characteristic of autism were due to faster development.
Brain scans, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), have shown that children with autism have brains that are enlarged by around 10%. However, although the children’s brains are larger in size, they appear to lack the neuronal development of healthy children, the researchers say.
Stephen Dager at the University of Washington School of Medicine, US, and colleagues examined the brains of children aged three and four. They compared the brain development of children with autism to children with normal development using a technique known as T2 relaxation, which measures the water properties of brain tissue. As the brain develops, water gets incorporated into neurons and changes from being mobile to tightly bound.
During normal development, this process occurs at a dramatic pace for the first six months, and then continues at a slower pace until 18 months.
Critical stages
Surprisingly, they found that water was more mobile in autistic brain tissue, suggesting that there is actually a delay in neuronal development. This delay was found to be more specific to grey matter distributed at the surface of the brain.
The delay could be cause by inflammation in the first year of life, Dager suggests. “If you’ve got inflammation, it can affect connectivity at a critical stage of brain development.” This may lead to learning difficulties as the child develops, he suggests. “For example, a child has certain key developmental stages for learning language and if you miss those it can be harder to learn that language.”
Some children may have a gene that makes them more likely to produce an inflammatory response early in life, Dager speculates.
Gene hunt
“I think these results are an interesting development, but most research still has no direct link to treatment,” says Matthew Belmonte, senior research associate at the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge in the UK.
“Until we know exactly what it is that causes the abnormal development of grey matter we cannot develop drug treatments,” he adds.
Current research has focused on finding candidate genes that might cause rapid early development, but Dager’s study suggests that other avenues of research could be more appropriate. “One might look at genes that cause a susceptibility to inflammation instead,” he says.
Journal reference: Neurology (vol 67, p 632)
Autism may be the result of a delay in neuronal development in the first year of life, despite the fact that autistic children have larger brains, a new study suggests.
The findings challenge a previously held theory that brain abnormalities characteristic of autism were due to faster development.
Brain scans, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), have shown that children with autism have brains that are enlarged by around 10%. However, although the children’s brains are larger in size, they appear to lack the neuronal development of healthy children, the researchers say.
Stephen Dager at the University of Washington School of Medicine, US, and colleagues examined the brains of children aged three and four. They compared the brain development of children with autism to children with normal development using a technique known as T2 relaxation, which measures the water properties of brain tissue. As the brain develops, water gets incorporated into neurons and changes from being mobile to tightly bound.
During normal development, this process occurs at a dramatic pace for the first six months, and then continues at a slower pace until 18 months.
Critical stages
Surprisingly, they found that water was more mobile in autistic brain tissue, suggesting that there is actually a delay in neuronal development. This delay was found to be more specific to grey matter distributed at the surface of the brain.
The delay could be cause by inflammation in the first year of life, Dager suggests. “If you’ve got inflammation, it can affect connectivity at a critical stage of brain development.” This may lead to learning difficulties as the child develops, he suggests. “For example, a child has certain key developmental stages for learning language and if you miss those it can be harder to learn that language.”
Some children may have a gene that makes them more likely to produce an inflammatory response early in life, Dager speculates.
Gene hunt
“I think these results are an interesting development, but most research still has no direct link to treatment,” says Matthew Belmonte, senior research associate at the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge in the UK.
“Until we know exactly what it is that causes the abnormal development of grey matter we cannot develop drug treatments,” he adds.
Current research has focused on finding candidate genes that might cause rapid early development, but Dager’s study suggests that other avenues of research could be more appropriate. “One might look at genes that cause a susceptibility to inflammation instead,” he says.
Journal reference: Neurology (vol 67, p 632)
21 August, 2006
First Grade makes Me Cry
I remember first grade. I remember
Jake started first grade today. and I cried last night as I was packing his lunch. I cried because I remember the school play, and losing my teeth and sitting next to Kristin Gunnerson. And I remember wearing a 'dickey' to school because my mother made me, then slipping it off in the bathroom because it itched, and Mrs. Geiser asked if I had left my sweater on the bus (because she could not imagine that my mother had sent me to school without a shirt under my jumper.)
So I cried because Jake is there. He is where I begin to really remember my life. And I am not quite sure why it makes me so sad, except that he is experiencing these things and we can't really even talk about them. Then when he is older, will he remember too? Does he remember things like I do? Does he look forward to things like the first day of school? Was he worried this morning? Was he scared on the bus? Is that why he cried? Oh how he cried this morning.
Bonnie from Tower Road, she told me that I would mourn over and over. That I would be able to get it together in between,but that I would probably notice a loss again when we reached different milestones. She forgot to mention first grade. I thought I wouldn't feel it again until junior high school.
My wonderful husband hugged me in the kitchen until I stopped sobbing.
Jake had a great day at school today. He told me he did.
Jake started first grade today. and I cried last night as I was packing his lunch. I cried because I remember the school play, and losing my teeth and sitting next to Kristin Gunnerson. And I remember wearing a 'dickey' to school because my mother made me, then slipping it off in the bathroom because it itched, and Mrs. Geiser asked if I had left my sweater on the bus (because she could not imagine that my mother had sent me to school without a shirt under my jumper.)
So I cried because Jake is there. He is where I begin to really remember my life. And I am not quite sure why it makes me so sad, except that he is experiencing these things and we can't really even talk about them. Then when he is older, will he remember too? Does he remember things like I do? Does he look forward to things like the first day of school? Was he worried this morning? Was he scared on the bus? Is that why he cried? Oh how he cried this morning.
Bonnie from Tower Road, she told me that I would mourn over and over. That I would be able to get it together in between,but that I would probably notice a loss again when we reached different milestones. She forgot to mention first grade. I thought I wouldn't feel it again until junior high school.
My wonderful husband hugged me in the kitchen until I stopped sobbing.
Jake had a great day at school today. He told me he did.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
