Summer Reading Program

Children and Creativity

John Florez---Deseret News--  June 1, 2013







It's only when they start meeting the demands of adults to focus that they start losing their innate ability to create. Adults call it learning. Infants are taught to focus and do it the right way. The message is don't risk, focus and do it the right way. In doing so, we limit a child's ability to be creative, innovate and imagine.

When Mae Jemison, the first black woman astronaut, who also has a long list of degrees, spoke at a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People meeting in Salt Lake City, she made an important statement about children. She said everywhere she went people always asked what motivated her. She said that all children are born motivated, the question is: What do we do to take it out of them?
She is right. All infants are born motivated, with a sense of wonder and creativity. They see the world in awe. And while adults around them try to get their attention with goo goos and baby rattles, they are still checking out their new world. They soon begin to crawl, to stand and to fall. They take chances and fail more often than succeed. They don't know failure as we define it; they are too busy trying new things — innovating and creating.
It's only when they start meeting the demands of adults to focus that they start losing their innate ability to create. Adults call it learning. Infants are taught to focus and do it the right way. The message is don't risk, focus and do it the right way. In doing so, we limit a child's ability to be creative, innovate and imagine. It's called teaching: focus, follow the rules and learn facts. Failure is frowned upon, which squelches the innate ability and creativity a child brings into the world. And we call it education.
We still don't seem to see how our century-old education system that prepared children for past economies is now stifling our ability to prepare students for a digital economy, where innovation, creativity and imagination are the skills needed to succeed. Our schools continue to teach and test for jobs that are done by machines or that no longer exist. Today's students face a future where if they lack the ability to create and innovate they will not have jobs that pay a living wage.
While policymakers and educators struggle to find ways to teach creativity and innovation, they fail to understand it's not to be found in lesson plans, rather in creating an environment that nurtures the innate talent all children are born with — curiosity, creativity and being unafraid of failure. Children don't know what they don't know, until adults and our schools tell them differently. As the story goes, a first grade girl was in her art class drawing a picture when her teacher approached her and asked, "What are you drawing?" And the girl replied, "A picture of God." The teacher then said, "But no one knows what God looks like." And the girl said, "Just wait a minute and they will."
In our highly competitive society, parents often structure their child's life to accelerate their learning and shield them from failure. Often parents don't realize we deprive them of the opportunity to learn from failure needed to allow for their creativity to flourish. To deprive them the chance to fail is to deny children the chance to grow. While the hard skills are important to learn, the arts and physical activities may be just as important in cultivating the innate creativity and imagination within them.
Our world is in the midst of another social revolution where those societies that cultivate the creative and innovative talent of their young and old will thrive; those that don't will be left behind. While we talk about teaching out-of-the-box, maybe, if we watch and learn from infants, we could learn about creativity.

A Utah native, John Florez has been on the staff of Sen. Orrin Hatch, served as former Utah Industrial Commissioner and filled White House appointments, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor and Commission on Hispanic Education. Email him at jdflorez@comcast.net.

This is an interesting article I read on http://www.sciencedaily.com

Picking Up a Second Language Is Predicted by Ability to Learn Patterns

May 28, 2013 — Some people seem to pick up a  second language with relative ease, while others have a much more difficult time. Now, a new study suggests that learning to understand and read a second language may be driven, at least in part, by our ability to pick up on statistical regularities.

The study is published inPsychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Some research suggests that learning a second language draws on capacities that are language-specific, while other research suggests that it reflects a more general capacity for learning patterns. According to psychological scientist and lead researcher Ram Frost of Hebrew University, the data from the new study clearly point to the latter:

"These new results suggest that learning a second language is determined to a large extent by an individual ability that is not at all linguistic," says Frost.

In the study, Frost and colleagues used three different tasks to measure how well American students in an overseas program picked up on the structure of words and sounds in Hebrew. The students were tested once in the first semester and again in the second semester.

The students also completed a task that measured their ability to pick up on statistical patterns in visual stimuli. The participants watched a stream of complex shapes that were presented one at a time. Unbeknownst to the participants, the 24 shapes were organized into 8 triplets -- the order of the triplets was randomized, though the shapes within each triplet always appeared in the same sequence. After viewing the stream of shapes, the students were tested to see whether they implicitly picked up the statistical regularities of the shape sequences.

The data revealed a strong association between statistical learning and language learning: Students who were high performers on the shapes task tended to pick up the most Hebrew over the two semesters.

"It's surprising that a short 15-minute test involving the perception of visual shapes could predict to such a large extent which of the students who came to study Hebrew would finish the year with a better grasp of the language," says Frost.

According to the researchers, establishing a link between second language acquisition and a general capacity for statistical learning may have broad implications.

"This finding points to the possibility that a unified and universal principle of statistical learning can quantitatively explain a wide range of cognitive processes across domains, whether they are linguistic or nonlinguistic," they conclude.

This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (159/10) and by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (RO1 HD 067364 and PO1HD 01994)
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To Send My Child to a Bilingual School or Not? That Is the Question.

This might be helpful to share with some parents. 

 

 

To Send My Child to a Bilingual School or Not? That Is the Question.

by Alice

By Alice Lapuerta
Photo Credit: MIKI Yoshihito

One would think that for a multicultural family the answer’s obvious: yes, of course you send your daughter to a bilingual school! How can you even pose this question! Nevertheless I hesitated. I pondered. I weighed my choices back and forth in my mind. You see, it’s not that easy.

I talked to people about this and am surprised at the great amount of arguments that I heard against taking such a step.
A recurring one is: “But all her friends are going to the local school here!” (true, true …) as well as “But the school is so far away, at the other end of town! And here you have a really good elementary school right next door! How can you think of driving so far every day?”  Indeed.
The recurrent argument being: “But how can you even think about tearing your child out of its familiar environment! She’ll be completely isolated!”
This is where I tell myself, now wait a minute. What kinds of assumptions are being made here? If we send our daughter to said bilingual school, the whole family will suffer because…

• the school is too far away,
• she will lose all her friends,
• she will be isolated,
• and therefore be dreadfully unhappy,
• and anyhow, who says that the bilingual school is any better than the local school? The teachers there might be as bad as anywhere else. There are bad apples in every basket, they tell me.

All these arguments made me uneasy.
So, as a pathological list maker, I made not one, but four lists:
Plus points for sending my daughter to the bilingual school:

• Language development opportunity in English and German.
• She will see that she is not the only child learning more than a language.
• Since the school is more multicultural, she’ll fit in well with the other kids.
• The teachers, some of whom have trilingual families themselves, completely understand our situation and will be supportive of her language development. In our case, a “bad” teacher is a teacher who doesn’t understand our situation.
• She will end up as a true balanced bilingual.

Minus points for sending my daughter to the bilingual school:

• School is too far away, no school bus, so need to drive.
• She might lose touch with local friends.
• She might get isolated.

Plus points for sending my daughter to the local, German-only school:

• It’s right next-door.
• All of her friends go there.
• She knows the school.
• They learn English from first grade on as well. Once a week.

Minus points for sending my daughter to the local, German-only school:

• Little to no English.
• Very little emphasis on multiculturalism.
• She might be the “odd” one there.
• Will the teachers really understand her situation?

On analyzing my list, we concluded that the two main points we were concerned with were:  fostering my daughter’s bilingual development versus the fact that the school is “too far away.”
So what did we decide?  What did all of this deliberation lead to?
In the end, we came to the conclusion that getting up an hour earlier is but a small sacrifice to make.
We enrolled her in the bilingual school.
Two years later, I can’t believe that distance and having to get up an hour earlier was even thought of as an issue! None of the minus points against the school turned out to be a problem. Our children are going to a school that is different from the locals, but they have not lost touch with their local friends here. They are not “isolated.”
However, I am glad that my husband and I thought through everything ahead of time.  The lists, if anything, have helped us define what we want for our daughter and the concerns that were on our minds.  We have also been able to look back at our lists to remind ourselves that yes, everything is going along just fine.

The Art of Giving A Gift without Buying A 'Thing'

This article was written by one of the authors of The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace. 

The Art of Giving A Gift without Buying A ‘Thing’



Gift giving, especially in work-based relationships, is largely becoming a thing of the past. Whether it was for a special work anniversary (for example, having worked at the company for five years), one’s birthday, or to show appreciation for the work you do, businesses and organizations used to give gifts to show honor to their staff (both employees and volunteers). But getting gifts for others is becoming fairly rare.

There are a number of reasons for this change:

*the vast number of meaningless token gifts we have received in the past have given "gifts" a negative connotation;

*we often don’t know what our colleagues would want;

*most people don’t need more "things" -- they typically have what they need (who needs another coffee mug?);

*the gifts that would be meaningful to them are often expensive and not within our (or the organization’s) budget;

*because of some abuses in the marketplace, there is fear of being accused of using gifts as a form of bribery or undue influence;

*most of us don’t have the time or energy to do a lot of shopping (we barely are able to get birthday, graduation, wedding & Christmas gifts for our family members)

The fact remains that there are a number of people with whom we work who still value receiving gifts as an expression of appreciation. If we totally remove gift-giving from our repertoire of interacting with others, then we are at risk for not communicating appreciation or encouragement in ways that are meaningful to these team members. As a result, our words of affirmation, spending time with them, or helping them out on projects will not really meet the need they feel to be valued.
Tips for Giving Meaningful Gifts without Buying Things
1. If you haven’t already, identify those team members who have tangible gifts as their primary or secondary language of appreciation. (Note: Few people tend to have tangible gifts as their primary language, so it is important to look at secondary languages on your team’s chart.) Often people value gifts (as long as it isn’t their lowest language), they just tend to value the other languages more.

2. Over time, take note of those activities that your co-workers like to do in their spare time. This will give you a good indication of their interest and places they like to go for fun. See if they enjoy watching sports

(and which teams), or what their leisure activities are. Also listen (and even inquire) about where they like to go out for dinner or for dessert.

3. As we state in the chapter on the language of tangible gifts, people in our culture tend to value experiences more than things. And often these experiences have at least a small financial cost associated with them. So an easy way to give a colleague a gift is to provide the funds to do (or get) something they would enjoy. Most of us aren’t comfortable with giving (or receiving) cash, so the best way to do this is through giving gift cards, tickets or gift certificates. This can allow the person to use the money in the way that is most meaningful to them, but it provides some direction and parameters as well (we usually don’t want them to pay their utility bill with money we’ve given them to go and have some fun.)

So here are some specific ideas for giving experiences without giving specific objects:

*Gift cards:

book store

iTunes (music)

Movie rentals

Recreational activities (bowling, laser tag, paintballing, ice skating)

*Tickets:

movie theatre tickets

sporting events (college, professional)

artistic and cultural events (plays, music theatre shows, concerts, ballet)

Gift certificates for:

Shopping malls

Department stores

Clothing stores

Sporting goods stores

Jewelry

Electronic stores

Personal care (massage, manicure/pedicure)

Restaurants and eateries:

Nice restaurants

Family eating chains

Ice cream shoppes

Coffee shops

Places for Desserts

So, there are lots of opportunities to give gifts to your co-workers – they just aren’t "things"! (And from a practical level, you can do a lot of your shopping online – which is more convenient and takes less time than fighting traffic.) The process of finding out what your colleagues like to do and enjoy can be part of the fun – sort of like being a detective. And it also helps you get to know them better, at a more personal level. Then you have the joy of seeing them receive a gift to experience something that they really value! Happy shopping!
Paul E. White is a licensed Psychologist who has worked with businesses, families, and organizations for over 20 years. He may reached at

2013 National Geography Bee

This is an amazing story!  I watched the finals on Sunday afternoon.  Not only were all the contestants extremely knowledgeable, but they were also extremely polite.  Wouldn't it be fun to see our Esperanza scholars become this passionate about geography, math, chess, science, or some other academic endeavor!

2013 National Geographic Bee winner Sathwik Karnik of Massachusetts is congratulated by his father, Vishwanath; mother, Rathna; and brother, Karthik. (Rebecca Hale/ National Geographic photo)

 

• United States Sathwik Karnik was pretty certain he was going to win the 2013 National Geographic Bee competition, held May 22 in Washington, D.C., when his competitor in the final five-question duel could not name the city in China that contains the world’s largest deposits of rare-earth elements. 
  “I didn’t know I was going to win until the second question came. It was really anyone’s game until then,” Karnik, 12, told India-West by telephone from his Norfolk, Mass., home.
  
  Karnik’s competitor, Conrad Oberhaus, a teenager from Lincolnshire, Ill., failed to name Baotou in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, giving Karnik a slight edge. 
   
  “I knew I would win if I maintained that edge, even if Conrad answered all the other questions correctly,” said the Indian American Karnik, who was born in Mangalore and came to the U.S. at the age of two. “I kept thinking ‘all my hard work has paid off; my passion has brought me this,’ and I finished off on a good note,” he said.
   
  The winning question was: “Because Earth bulges at the Equator, the point that is farthest from Earth’s center is the summit of a peak in Ecuador. Name this peak.” The answer, which both boys got correctly, was Chimborazo.
   
  Karnik won the annual Bee by a single point, earning a $25,000 scholarship and a trip to the Galapagos Islands, which he has long dreamed of visiting. “The one place in the world that stands out to me is the Galapagos Islands. I would love to explore the pristine, natural ecosystem,” said the seventh-grader who attends King Philip Regional Middle School in Norfolk, in a video taped before the competition.
   
  Indian American teens and pre-teens took eight of the 10 winning spots in the finals of the annual Geography Bee, which is sponsored by the National Geographic Foundation and Google and hosted by Jeopardy! game show host Alex Trebek. This will be Trebek’s final year of moderating the championships; CNN correspondent Soledad O’Brien will take the reins next year. 
   
  The Bee is open to students in grades 4-8, who must first win state championships to enter the final competition. Nearly four million children across the country participated in this year’s competition.
   
  Karnik told India-West that his interest in geography began as a pre-schooler, when his mother Rathma would play “I-Spy” games with him and his older brother Karthik, challenging them to find a city, body of water, or other landmarks on an atlas. “That inspired us to learn more about that city or area, and its history,” the youngster stated.
   
  Karthik Karnik twice competed at the nationals, taking 6th place at last year’s Geography Bee, and 5th place in 2011. The 9th grader could not compete in this year’s competition, as he has aged out.
   
  This was Sathwik’s first year at the nationals; he credited his brother with helping him win, noting that Karthik knew the ins-and-outs of the competition, such as what types of questions would be asked. 
   
  On his pre-competition video, Sathwik Karnik, a budding neurologist, jokingly claimed he used a flash-drive to transfer information from a globe, atlas and laptop to his head, by putting the little device near his ear, and then simply waiting.
  Sathwik’s father, Vishwanath Karnik, told India-West that both his boys have traveled to India, and learned the culture of their own country, which has sparked their interest in learning about other cultures. He credits the North South Foundation – a non-profit organization that provides needy children in India with scholarships and holds educational contests in the U.S. – with preparing his sons to attend the finals of the Geography Bee.
   
  Other Indian Americans in the national finals included Sanjeev “Ricky” Uppalari, from Roswell, Atlanta, who took third place; and Akhil Rekhulapalli, from Ashburn, Virginia, who took fourth place. Pranit Nanda of Colorado; Neha Middela of Michigan; Neelam Sandhu of New Hampshire; Harish Palani of Oregon; and Asha Jain of Wisconsin were the other Indian Americans amongst the finalists.
   
  All kids at the finals taped a video, taking viewers on a tour around their state, and answering questions, including a favorite geography “fun fact,” the world leader each most admired, and the country each competitor most wished to visit.
  Uppalari, 11, was the youngest “Top Ten” finalist at this year’s competition. In his videotape, Uppalari highlighted CNN’s Atlanta headquarters, and said he most admired Mahatma Gandhi “who worked for independence using non-violence.”
  Given the opportunity to be a world leader for a day, the pre-teen stated, “I would first reduce poverty and famine, and then provide free medical care for all.” His favorite fun geography fact is that New York City is on the same longitude as Santiago, Chile. 
   
  In the manner of winner Karnik, Rekhulapalli comically stated that he gathers information from his laptop, globe and atlas on a straw which he sticks in his ear, and then just waits. Rekhulapalli said he would most like to be Charles Lindbergh for a day, flying solo around the U.S. 
   
  The 12-year-old’s favorite fun geography fact is that Brazilian cities Rio de Janeiro and San Paulo are reportedly “growing towards each other and will soon become one large megalopolis.”
   

Read more at http://www.indiawest.com/news/11245-sathwik-karnik-wins-national-geographic-bee.html#uDE69qd6y63hSA0J.99

Arne Duncan Touts Advantages of Bilingualism

Arne Duncan Touts Advantages of Bilingualism

- Lesli A. Maxwell

 

His comments aren't likely to ignite a new battle in the bilingual education wars, but U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan over breakfast yesterday gave perhaps his clearest statements to date on the benefits of dual-language development and instruction, especially for students who are English-language learners.

English-learners, he said in a meeting with reporters, come to school with a major asset—their home languages—that educators should capitalize on, especially in the early grades.

"[It] is clearly an asset that these kids are coming to school with," and one that should be "maintained" so that English-learners can become truly bilingual, Duncan said.

"The fact that our kids don't grow up [bilingual] puts them at a competitive disadvantage," he said, noting that it's common practice in many other countries for students to learn at least one other language.

His position is backed by research, most recently by a federally funded analysis that concludes that young English-learners still developing oral and literacy skills in their home languages benefit most from early-childhood programs that regularly expose them to both languages. In fact, the secretary put more emphasis on the benefits of providing bilingual education to English-learners in early-childhood programs, which does not spark the heated controversies and debate that it has in the K-12 space.

Over the course of 45 minutes and a bowl of cinnamon-speckled oatmeal topped with chopped green apples, Mr. Duncan spoke about a range of issues related to Hispanic students, including the potential he thinks the Obama administration's universal preschool initiative holds for the Latino community. Nationally, children born into Latino families are less likely than their peers in other ethnic groups to take part in early-childhood programs that prepare them for school.

"Less than half of Hispanic children attend any sort of early-childhood education," Duncan said. "It's sort of staggering, and then we wonder why we have achievement gaps in kindergarten."

He stressed the need to create more early-childhood programs in Latino neighborhoods and communities, whether they are provided by public schools, community organizations, or nonprofits. During his time as schools chief in Chicago, the district began offering evening prekindergarten—from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.—in some Hispanic communities where there were long waiting lists for morning and afternoon programs.

"People thought we were crazy," he said. "But we had a huge take-up on that. You have to be creative about how you provide the opportunities."

Luis O. Reyes, Ph.D.
Director of Education Programs

Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños / Center for Puerto Rican Studies
Hunter College, CUNY

(W) 212-772-5708           
(cell) 917-865-3759luisoreyes@aol.com