This moment in our lives is unfathomable. It is my steadfast belief that each of us has a chance to make our future world proud. What we do now so deeply matters, and it is with this energy and mindset that I live these days.
Ready or not, here we homeschool!
With school closures across the country, millions of parents are taking up the new responsibility of educating their kids at home. With this realization, I wanted to make a video to serve as a fun and simple example of how we can make learning both engaging and effective for our kids at home.
To me, this video essentially has two audiences. Those of you in audience #1 will like the video because my daughter absolutely steals the show and shines like a light. Watching her learn is beyond endearing, and I challenge any of you not to smile while watching.
Audience #2, in addition to enjoying the flow of learning, is also fascinated by the subtle strategies I do during the learning, to keep her engaged. You can see an example of this front-and-center within her last challenge, whereby having the foresight to remain quiet, I allowed her to conjure her own breakthrough. It's seriously so beautiful to witness, parenting bias aside.
Here is that new video, and right below, I typed out a list of every tactic I employed, in the hopes that it elevates your teaching game. Enjoy.
0:28 I ask her if she wants to play, to create buy-in
0:56 I ask her to confirm how many cashews, to check for understanding
1:29 I ask her to explain how, to solidify her answer
1:52 "Your turn!", I let her lead
2:28 I get fingers/body involved, to make learning physical as well
3:24 Again asked her how
3:58 I don't overpraise, allowing the joy to come from her
4:02She sets the next game's rules, and even changes it on the fly at 4:13
4:58 I first got too involved, she said 'wait', so I clammed up
5:06 Saying "no" with gentle and neutral tone, no judgement
5:33 Reminding her it's fun, to match her reaction
5:45 Reminding her what she knows, to jog her thinking
5:52 Neutrally asking her why throughout, whether she's right or wrong
6:11 Extended the life of the learning moment without giving anything away
6:20 Invited her to take as much time as she needed... no rushing
6:38 Simple positive reaction upon her breakthrough
6:45 Asked her to demonstrate visually
6:53 Only when she figured out enough, I jumped in with teaching
To those of you in audience #2 who enjoy lifting the curtain on inspired teaching, this is exactly what I fully map out in my book. With many new parents now working with their children at home, and wishing to do it successfully, this book will show you how.
I'll inscribe the book with my heartfelt well-wishes to you, or if you'd like, as a gift to someone you know who'd benefit from it. Just reply to this email with any inscription you'd like me to include inside the front cover.
Here's the link to obtain the book with free shipping. Happy inspiring!
Giving back
This virus is very much like a war, and the soldiers on the front lines of this war are our country's health care professionals. They've been working full tilt during this emergency, with no end in sight.
And now, an unintended consequence of school closures has put even more of a strain on them, because those workers with kids must now also navigate the education landscape as well.
Which is why I'm asking any health care professional who has been stressed by this confluence of events to reach out to me, so that we can set up a free 30-minute tutoring session with your kid(s). I'll meet with them on Zoom as I do with all my students now, find out what they're working on, help them understand it clearly, and outline a program going forward to offer necessary structure in the absence of school.
I don't know if this offering will lead to an avalanche of requests, but I'm ready to pitch in and help them. I'll do my best to calendar them out so that the load is manageable. In turn, this is the part where I ask for volunteers to be my backup. Please reach out to me to potentially serve as a free one-time math tutor for the children of health care workers, should I not be able to keep up with demand, if:
I personally know you, or
if you have an online teacher presence for safety/transparency reasons
Our health care professionals are in the fight right now, and we need to support them. If they fail, we all fail.
Please feel free to pass the message along.
Warmly yours,
Robert
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