Quality Education - The beginning

I used to blog for my old company, but they took the blog down. I am
not actually allowed to own the writings I put up on that blog, but as
I reference them on occasion in my writing I am putting those articles
up in my archives here for reference sake. I'll put the tag GS on those
articles noting that they were originally published on the http://schoolfinder.globalscholar.com/blog/

Quality
Education - The beginning

April
18, 2008 – 8:29 am by Brendan

The first step in
ensuring quality education for your children starts at home. Let’s
face it no matter how great the schools, the neighborhood, or how
smart your child is he/or she will someday struggle in school. This
is a good thing, if your child doesn’t struggle then he or she
isn’t getting the full benefit of a quality education. Many times
the struggle to solve a problem is what a student uses to take
ownership of the concept. Ownership in teaching lingo is what
teachers say when they mean a student knows a concept well enough to
apply it to different situations.

As parents one of
our most important jobs is to prepare our children to make it on
their own. If we can get this job done right in 18 years then we are
lucky. School is a great place to practice that independence. From
the first day when we let go of their hands to the day they walk
across the stage to receive their diploma our children are growing
independently.

Fostering the
confidence and independent spirit necessary to over come difficulties
often requires us to stop helping. For me this is one of the hardest
parts of parenting and teaching. To stand back and wait while
students slowly piece together bits and pieces of a lesson can
sometimes be excruciating. If you have ever heard the story
of how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly
you will know how important working through struggles can be.

When a child or
student does finally figure out a skill or concept after struggle it
is often called an a-ha moment. Yes, they really do say that
sometimes. So the next time you hear your child getting frustrated
over that difficult homework assignment don’t rush right in to save
the day, give you child time to figure it out by himself.

Monday we will
discuss ways to teach that independent spirit.