Tag Archives: government

Teaching Kids About Practicing

I think that one of the main lessons my kids have learned from being involved in sports, music, dance, and other classes/activities isn’t about competition or talent. I think one of the main lessons that come from such activities is about practicing—kids can learn that just about anything we do or attempt, we can improve ourselves with practice. We may not ever be a genius or a virtuoso, but we can get better and become reasonably proficient at all sorts of things. It just takes practice. I know that “practice” doesn’t sound very glamorous. In fact, I have one daughter … Continue reading →

Introducing Scrapbooking to Your Preschooler (1)

When you love a hobby or activity so much, you long to share it with your friends, family and anyone else who will listen. I have spoken to more than one scrapbooker, who has been dreaming of the day their preschooler would be old enough to enjoy scrapbooking. Well, a preschooler is old enough to enjoy scrapbooking. If you can teach your child to hold a pair of scissors correctly, and you use a child safe pair of scissors, you can enjoy scrapbooking with your child. Teaching your child to express their own creativity at this young and impressionable age, … Continue reading →

Are Schools Designed for Boys or Girls?

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For years we have heard how girls have been left behind in terms of science and math. It has been said that boys far exceed the girls and that we must place a focus upon women in these careers. I agree with those statements. However, girls make up the difference in other areas and perhaps far exceed the boys. Brain research shows that girls well out do boys in reading and writing. Girls are also generally higher achievers in our traditional classrooms. Boys and girls learn differently. Boys have extra, sometimes uncontrollable, energy. Their attention spans are shorter. It appears … Continue reading →

Perceiving Students and the Classroom

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This will end the descriptions of learning and personality types in the classroom. As you well know, all people are defined by four personality characteristics. The last personality type described by Myers and Briggs is perceiving. The perceiving personality is opposite to judging. This personality also describes a way of life style and work. A perceiving (p) person is unconcerned with deadlines and time frames. He prefers spur of the moment tasks. Perceiving persons often put off their work until they can investigate it more. Finalizing a project or making a final decision often makes them feel confined to one … Continue reading →

Judging Students and the Classroom

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So far I have discussed six personality types placed into three categories. Today will begin the last of the classroom learning style list. The final two personalities, judging and perceiving, describe a person’s life style and work preferences. A judging person prefers to live in a very organized world. He or she needs control of his or her life. This group likes structure, organization, and order. They make decisions and then move on to other issues. Judging persons enjoy completing tasks and getting the job done. They are quick to jump in and begin work on a project. In the … Continue reading →

Feeling Students and the Classroom

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I am thoroughly enjoying discussing the various learning personalities in the classroom. I am also enjoying hearing your comments to the different learning styles. I recently discussed the characteristics of thinking students and their behaviors in the classroom. Those who do not fit into the thinking category most likely belong in the category with feeling students. Feeling people often think about decisions based on how others may be affected. They do not examine facts such as thinking people. They are more likely to act based on instincts and feelings rather than logic. This group often finds it hard to say … Continue reading →

Thinking Students and the Classroom

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Recently, I have been discussing how a child’s personality can affect his or her learning in the classroom. An instrument designed by Meyer and Briggs identifies the different personalities of people. The instrument labels an individual by using four characteristics. The first two characteristics label a person as either being an introvert or an extrovert. The second two labels put people into the categories of being a sensing person or an intuitive person. The third set of personality types are thinking or feeling. In this article, I will describe the actions and thoughts of a thinking person. I will also … Continue reading →

Intuitive Students and the Classroom

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Opposite to the personality of sensing people are intuitive people. While sensing students enjoy learning facts, intuitive students enjoy taking facts and manipulating them to see how they relate with one another. Intuitive students had rather think about things than do them. They want to understand how things work and find the theories behind ideas. Their focus lies mainly in the future. In a sense, intuitive students will work backwards. They solve the problem then go back to decide which facts are significant and which are not. They want to quickly get to the solving part without investigating all of … Continue reading →

Promoting and Encouraging Curiosity

They say curiosity killed the cat, and any parent who’s been on the receiving end of a day’s worth of questions—why, how, where, when, and what—might understand the warning in this old saying. It can get downright aggravating to have your thoughts interrupted with “why?” for the 800th time! Still, curiosity is a good thing and as parents, there are things we can do to encourage curiosity and overcome our occasional unconscious instinct to thwart it. One of the best things we can do to encourage and promote curiosity is to answer those questions! I know how annoying it can … Continue reading →

Let Your Child Be the Teacher

As parents, we know that we learn as much from our children as they do from us. It is the natural course of family interaction that we grow and influence each other. BUT, that’s not what I wanted to write about today, I am thinking about how helpful it can be for a child’s education and intellectual development to be able to “teach” what he or she has learned. As parents, we can encourage our child to teach us the things he or she has learned in school or other activities and by teaching us, the lessons will become more … Continue reading →