As you may remember, adolescence can be a joyful time, a heartbreaking time, or often a combination of both. What to wear to school, which classes to take, to obey the rules or not – teenagers are bombarded with a never-ending list of some of life’s greatest questions. As a parent, you take on the responsibility of pointing your children in the right direction and helping them see which path leads in the right direction.
What Students are Really Missing when Tight Budgets Cut the Arts
It’s no secret that arts programs for children are the go first when budget cuts take place in our school systems. Schools must achieve Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act – and the arts are not a priority, or even included in the assessment standards of most states. But we must pose the question, what are students REALLY missing when we drop the arts from our curriculums?
With the state of the current economy, what’s it going to take to keep our future generation in the game? Current employers aren’t seeking out industry knowledge or a high GPA as much as they used to. In the 21st century, the importance lies with being an independent multi-tasker who can think on her feet, deal with change, and devise multiple solutions to a problem that hasn’t yet happened.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane to our 9th grade English class. You’re discussing Great Expectations. The teacher is reading excerpts that correlate with the notes she has on the board. Your assignment is to copy the notes, read the excerpts for homework and study the notes for a quiz the following day. Have we lost you yet?
First published in 2008 by Scholastic, The Hunger Games had an initial print order of just 50,000 copies. Now available in 26 languages and in 38 countries, each of the Hunger Games trilogies have been #1 on New York Times bestseller lists, selling more than 26 million copies in the U.S. alone. As the movie […]
BinaryLabs introduce LetterReflex, an app for children ages 4+ featuring kinesthetic learning techniques to help kids tell the difference between b’s and d’s, p’s and q’s, as well as other commonly reversed letters and words. Letter reversals are to be expected by any young child learning the alphabet, the cause is a lack of directionality.
Art has always been a facet of who I am. From the first moment I picked up a pencil and scribbled something other than my name, art became a part of me. Art has helped me develop my creativity. Art has helped me build my confidence. Art has shown me an endless canvas of unlimited possibilities.
When I was a child, art allowed me to express my thoughts that were too complex to convey through words. It brought focus and simplified concepts I had conceived. Art took those thoughts and brought them to life in a visible and tangible form. For being a child, art provided this powerful tool which aided in my communication.
Study Suggestions for Right-Brain, Kinesthetic Learners
We all process, store and retrieve information differently. And we all need to find the best way to study and retain new information for our own brain and learning preferences. Especially for all of us right-brainers, who struggle with lecture-dominated learning and heavy word-based testing.
“Art is not freedom from discipline, but disciplined freedom.” -Father Edward Catich
Too often the visual arts are considered a place for unstructured activity and exploration, freedom from discipline or constraint. There is a notion that any structure or expectation in the visual arts will stifle creativity. And yet we would not hold the same standard for any other form of the arts.
As your child moves through her scholastic experience, chances are her favorite class will vary from year to year depending on changing interests. However, depending on her learning style, certain aspects of each class may always appeal to her. If you have a kinesthetic learner, gym class may jump start his engine each day. Your visual learner will favor any class that uses lots of pictures, videos and objects. Your auditory learner will like reading and algebra because she’s comfortable with words and logical processes to reach her answer.
