The Birchwood Project

Research is confirming what many parents and educators understand intuitively: if you want children to become good at anything, you must begin education and training early. Sports and music enthusiasts have long understood this fact. In America during the past twenty-five years, we’ve witnessed a phenomenal increase of intense training and coaching at an early age for tennis, soccer, hockey and other sports. No one is surprised when we learn that an accomplished teen pianist has been studying piano seriously since age 8.

The underlying reality here is that the acquisition of skills and knowledge multiply - the earlier the investment, the greater the return. Often referred to as “The Matthew Effect” (from Matthew’s Gospel, the rich get richer) the idea describes, for example, that if children learn to read early, the benefits of being a competent reader multiply throughout childhood and adolescence. Children’s interest and competency in reading will continue to advance throughout childhood and adolescence. Sociologists have called this the “cumulative advantage” and it has important implications across the academic curriculum. If America wants its youth to excel in math, science, reading and writing, then meaningful efforts must begin early. By the end of elementary and middle school years, student attitudes and abilities in core subjects should be positioned for excellence in high school. There is research to suggest that if children are not competent and enthusiastic toward academics before high school, then even the best teachers find it difficult to inspire their students toward high achievement. Emphasis on a strong academic program should begin early.

But not only do students need a meaningful and substantial early start in academics, they also need an early start in developing good work habits and attitudes. Researchers like Jonathan Haidt (University of Chicago) and Martin E.P. Seligman (University of Pennsylvania) note that intrapersonal achievement skills, the personal habits that lead to academic success, like self-discipline, diligence and perseverance, can and should be developed early. Their effect also multiplies and forms the basis for teenage attitudes and achievement. A graduating middle school student who has learned how to focus, be industrious, manage time, establish goals and map out plans to reach their goals, will position himself or herself to make their high school and college experience robust, rewarding and highly productive.

By Charles Debelak

Posted by burkholder515 at 08:31 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Amidst concerns about the future of education in the United States, it appears any serious and comprehensive solution to the challenges will not occur this September when millions of children head back to school. In fact, very little will have changed from last year.

Nevertheless, there is one big change your family can make this year that will significantly influence your children’s academic progress. It is a change in outlook and attitude, not a change of environment. I would suggest that if you want your children to have a successful academic school year, don’t expect anything from anybody outside of your family! That’s right. Don’t look for someone to do something for you. Academic success does not need to hinge upon what others are doing for you and your children. Instead, teach your children something about self-determination, that academic success is within their own power and control.

I know this flies in the face of every argument we have heard about why “Johnny” can’t read, write or do arithmetic. It’s become a part of our culture to find a scapegoat for poor academic performance. We blame schools, administrators, finances, teachers, curricula, peer groups, facilities, even the Republicans or Democrats. This is not to say there isn’t a great deal of blame to be had. It wouldn’t hurt to see marked improvement in each area. But in the meantime, I would suggest that a culture of blame makes our children helpless victims, waiting for an educational messiah or panacea to save us.

Attitudes of self-determination on the other hand find avenues of possibility and success regardless of environmental circumstances. In a nutshell, self-determination describes an attitude that empowers children to be the major player in how their educational experience turns out. The outcome of their education is in their own hands. Theories surrounding the principles of self-determination are well grounded by scholars and researchers like Albert Bandura, Carol Dweck and Bernard Weiner. Their studies draw upon clinical research and the history of productive lives. They emphasize the power that individuals can possess over their personal lives when they believe the outcome of their efforts is in their own hands.

Children are not born with attitudes of self-determination. They need to be taught and nurtured by parents and teachers. Schultheiss & Brunstein (University of Erlangen, Germany) write “… parents who emphasize early self-reliance … and who teach their children to ‘reach higher’ and set challenging goals for themselves, have children who are characterized by high levels of achievement motivation.”

So what can parents do? From my thirty years of experience teaching and motivating children, I would like to offer a few suggestions:

First, help your children set goals, and then be their constant support, supplying them the energy and will power to be successful. Use “we” talk. Make sure your children understand that you are going to do everything in your power to make this a great school year. Inspire success and confidence. Reward effort and improvement. By your careful oversight, insure their progress.

Drop any notion that your children are, or are not, smart; furthermore don’t let them hide behind these labels. Effort will determine success more than innate abilities. Albert Costa (Institute for Intelligence Behavior) writes “ability is a repertoire of skills and habits that continuously and incrementally expand through one’s efforts.” Carol Dweck (Stanford University) suggests, “…intellectual ability can be increased through one’s efforts.” Don’t allow your children to say they are not smart and therefore give up before they begin, nor allow your children to say they are smart, and then put very little effort into the quality of their schooling.

Reinforce the importance of good education. Make it a family value. Don’t forget, your children often face a youth culture that does not make education a top priority. Before you realize it they may minimize the value of education and the possibilities it affords. Therefore your support for the value of education must be relentless. Talk to your children about the doors education opens. Use examples, good and bad, from history, the newspapers, and even your extended family that reinforce the importance of education.

Make the obtaining of a good education their personal responsibility not dependent upon their emotional or psychological condition. Help your children understand it does not matter if they do not like this class or that class, this teacher or that teacher. It does not matter whether they like to study or not. I recall with some amusement the response a parent offered to their fourth grade child who did not want to do their reading homework because he did not like reading: “Honey, I don’t care whether you like reading or you don’t like reading. In this family, it is your job to study, work hard and do well in school.”

Teach your children the language and behaviors associated with achievement. Talk about the meaning of self-discipline, self-control, delayed gratification and dedication. Point out evidence of these personal characteristics in the people around you who are successful. Almost daily your children will hear persuasive voices that encourage them to take the easy path. Therefore someone needs to be whispering in their ear, reminding them of achievement behaviors “don’t quit, push yourself, work first - play later, put in extra time, sacrifice...” Daphna Oyserman (Univ. of Michigan) has written about the power and positive affect of internal family values against conflicting environmental pressures.

Teach your children to refuse the blaming game. Show them how every disadvantage, disappointment or obstacle is but a challenge requiring personal reflection and discussion that leads to solutions. You won’t be able to stop them from griping about teachers or course work, but do not let their observations be an excuse for an inferior performance. Children should know that no one can stop them from getting a good education in any class in any school.

Finally, it is important to know that your child WANTS this kind of help. Researcher Edward Deci (University of Rochester) argues that children are wired for competency and growth. They thrive on success, and parents must help them navigate the pathway to success. This means that while lecturing them about achievement feel free to ignore their sour facial expressions, obstinate grunts and groans, whining, and endless pleas, “... but I’m the only one ...” Because deep inside their hearts they long for a sense of worth and a sturdy self-concept that achievement affords. They aspire to competency.

Let’s hope that our politicians and educational leaders continue to make meaningful progress addressing all the needs of our educational system. But in the meantime why don’t we do the most that we can with what we have. Through our ceaseless efforts to cultivate self-determined young men and women, let’s help our children receive a superior education this year.

By Charles Debelak

Posted by burkholder515 at 04:14 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Academic success should not be left to chance. We can plan for it. According to the work of Albert Bandura (Stanford University scholar and author of Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control) academic success is directly related to what children believe about themselves and their abilities (self-efficacy). In fact, self-efficacy is a greater predictor of academic success than intelligence and talent. Bandura cites four components that help shape self-efficacy.

First, children need a consistent history of academic success beginning at a young age. A positive history of academic success informs the child’s self-concept and self-worth. It is the work of parents and teachers to provide children meaningful academic challenges and then to help them with the work habits and attitudes that lead to success. Collaboration between home and school plays an important role in establishing levels of challenge and nurturing productive work habits.

Second, children learn habits of success from “vicarious experience,” that is, from role models in history, society and family. When we point out excellent role models, we are, in effect, inscribing visual images in the children’s minds that can speak to them long into the future.

Third, positive self-efficacy is nurtured in an environment that respects, encourages and rewards success. Parents and teachers should readily acknowledge and verbally award children’s efforts that lead to academic achievement. In effect, we should “catch” them working hard and then support their efforts with strengthening words. Furthermore, children should be among peers who value learning and support one another’s efforts to become successful.

Finally, Bandura notes, “people live in a psychical environment that is primarily of their own making.” Due to our emotional, psychological and even physical state, reality is often what we believe it to be rather than what it actually is. Productive people learn to engineer their internal conversations. Even at a young age children can learn how to manage their moods, attitudes and even physical condition (it is a physical challenge to sit at a desk and complete homework) so that they can focus their efforts toward academic achievement.

Teachers and parents should take academic success out of the hands of chance and place it on a path of design.

By Charles Debelak

Posted by burkholder515 at 03:50 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)