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Anne Sullivan: a personal tutor who made history

Susan Cumberland September 27, 2013

To the devoted teacher, personal tutor, professor, parent or anyone who has dedicated their time to patiently and selflessly nurture and impart knowledge into young minds, thank you.

Helen Keller’s personal tutor changed her life

The inspirational story of Helen Keller has been featured in many plays and films because of what she was able to achieve regardless of overwhelming obstacles. Helen Keller truly was an amazing woman, but her accomplishments were made possible because of the dedicated instruction of her personal tutor, Anne Sullivan.

The beginning of a life-long companionship

As a young child Helen suffered from a severe illness that left her blind and deaf. She was unable to speak or communicate effectively and it was difficult for her parents to control her behavior. Her parents did not know what to do with her, so they hired Anne Sullivan to be her live-in personal tutor. Because Anne Sullivan was blind as a child and then was able to partially regain her sight she understood some of the challenges that Helen faced.

Developing a unique form of communication

Anne Sullivan was able to work with Helen to develop a way of communicating by making signs in the palm of her hand while allowing her to feel the object that corresponded with the sign with the other hand. This was not easy to do and it took time and patience for Sullivan to endure with Keller through much frustration. In this way, over time Helen was able to communicate not only with her personal tutor but also with others. She was even able to read lips with her hands and she learned how to speak based on feeling the vibrations of the vocal chords.

Going on to do great things

With the constant support of her personal tutor, Anne Sullivan, Helen Keller went on to higher education and eventually made history as the first blind and deaf person to ever graduate from University with a degree. After finishing her education, Keller became a writer, a public speaker and a women’s rights activist. Through most of these accomplishments Anne Sullivan remained by her side as her loyal supporter and companion until her death in 1936. Keller continued to inspire the world until her own death in 1968. Her inspiring story continues to be remembered through the play and film titled “The Miracle Worker” that are both based on her autobiography.

A great teacher or personal tutor must possess patience, endurance and faith in their students

The reason why this story of Helen Keller’s personal tutor is so inspiring for many of us is because we may have had a dedicated teacher or personal tutor who made a difference in our life. All life-changing educators share the same characteristics of endurance and never giving up on even the most difficult students. Perhaps you had a teacher who believed in you and worked with you until you achieved a new skill that you never thought was possible. They encouraged you even when you felt you wanted to give up.

Where would you be today without that one teacher or personal tutor who believed in you?

What if Helen Keller’s personal tutor, Anne Sullivan had given up on her because the task of educating a young blind, deaf girl was too difficult? Where would you be today without that childhood teacher who helped you work through your reading disability and caused you to love reading or that crazy science professor who inspired you to pursue your career in scientific research? It is because of these instructors who have spent their lives helping others become the best they can be that we can now say that anything is possible.

5 lunch box ideas that are full of healthy fats for kids

Susan Cumberland September 21, 2013

Have you ever heard of fat actually being good for you? Most people think that low fat and nonfat items are healthier, but you’ll be interested to know that some fats are necessary and are especially good for the brain. Here is a list of 5 lunch box ideas that contain healthy fats for kids that promote brain development.

Lunch box idea #1. Avocados contain healthy fats for kids to develop healthy brains

Avocados are full of good monounsaturated fats. Add avocado to your child’s favorite sandwich. It goes great on turkey, egg salad or chicken salad. Another great idea is to cut an avocado in half, remove the pit and then fill it with anything that sounds good. You could fill it with tuna salad with green onions sprinkled on top or bacon and tomatoes like a BLT. Whatever you choose to put in the avocado it is easy to eat with a spoon and it becomes something exciting and different from the typical sandwich.

Lunch box idea #2. Nuts and nut butters make great snacks full of healthy fats for kids

Nuts are full of good fats as long as you don’t buy ones with added oils and other additives. For kids with peanut allergies there are other nuts and nut butters available like almond butter and cashew butter that go great on sandwiches or as a special spread for fruits and veggies. Some schools do not allow peanuts on school grounds because of allergies; so make sure to check before sending nuts in your child’s lunch!

Lunch box idea #3. Fish is full of fatty acids, which are healthy fats for kids and their brains

Tuna fish is great because you can mix lots of yummy things into it to make your kid’s sandwich just the way they like it. Try adding diced up pickles, celery, green onions, apples, raisins or even cashews for additional crunch and more healthy fats. Another simple sandwich idea is smoked salmon with cream cheese on a bagel or a roll. Tuna fish and salmon contain fatty acids that are necessary for proper growth and brain development.

Lunch box idea #4. Grass fed butter is a good source of healthy fats for kids

Grass fed butter contains certain vitamins that are not found in other butter alternatives like margarine. By spreading grass fed butter on the sandwich bread before placing the other ingredients in the sandwich, the sandwich bread will be kept from getting soggy. Adding grass fed butter to cooked vegetables, scrambled eggs, desserts and more also adds rich flavor and nutritious vitamins and healthy fats to your child’s diet and will give them even more brainpower.

Lunch box idea #5. Full fat yogurt is a delicious dessert option full of healthy fats for kids

Full fat yogurt if full of healthy fats and probiotics that are not only good for digestion but are also good for your kid’s brain. Try making this delicious dessert for your kid’s lunch. Prepare a fruity parfait in a plastic container for your child’s lunch. These can be made by layering fresh or *frozen fruit between layers of plain, full fat yogurt, sweetened with honey. You can even pack a little container or plastic baggie filled with crispy granola that can be added to the parfait when it’s time to eat. This ensures the granola won’t be soggy before lunchtime.

School is now in session, so you can put these healthy lunch box ideas to use when making your kid’s school lunches. Here is an instructional video made by a health conscious teen that has even more lunch box ideas. This is especially helpful for teenagers who make their own school lunches and want some healthy ideas.

*Tip: using frozen fruit will keep the yogurt cold until lunchtime.

4 ways to get rid of back to school anxiety

Susan Cumberland September 15, 2013

Does your child have back to school anxiety?

Are they dreading returning to school? If so, here are a few ways to help your family prepare for the start of the new school year. Escape back to school anxiety by making school something to look forward to.

Kids look forward to Christmas and their birthday for weeks because they associate the winter holidays with special family time, good food and let’s not forget the presents. Why not turn back to school time into something your children will look forward to rather than dread.

1. Turn back to school shopping into special gift giving.

Most families like to do one big back to school shopping trip and get everything taken care of and over with in one day. What if instead of buying everything all at once you pay attention to the clothes and school supplies that your child really likes and secretly buy them another time. Then you can surprise your child with individually gift-wrapped “presents” that contain back to school clothes or special pens and backpacks. You can even space out the gift giving over the course of a week or two by giving your kids one special back to school gift each day. Most kids love getting presents and this will get them excited to start putting their new clothes and school supplies to use once school starts!

2. Take a field trip to your kid’s school the week before school starts.

Half of the fear of going back to school or even starting at a new school is the fear of the unknown. If your child is starting kindergarten or is transferring to a new school, they are probably feeling uncomfortable with the idea of going to a new place, they may even be worried that they won’t be able to find their way around. Take the opportunity to make a fun trip to the new school. Take a picnic to the new school and spend a fun afternoon exploring the new school and playing at the playground. This allows your child to create a positive association with their school. For secondary students it is nice to go to the school ahead of time to do a walk through of their new class schedule so they know exactly what to do on the first day. Hopefully this will help take some of the back to school anxiety away!

3. Create a special back to school menu for the first week of school.

This is an activity you can do with your child a few weeks before school starts. Together you can plan out some special meals for the first week of school. Let your child choose some of their favorite foods that you can have for breakfast on the first day. Go shopping together for exciting lunch items for your kid’s lunches. Let each of your kids request their favorite dinner for you to make during the first week. You don’t have to make every meal special, but maybe one exciting meal a day can be something for your child to look forward to each day of the first week of school.

4. Go on a special date after the first day of school.

What kid doesn’t like ice cream or doughnuts? Surprise your kids by taking them out for a special treat after their first day of school. This can be an afterschool treat or an after dinner treat (for working parents). Use this time to ask your child about their day and let them know you are interested and supportive of them. What a great way to end their first day and get them ready for the rest of the week, free from anxiety!

What are some special traditions your family does to reduce back to school anxiety? 20 moms shared their ideas about how to make back to school special on this blog post. We’d also love to hear your ideas, so please feel free to share your comments with us!

The Evolution of School Supplies Throughout History

Susan Cumberland August 9, 2013

It’s back to school season again and time to shop for new school supplies. Let’s take a look at how school supplies have evolved throughout history and how they will continue to change in the future. Get ready for a flash from the past.

One of the earliest history of school supplies recorded in history is the hornbook that was first produced in England in 1450. Hornbooks were usually made from a wooden tablet with a handle to hold on to. Usually a hornbook would have the alphabet printed on it covered with a clear sheet made out of a piece of horn to protect the letters. Children could carry these books with them to help them learn the alphabet. Sometimes they also had prayers or other inscriptions for the child to memorize.

Back in the 1800s children usually gathered in one-room schoolhouses. Each child might have had a few school supplies that consisted of a writing slate, chalk, and a few books that they carried strapped together with leather straps or a belt. They brought their lunch to school in tin pails that look nothing like today’s plastic, insulated lunch sacks.

In the early to mid 1900s students started to have paper and pencils and more schoolbooks. They still didn’t use bags or backpacks, but rather, carried their books to and from school by hand or held together with a belt.

Dick and Jane readers started being used in the 1930s and continued to be a part of school curriculum until the 1970s. Dick and Jane books were used as reading material for beginning readers. These simple readers contained phrases like “See Jane run, see Dick run.”

1943 the first Pee-Chee folders were produced as a way to keep papers organized and held together. The folders all have pictures of students performing sports activities on them. They used to only come in a peach color hence they were named Pee-Chees. These folders are still available today in colors other than peach as well.

Writing tablets have been produced since the late 1800s containing sheets of newsprint with widely spaced lines for young children to practice printing. Most children could not afford paper tablets in the early 20^th century, but they did become more popular in the 1950s and 60s. In the 60s the same company began producing spiral notebooks with lined paper that are still being used today.

Simple pocket calculators have been available for use in schools since the 1970s. In more recent years those calculators are being phased out as students as young as grade six have scientific calculators on their school supplies list.

The Trapper Keeper binder made it’s debut in the 1970s and gained popularity in the 80s and 90s as a stylish way of keeping papers organized with dividers and a closing flap held in place by Velcro.

In the 1980s backpacks or book bags became the most common way to carry school supplies and books to school. Backpacks are still popular today with students of all ages, although there have been some concerns that young students should not carry heavy backpacks because it can put too much strain on children’s developing frames.

Today school supplies usually include paper, pencils (#2 or mechanical), colored pencils, markers, tape, white out, ruler, highlighters, erasers, calculators, spiral notebooks, binders, folders, books (for each subject), and a USB flash drive for storing and turning in writing assignments.

These items from today’s school supplies lists all seem very advanced compared to previous decades, but how much will school supplies change within the next ten years? It is possible that within the next decade school supplies will become mainly electronic?

Electronic tablets have notepad programs for taking notes, paint programs for drawing diagrams, they have plenty of storage space for homework assignments, all types of different calculators, web access for doing research, dictionaries, thesauruses, and e-books that you can highlight and take notes in. It almost seems like the tablet could become the all inclusive school supply. It will be interesting to see what becomes of the more classic school supplies in the upcoming years.

Adaptive learning: is this the future of education?

Susan Cumberland August 2, 2013

Not all people learn the same way. This is an obvious fact and obstacle that educators have been dealing with since the beginning of classroom learning. We can’t expect children to sit in a classroom, under the same instruction and all progress at the same speed. For hundreds of years the typical education system has labeled some students as being smarter and more capable than the others and some students as being less smart and incapable of learning.

Teachers and personal tutors have been trying to implement ways of broadening instruction to cater to each individual’s learning styles and needs. However, the way our schools are set up does not make this type of teaching and learning practical or possible. The exciting news is that in today’s modern world that is full of ever evolving technology there is now a way to personalize learning for each and every student in the classroom. Here’s where adaptive learning comes in.

What is adaptive learning?

Adaptive learning is a form of online learning that uses technology to customize subject material for each individual student. A company called Knewton has developed a way for an electronic device to actually keep track of how the student is learning based on how long it takes them to answer questions, how quickly they are reading sections of text and even takes into consideration what time of day the student performs better in certain subjects. Based on the information about that particular student, the computer or handheld device will then offer recommendations of what the student should work on next in order to strengthen their understanding of the subject.

How will adaptive learning affect the way we learn?

Adaptive learning allows students to learn at their own pace, with a customized curriculum that caters to their specific strengths and weaknesses. If the computer can tell that the student is struggling with a certain concept and getting frustrated, then the program will adapt so the student can review other concepts that will refresh their memory, and build their confidence, before moving on to the more difficult concept. Adaptive learning programs, like the one developed by Knewton have developed a way to work with certain companies to turn textbook curriculum into interactive and adaptive learning tools. Knewton plans to expand this system even more to eventually encompass even more educational information available on the Internet.

How will adaptive learning change education?

This type of learning can not replace the need for classrooms and teachers, but it will help to facilitate learning and be a complement to classroom learning. Adaptive learning focuses on the increase of knowledge and mastering subject material. Classroom settings and working with teachers and tutors doesn’t merely supply knowledge, these are important factors that help students develop social skills and ways to handle life situations which are arguably just as important as learning the facts.

Knewton has been developing a program that eventually can be used by people all over the world as a tool to provide adaptive learning to anyone with access to the internet. Based on an article from The Daily Beast, the owner of Knewton predicts that within the next ten years schools will no longer be using paper textbooks and homework assignments, but will do everything online. Knewton has already done a case study with Arizona State University students and the results are remarkable. Drop out rates have decreased, more students are passing their classes, and the teachers are more able to provide personalized instruction to their students.

Adaptive learning will not only change the way students are learning, but it will also change the way educators teach. Rather than presenting lecture style lessons to the entire class, teachers will be free to help individual students as the others work on their computers or tablets. It will be interesting to see how schools will receive these new advancements in technology and how they will be incorporated into classrooms around the world.

Thank you to DeSales University for their amazing photo!

Summer Math Activities for Kids

Susan Cumberland July 26, 2013

Earlier this summer we posted some ideas on our Blog about summer science activities and summer reading activities. Today’s post will give you some ideas for fun summer math activities to do with your kids while the weather is still nice outside!

Plan an outing that is full of educational summer math activities.

Have your child choose a park or a beach around Vancouver. Have your child figure out how many kilometers away the park is from your house and then calculate how long it will take to get there based on the number of kilometers and the average speed of the car in kilometers per hour.

Things to bring on your outing to facilitate the summer math activities:

ruler or measuring tape
notebook and pencil

Summer scavenger hunt

Find plants and flowers that have parts in multiples of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc. For example they could find 2 leaves stuck together, a cluster of 3 berries, a star fish with five legs, or a flower with 6 petals. Next they can find something that is 1 millimeter in length, 5 millimeters, 10 millimeters, 50 millimeters, 100 millimeters. Finally they can add all those things together to find out how long they would be if all lined up together. Your child can collect these things and use the notebook and pencil to do calculations and to record their findings by sketching a picture of each item.

Make a picnic for the family

Have your child help pack a picnic basket full of goodies. They can help make the sandwiches by calculating how many slices of bread and how many slices of meat will be needed for five people. They can also figure out how much you will need to buy from the store based on how many pieces of bread, meat, cheese come in a package. They can help measure quantities and make sure there is enough for everyone in the picnic basket. Bring your picnic along for a nice lunch on your outing at the park.

Summer math activities that pay off!

Starting your own business is a summer math activity that results in making some cash. Summer is a great time when kids have extra time to be creative and explore their potential. Having a summer business doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be a classic lemonade stand, or another type of stand that sells baked goods or art projects. Older kids can also ask the neighbors if they can mow their lawn to make some money. This is a great way for kids to earn some money and learn how to keep track of their finances. Use the opportunity to teach your kids how to keep a record of their savings, and deduct their expenses such as: the lemonade and cups. They can figure out how much profit they made. You can even help them choose a desired item or service that they want to save up for. Then they can figure out how much more money they will need to buy the desired item.

All of these summer math activities are simple, inexpensive and fun, yet they still get your kids thinking and practicing their math skills when they are on vacation. Turn some of your vacation plans into summer math activities and let us know how they turn out!