Miss Anne's Adventures as a Kumon Instructor

Communication with Your Elementary Age Child
by Denis Waitley

In communicating with children of all ages, eye contact and physical contact are important. These should be part of our everyday dealings. A child whose parents use eye and physical contact will likely be more comfortable with himself and others, be a better communicator and have better self-esteem.

Eye contact, especially, is a little gesture whose presence or absence can covey big meaning. There’s surprisingly little eye contact in many households, and when it does exist, it’s usually negative, such as when the teen is being reprimanded. The more you can make eye contact in a loving way, the more your child will feel nourished.

You send several hundred verbal and nonverbal messages to your children each day. You don’t have to say a word to send a message to your child. You can turn off verbal communications, but not the nonverbal ones. Ninety-three percent of all communication is nonverbal. Parents under stress often withdraw from one another and from their children, and when they do communicate, it tends to be bossy and irritable.

First you listen, and then you talk. Decide that for you the conversation is going to be about listening. Devote your attention to what your son or daughter is saying, because kids are very good at detecting insincerity. Make it clear that you are listening and trying to understand your child’s point of view. When your child describes an event, repeat what you think your child has just said. You might say, “It sounds like you’re saying….” Don’t be too quick with advice. Pat answers imply that the child’s problem is too simple and maybe not significant. Listen while the child explores all aspects of the situation. Often, your child will talk himself or herself into the same solution you were eager to offer.

Stress to your child the importance of using positive, affirming language. Teach your child that his/her language is a reflection of his/her thoughts and attitudes. Also, that others will form attitudes about us, based in part on what they hear us say.

Four Words That Make Life Worthwhile
by Jim Rohn

Over the years, as I’ve sought out ideas, principles and strategies to life’s challenges, I’ve come across four simple words that can make living worthwhile.
First, life is worthwhile if you LEARN. What you don’t know will hurt you. You have to have learning to exist, let alone succeed. Life is worthwhile if you learn from your own experiences—negative or positive.

We learn to do it right by first sometimes doing it wrong. We call that a positive negative. We also learn from other people’s experiences, both positive and negative. I’ve always said that it is too bad failures don’t give seminars. Obviously, we don’t want to pay them, so they aren’t usually touring around giving seminars. But that information would be very valuable. We would learn how someone who had it all, messed it up. Learning from other people’s experiences and mistakes is valuable information because we can learn what not to do without the pain of having tried and failed ourselves.

We learn by what we see, so pay attention. We learn by what we hear, so be a good listener. Now, I do suggest that you should be a selective listener. Don’t just let anybody dump into your mental factory. We learn from what we read, so learn from every source. Learn from lectures. Learn from songs. Learn from sermons. Learn from conversations with people who care. Always keep learning.

Second, life is worthwhile if you TRY. You can’t just learn. Now you have to try something to see if you can do it. Try to make a difference. Try to make some progress. Try to learn a new skill. Try to learn a new sport. It doesn’t mean you can do everything, but there are a lot of things you can do if you just try. Try your best. Give it every effort. Why not go all out?

Third, life is worthwhile if you STAY. You have to stay from spring until harvest. If you have signed up for the day or for the game or for the project, see it through. Sometimes calamity comes; then it is worth wrapping it up and that’s the end. But just don’t end in the middle. Maybe on the next project you pass, but on this one, if you signed up, see it through.

And lastly, life is worthwhile if you CARE. If you care at all, you will get some results. If you care enough, you can get incredible results. Care enough to make a difference. Care enough to turn somebody around. Care enough to start a new enterprise. Care enough to change it all. Care enough to be the highest producer. Care enough to set some records. Care enough to win.
Four powerful little words: learn, try, stay and care.

What difference can you make in your life today by putting these words to work?

When I read this "opinion" letter in the Albuquerque Journal, I truly thought I misunderstood what the author was trying to say. So I read it again. And then, one more time. THEN, I tore it out of the paper and showed it to my husband, because I still couldn't believe someone had written these words!!! Read it for yourself... But make sure you are sitting down :-)

Friday, February 05, 2010 - Albuquerque Journal

There's a Simple Reason Why Math Education Doesn't Add Up

I didn't like math when it was first presented to me well over half-a-century ago, and I still don't. And there is a very simple, non-scientific reason for it.

Numbers are boring. They have no intrinsic meaning. (Whatever meaning they do have usually tells you something you don't want to know, like what is lacking in your checkbook.)

Think about it. You can take a set of numbers, scramble them around in any order you want, even add in some letters for good measure (usually "x" and "y") and still — you don't have anything interesting.

But letters — that is another matter altogether.

You put letters in a certain order, and voila! You get words! Words have meaning! Words can be placed in an infinite number of combinations and you get stories, even literature. Stories can you make you laugh, or cry, and most importantly, for students, they can make you want to keep turning pages to see what happens next.

I cannot recall a single instance in my life when numbers have ever given me the desire to keep turning pages to see what happens next.

Why should this be such a difficult concept for educators to understand?

J.D.
Albuquerque

"We will receive not what we idly wish for but what we justly earn. Our rewards will always be in exact proportion to our service."

— Earl Nightingale, Motivational speaker and author

Don't you love my water bottles? Would you believe I paid less than $1.00 per bottle, including set-up, printing, and shipping?

Some of the teachers who are employed at my Center encouraged me to "back away" from frisbees and focus on water bottles. Why? Students can bring them to school! (Smart ladies I have working for me, right???) I give these bottles to all students who come in for placement testing, provide them to students to bring to their classmates on their birthday (with a Kumon brochure, of course), and use them as prizes for students "playing" the number board at the festivals and fairs I attend.

I bought these bottles from Print Globe ( www.printglobe.com ). The actual bottles, as well as pricing, can be seen here.

Here's the BEST part! For a limited time, Print Globe is offering all Kumon Instructors an additional savings of $25.00 off any order of $200.00 or more! Simply contact my favorite Print Globe Account Representative, John Bryan, at johnb@printglobe.com and mention that you are a Kumon Instructor and saw this offer on my blog. The savings offer can be used on any items purchased from Print Globe.

Note: I have not been compensated in any way by Print Globe or John Bryan for posting this offer. I am strictly posting this as an incentive to my fellow Instructors to increase Kumon brand awareness, at a reasonable price, within their communities.

Have an amazing day~
~~~Miss Anne

I hope these make you smile...
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TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find North America .
MARIA: Here it is.
TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who discovered America ?
CLASS: Maria.
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TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?
JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables.
__________________________________________
TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile?'
GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L'
TEACHER: No, that's wrong
GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it. (I love this kid)
____________________________________________
TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
DONALD: H I J K L M N O.
TEACHER: What are you talking about?
DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.
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TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago.
WINNIE: Me!
__________________________________________
TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?
GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.
_______________________________________
TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with 'I.'
MILLIE: I is..
TEACHER: No, Millie..... Always say, 'I am.'
MILLIE: All right... 'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.' ________________________________
TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it.. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him?
LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand.
______________________________________
TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.
______________________________
TEACHER: Clyde , your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as your brother's. Did you copy his?
CLYDE: No, sir. It's the same dog.
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TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?
HAROLD: A teacher.

Children are amazing... And funny!
~~~Miss Anne

Recently, a new thread appeared on the Kumon Instructor's forum in regard to creating a decorative wall to recognize student achievement. Here's the original post:

"I (am) thinking of doing a wall decoration of Math and Reading study levels with the students' names placed on the corresponding study levels. I am hoping that would motivate my students to work harder and see their names move up, but am also concerned that may be a cause of embarrasment for some students (such as older students with low starting levels). Can anyone offer advice? Thanks."

As I am a huge fan of this concept, I (of course) responded to her request for advice with this post:

"The 'Wall of Success' in the parent waiting are at my Center includes only student names (no age or grade references). As students pass each achievement test, they move their own "dot" up to the next level. (The dots are attached to the wall using poster putty, so they are easy to straighten after class.)
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We add sparkley star stickers around the perimeter of each child's dot for each time they achieve ASHR. Gx5 students get a special border around their dots, as do students completing Level J.
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I have not had any of my older students express any concerns about the dot wall. On the contrary, they are very excited about moving their dots up to where their friends are as quickly as possible... Many supportive conversations between older students have also occured, such as "Oh yeah. I remember starting in Level A, too. You can do a lot of Level A pages in 20 minutes! Just wait until you get to Level G. It will be SO easy for you!"
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I hope this information encourages you to create your own 'Wall of Success'. Ours is a very motivating tool for both students and parents."

Since I my response was published on Monday afternoon, I have received over 50 e-mail requests for pictures!!! So... I'm posting theme here :-)

Here's a closer look at the borders around the dots of my Gx5 students. If you look closely, you'll also see some ASHR stars on many of the student's dots. (The red text is a note that even my staff members have dots!)

Several other Instructors also posted responses to the original request for advice. I would love to see pictures of everyone's "Wall of Success" ideas. If you send me your pictures, I'll be happy to post them.

Wishing you an amazing day!

~~~Miss Anne