Winter Break Homework

Winter break homework in Japan is unique in many ways.  Having homework during the winter break is unique enough, but its contents are more than just academic content review.  In fact, an academic workbook is provided to each child and expected to be completed over the break. New Year's Day is the most important holiday throughout the year, because it represents the ancient Japanese tradition and customs that have passed on through many generations. Schools and communities collaborate to make efforts to pass important traditions to the next generation. 

Starting in the last few days in December, children are expected to help clean the whole house. They dust off everything from the household to welcome a good new spirit. It sounds religious, but it's a custom that has naturally blended into people's lives based on ancient beliefs. Families prepare New Year meals like mochi rice cakes. Each New Year's dish has its own meaning, such as the family's longevity and prosperity.  Children learn the country's and their own family's tradition by participating as an important member of the family. Children are encouraged to help with their family's New Year preparation before the winter break.

Many Japanese teachers give out a list of traditional games, such as flying a kite, Japanese badminton, Sugoroku (a board game), and Karuta (a card game that matches words and pictures), so kids have an opportunity to ask their parents or grandparents what they are. Games are a great way to learn the culture and tradition.

Japanese calligraphy is very important in the New Year. The seasonal phrases or the New Year's resolution will be painted on authentic rice paper with fine black ink and a brush. Students learn important techniques in Japanese calligraphy at school. Japanese calligraphy is the important assignment during the winter break; it takes time to complete the one that you really like. 

"Hands on" experiences are powerful learning tools.  Remembering as a student myself, "homework" didn't necessarily attract me, however, live experiences wouldn't disappear from my memory bank.  It is worth investing your time and effort on projects in order to intake and digest. The teacher's role is to provide students with meaningful opportunities, purpose, and consistency.  Let them get involved!

Warm Hearted Beings

Sharing stories around the fire is such a luxury.  It doesn't matter if it is rustic camp fire flames trying to reach dazzling stars in the long summer night, or a heavy stone fire place with an occasional cracking sound surrounded by people with hot cocoa mugs in their hand.  I believe that fire has a special substance that promotes both energy and calmness in human brains. This makes our bodies relax and enjoy our company, no matter who we are or where we are.  Here is one of the most amazing stories at our New Years' Eve party.

When I was in the healthy supplements sale's booth in the fair, I was nervous.  Although I fully believed in the products, I was the worst sales person ever.  I wasn't confident that I could convince costumers to buy the products. Sure enough, my sales record on the first day was worse than terrible.  

To my surprise, my boss paused and brought up an alternative option instead of scolding me. " I remember you are good at giving massages. I will bring a massage chair tomorrow, so you will give 5 minute chair massage to the customers. You will get some tips."  

On the next day, I saw a sign up sheet on the table in my booth that was full.  I was very thankful for this opportunity that I knew I was good at.  I did my best I could throughout the day with my heart fulfilled.  The next day was similar. But even better, I was confident and relaxed.  I could even observe another booth from my spot. One I was curious about was a hand made "energy" jewelry booth.  During my break time, I visited the booth and immediately my eye was transfixed to the rainbow colored stone shaped like a butterfly.  I picked it up and admired it for a long time.  Five hundred dollars was not a price I could afford in my current life for just one piece of jewelry, so I could only touch and look. The lady in the booth approached me and said,"You really like it, don't you?  I will put a chain in this stone so you can wear it.  I know you are working over there at that booth.  Wear it for today and bring it back at the end of a day."  As soon as the chain went around my neck and the butterfly stone touched on my skin, my eyes were filled with flashback memories of my terrible choices in the past and my true heart accepting them, absorbing them, and cleansing them.  I was healing.  At the end of another successful massage session day, I brought it back to the jewelry lady.  She said, "Wear it tonight and bring it back tomorrow.  I trust you."

"Does this butterfly stone really have such miracle power?"  I wondered.  "Why does this lady treat me so well and trust me?"  While simple questions and appreciation were zigzaging in my head, I  peacefully dozed off that night.

In the morning of my third day of the fair, I was simply too busy to return the magic butterfly stone to the lady. I was hoping she wasn't mad and understood I wasn't forgetting to return.  Just before I was about to visit her, she walked over me.  "I am sorry for holding this for a long time," I immediately apologized.  She grinned kindly.  "It's ok.  It's now officially yours.  Someone who received your massage visited my booth and told me, 'That massage lady really needs that pendant,' and purchased it for you.  So it's paid.  It's yours."  She and I held hands each other and shared tears.

At the end of her story, I, too, shed some tears.  Is it really a magic stone?  I don't know.  What I know is that this stone is a symbol of compassion.  This one extraordinary memory can change the lives of people who have been involved with it. There are so many things that you wish to go away, yet you have to deal with them anyway.  In those negatively visioned everyday circumstances, one powerful and positive experience keeps you courageous. If only one positive experience influences your life so effectively, what would happen if you have many positives?   Alex Korb, PhD  states that self-affirmation boosts the prefrontal cortex's ability.  His advice is that forgiving another person, reflecting on your own actions, and considering another person's feelings, initiate the improvement of perseverance (how well you can stick to your determination) scientifically.

Dalai Lama posted on the New Years' Facebook page, "... to be more sincere, compassionate, warm-hearted beings, trying to make our world a more equal place.  That's actually make it a happy year."  I am so happy to welcome a new year with my great health, wonderful families, and friends.  Hope many positive conversations and memories around the fire will be shared in 2014. 

Creativity in East and West

Here comes the certificate renewal time.  I simply wonder, why am I in the American Education?

A recent conversation with a childhood friend, who has Japanese college education himself, brought up this question.:

"How does the American Education differentiate from that of the Japanese?" 

"It will take all day to explain it," I told him.  That was absolutely true, but I froze a moment.  What is so different?

While being a student in Japan, I heard so many people say, "Japanese Education is lacking creativity."  They were making comments such as: Japanese students don't try to be extraordinary, Japanese students are afraid of being different, Japanese student's are all cookie cutters.  I wasn't sure it was true.  Creativity was not a big focus on any core subjects anyway, so why discuss creativity?  However, their visual arts were extraordinary.  Schools take sketching trips to the nearby parks, and organize school wide water color painting contests.  Although there was no word of "creativity," most of their art were breathtaking products that used sophisticated techniques on capturing objects, adjusting water, and experimenting with different colors.  In the performing arts, Japanese students exhibit their beautiful voices and instrumental sounds with amazing acts of unity.  Sometimes some students tried to be stand up comedians in the school talent shows.  They were all creativity, but only happened outside of math, reading, and writing.  As a result, the definition of creativity was in my mind as "artistic skills".

Therefore, there was no wonder that I was appalled at the American twenty students' art projects on a wall in my internship year in Idaho.  "American education is lacking creativity."   All second grade students used the same pattern and copied what their teacher did on the whiteboard.  Based on the individual cutting skills and strong or soft writing pressure, they created some differences among products; however, they all looked identical.  It was a culture shock.  I was witnessing the totally opposite phenomenon to what I had been told and I had believed.  As my internship went into getting deeply involved in observing other teachers and my own teaching practice, my view began changing.  I heard the word "creativity" quite often in many different occasions throughout a day.  Kids used manipulatives to solve a subtraction problem, were encouraged to sound out to spell, and shared their connection to the book, etc.  The basic teaching pedagogy was to promote students' creativity!  Japanese educators misinterpreted "creativity" and delivered the real education ground.  I realized I was one of those thousands of Japanese students who was victimized of misinterpretation in "global education". Yet, it was also true, using manipulatives was not necessarily helping this girl master her subtraction skills.  Creativity needed a purpose and guidance in Elementary Schools.

I told my friend, "Creativity is the strength in American Education, if kids have a proper academic foundation."

A strength in Japanese education is the strong academic foundation in early educational years.  This fundamental idea as Common Core State Standards, are ready to seep into the American education system.  Students will be able to recognize their own success in learning basics.  Application process is successful only when students obtain academic skills.  By applying these skills in many different ways, students will master specific skills.  Then they will feel ready for the higher level challenge.  Not only do they have content knowledge, but their persevering learning experiences make confident problem-solving citizens.  Most educators are excited about this historical reform in education.  I am too, but in a different way.  We found a way to connect the dots that should have been connected without tangling. Instead of envying other countries' higher achievement, importance of basics and creativity are now merging seamlessly in our country.

2014 is the official adapting year of the Common Core State Standards.   This is not a big change, but it is an opportunity for all educators to sort through their outstanding teaching skills and blend them with the academic foundation.  I am ready to face challenges using my creative thinking.  That's why I am in the American Education.

Advocate in Children

"...... all students must have the opportunity to learn and meet the same high standards if they are to access the knowledge and skills necessary in their post-school lives." (Common Core State Standards in Math) 

It is a voice of advocate like parents bringing up to the teacher about their concerns on their son's last math quiz.  Though both parents would work full time or juggle two jobs, advocates find the ways and time to communicate to the school.  They would also take advantage of the recent information technology to explore over advise they have been looking for.  Advocates care.  Children sense it. 

Educators and leaders in our country are trying to do similar in a large scale.  It is an urgent assignment that ALL students would be prepared to be responsible and productive citizens for their own life before flying away from their nest, the public education system.  Individual distinguished teachers understand it in depth all over the country.  So they deliver lessons every day with passion.  Children see it through their active engagement.

We need the efficient collaboration among all parties to be successful as an advocate for our children, our future, and our country.  Face it.  Realize it.  Take your part.  So you can be active on advocacy in education.  That makes you feel meaningful in the society you live in.  It leads toward our brightest future.

Breaking the Code

Richard Gentry might be sorry for me how slow I get "IT".  But I know he will celebrate for my lightening bulb lit up, then the idea synopses spread out all over my brain.  Breaking the Code (Breaking the Code: The New Science of Beginning Reading and Writing).  

It started from my 8-years-old's question, "What is the Morse Code?"  while reading 10 Days Thomas Edison by David Colbert.  Needless to say, Thomas Edison's inventions are in our daily lives.  Learning about his personal stories behind them are even more fascinating.  Here is an episode.  As a reward of saving his little son, Young Thomas asked James MacKenzie for teaching the telegraph operation instead of money.  Although Thomas was brilliant with persevereance, it took too large amount of time spending to learn just one code at a time all by himself.  MacKenzie became Thomas' mentor and, years later, an employee in Tom's project along with his son whom Thomas has saved. 

I turned to my daughter, "Each code has a special meaning.  But it is so hard to understand."  Then, I realized that printed language seems like a code for early childhood ages in reading and writing world.  If you have a efficient guidance and instruction like MacKenzie, you would gradually become an expert code breaker.  Again, hat's off for Richard Gentry for explaining how the children's brain at certain literacy level functions and how to help develop to the next stage. 

For English Language Learners who are not native English speaker, not only reading and writing, but listening and speaking are all complicated codes.  Fourth graders in Japan learn Romatization of Japanese, called Romaji.  Unlike traditional ways of the Japanese written format, all Japanese sounds beautifully turn into the miracle form of Roman Alphabet!  Students learn this coding system fairly quickly because almost all Japanese sounds are combination of one of 5 vowels and consonant.  For instance, do you understand what "Makudonarudo" is?  It's "McDonald's".  Fortunately and unfortunately, most 4th graders wouldn't know the significant difference between Japanese and English McDonald's in their sounds and spellings at the time. 

The nightmare begins in 7th grade when they officially learn English.  English is a subject they have to pass for good high schools and college, not a communication tool.  One of the smartest kids shared with me how to brilliantly memorize a word "Christmas" in the spelling test.  "You can say, 'Chiri' (dust in Japanese) 'sute' (throw away in Japanese) 'masu' (polite ending in Japanese)."  How amazing that "(I) throw dust away," turns into a traditional Western holiday!  I memorized his code.  I was so close, but got wrong by spelling, Chiristmasu. As a typical Japanese, my Christmas had a vowel at the end.

In 9th grade, there was a question that asked the translation from Japanese to English.  I had no idea what "island" meant in English at all.  With my desperation, my pencil ran, "shima (島）," in the blank, hoping, my teacher would give some credit.  I was wrong.  No credit.  Japanese ways of code breaking strategies for the test taking didn't work well in my needs as a High School student.

Although I am not a foreign language expert, my instinct says, there must be some other ways for young Japanese students to break the English code.  What about more phonics instruction for Japanese students? (It's embarrassing at first, but fun to pop new sounds right from your mouth that you have never used in your life!)   What about oral responses instead of written ones?  Utilize computer software?  More individualization?

Then I realized that I came back to my own field.  Developing number sense is a code breaking as hard as reading and writing.  No wonder why many kids struggle in math.  Now my code breaking journey will sail off to the Elementary mathematical world.  To be continued.

Learning from All Star Little League Baseball Games

Whether if it's professional or amateur, All Star Games are played by the selected best players from teams in the region.  What's intriguing is that the best players don't necessarily play as the best teammates.  That's why each team's coach must have great skills to promote trust among young players.  To win or lose, watching your own child in the game is the best part, but there are some considerations between winning and losing.  That is the "trust".

In the fourth inning,  the All Star Little League Team Fabulous wanted more runs that would make them feel secure.  With two outs, a runner with the number 52 stole the second base.  The first base crowd roared like a thunder, almost forgetting about a young ball player with number 17 on his back in the batter's box.  The batter with the number 17 swung his bat fiercely.  He hit the ball.  The ball flew over the dugout.  Foul.  The whole audience sighed.  It was evident that most people, except his parents, didn't have much hope for a big hit from him, because of his batting record in this prestigious tournament.  All Star games intimidate many qualified players, no matter how well their seasons went in the smaller regions.  The blue uniformed pitcher threw another ball to the catcher.  "Strike!"  The count now became 2 strikes and 2 balls.  But as soon as the umpire made the call, the catcher somehow dropped the ball from his mitt.  He madly circled around home plate to look for his lost ball.  At another side of the diamond, the number 52 began dashing like a mad bull towards third base.  The third base coach yelled, "No, no, go back!"  The lucky catcher found his ball in 1 second and this lucky ball was in the third base players glove before the bull reached.  "Out!  Three outs!" The umpire exclaimed. While the whole audience reacted on the commotion of the bull, nobody noticed player number 17's disappointment in that of which he lost probably the last batting chance of his little league career. Team Fabulous lost their chance, but they were still 2 points ahead of their opponent.

Outfielders on the opponent team had been consistently cheering their teammates.  Under the coaches' strategies, several pitchers switched over the game.  Even though they were behind, their mental toughness was evident.

Team Fabulous was about to win at the bottom of last inning, however, the pitcher's physical strength was also running out.   Before they knew it, all bases were loaded.  Finally, a relief pitcher came to the mound.  Can you imagine, a 12 year old is on the demand of three straight strikes, three times in a row?  Perhaps he could of if he was called from the beginning of the inning.  As you can only imagine, Team Fabulous lost at the end.  All players dropped their heads down.  The relief pitcher told his teammates, "I don't care."

Dear readers, I am wondering if Team Fabulous could have had more trust, dignity, and respect to each other.  What if Number 52 had trusted Number 17?  Does 52 still try to steal the base?  Does 17 blame  52 on losing his chance to bat?   Didn't a relief pitcher really care about his team?  Was he embarrassed of the blame from teammates and fans?  These kids are only 11 to 13 years old.  Losing a game is sad, but most importantly, how to lose a game is a huge factor if the young players grow to be better players.  After all, baseball is not only a physical and technical game, but a team sport.  Sportsmanship and teamwork builds upon their trust. 

As a coach (teacher) myself, building a new community takes time and effort.  My hat is off for the All Star Coaches to do the same among these kids from different teams in such a limited time.  But don't you agree how essential it is for leaders to promote a team as a true team?  The team could cry together rather than complaining individually when they lose.  Then, at the end of the season party, all teammates and families would laugh and cheer about how great the season was, regardless of the result.  Kids would grow up and still remember these great memories of their comrades.  That is all about the Little league. 

Raising Frog Readers

Richard Gentry, PhD talks about the early literacy development as a life cycle of the frog in his book, Breaking the Code; The New Science of Beginning Reading and Writing.  As an example of non alphabetic writer as a tadpole, young children would add their tails and legs gradually.  Though, each individual developmental time varies.  Eventually, they would become aware of phonemic knowledge and being able to correspond letters and sounds in their writing.  This idea sounded revolutionary in my early literacy instructions yet several instructions have been commonly used in the classrooms all over the country.  The essential is to provide tadpole readers appropriate instructions at the appropriate developmental stage.  For instance, providing a fly to tadpoles doesn't make sense.  Tadpoles are not yet ready for flies at their dining table.  Gentry suggests several appropriate literacy activities at each developmental stage that made me hopeful in my future classrooms.

Then, my own journey began.  Take advantage of living in the the Information Technology era!  The technology devises will change the whole game plan in the literacy education.  As of the example of the Phase 0 Writers (Pre-Alphabetic), one of Gentry's suggestions is to begin teaching sounds.  Read Write Phonics  provides simple learning application on the touch screen devise.  This type of tool helps students become more independent and accountable for their own learning.  It can definitely be one of the literacy center activities.  I prefer explicit instructions to "Read to Self" and "Read to Partner" while kids are still tadpole readers because they would learn "inaccuracy" by not knowing how to read.  (It is necessary  to experience independent exploration of different books for the purpose of being familiar of books and learn how to turn pages, etc.  But that is more likely toddler and pre-school ages and settings.) With young user-friendly learning devise, a small reading group in K-2 grade classrooms can work independently while their teacher teaches another guided reading group. 

Another popular instructional example is Word Sorting activities. Another book by  Gentry, The Science of Spelling; The Explicit Specifics that Make Great Readers and Writers (and Spellers!), describes that word sort activities that benefit from pre-schoolers to 8th graders.  Kindly, Gentry shares the grade level appropriate spelling instruction samples in the Appendix B of this book. What I found in the technology world is "Word Family Sort".  This program is available in the Read Write Think site.  As soon as spelling patters are introduced, kids can apply their knowledge to this activity. 

Above all, there are millions and gazillions of literacy support applications out there.  It is imperative for teachers to understand the children's developmental stages in literacy and its appropriate instructions in depth, to start with.  Select high quality, simple, and self sufficient programs in your list.  Design these programs to be available for children's convenience.  Maybe original reference chart would be helpful, e.g., which students at the certain literacy phase might benefit from which program, etc. 

Our potential job is to raise our youngsters from tadpoles to frogs with patience and with the best knowledge about individual abilities and needs.  Once they become frogs, we have to teach them how to make higher leaps and cool tricks.  We also have to teach how to catch the best types of flies, not random ones.  It is not a one time job, after all.  Leap steadily and strongly day by day.  So, they, too, enjoy their literacy life on their lily pads.