Unless

Since I was in first grade I have been a fan of Dr. Seuss and his friends. This quote, although the intent is environmental, speaks to me about education. So many of today's K-12 students are not doing well academically. If they are not reading by the third or fourth grades, they begin to fall further and further behind. Not knowing their math facts will have a lasting, negative impact as they tackle algebra and geometry in middle and high school, Approximately 85 percent of the "behaviors" in high school are attributed to students unable to read and compute math on grade level. These students find it more appealing to misbehave and be suspended than admit they cannot do the work. This tragedy is happening in schools across the country. In my humble opinion (and professional experience), many factors contribute to the students' struggles. However, I know kindness, empathy, a positive attitude, researched-based teaching methods, and intensive one-on-one help are the antidote. We use all of those tools at VCLA Tutoring.

I am pleased that 100 percent of the students who attended tutoring regularly and throughout this past school year made fantastic gains and passed their SOLs. Our incredible teachers work hard to motivate students and help them build upon their strengths. As their confidence soars, their grades improve.

Many students in King George and the surrounding counties need our services. Two factors prevent their coming to us for help: 1. Their families do not know about us; or 2. Their parents do not have the funds to pay for tutoring. These students need your help.

What can you do? Spread the word about the work we do. Invite us to speak with your church group, your co-workers, your neighborhood associations, and your civic and community organizations. Provide a scholarship for one child to attend tutoring. If the tuition is too much for you alone, partner with a coworker, neighbor, or relative. Perhaps your church, civic organization, or community group would provide a scholarship.

How do you find a child who needs help? Talk with the guidance counselors and social workers at the schools; ask them to choose a child who needs help. Talk with church officials. Most likely there is at least one child in your congregation who needs help. Talk with the workers at the Department of Social Services.

Twenty-nine KIng George students dropped out of school during the 2014-2015 school year. Do you know that each one of those dropouts will cost taxpayers $250,000 during the remainder of his or her lifetime (U.S. Dept. of Ed statistics)? A relatively small investment now will pay big dividends in the future.

It often is said it takes a village to raise a child. With all public school teachers are tasked to do, they cannot do this alone. Teachers need the community's help. That's why I pay taxes, you say? Yes, you do. But in today's complex world, it is not enough. The sad reality is if you do not invest in education when the children are young, your tax dollars will pay their medical expenses, their food bills, their housing needs, the cost of their stay in prisons and much more. What is the better investment for your hard-earned dollars?

The community must step up now and support the children who need intensive one-on-one academic help. The children want to learn. They want to graduate from high school. They want to feel successful. So I quote the Lorax, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing will get better. It's not."

Contact VCLA Tutoring today to learn how you can help. Call (540) 625-2184, or visit vclatutoring.com.

Conditioned Reflex

My husband and I own three horses. We have fenced off the field and made three pastures and a paddock. One of the horses is a miniature Snowflake Appaloosa. Most of the time we keep him in a "dry lot"  because too many rich nutrients from the grass will make him fat and cause other health problems. The other two, both full-size horses, rotate through the pastures. Last night the two horses were able to roam freely between two fenced areas, one of which is adjacent to the paddock where the mini grazes.

Normally, when the horses see me heading toward the barn, they  react as Ivan Pavlov's dogs did in his famous "conditioned reflex" experiments of the early 20th century. The horses will gallop toward me, wait for me to open the gate, and walk alongside me into the barn. I changed the routine this morning because the gate was not closed. I cleaned the stalls, put the horse feed in the appropriate buckets, locked the mini in his stall, and opened the paddock gate. I truly was perplexed. Why were the horses still in the outer pasture? Why had they not come in?

My mind rushed back to the time I learned of a conditioned reflex study with a piranha. My late husband and I were attending one of his company's dinner events. The keynote speaker told us about an experiment in which a glass partition divided an aquarium in half. On one side was a piranha; on the other side was a school of goldfish. Every time the piranha tried to eat the goldfish, it would bump into the glass. It did this many times. Eventually, the piranha quit trying to get the goldfish and swam in circles in its side of the tank. Noticing the piranha no longer tried to approach the goldfish, the researcher removed the partition. The piranha easily could have devoured the goldfish. Instead it continued to swim in circles. Around and around and around. It never again tried to attack the goldfish. The piranha had given up; it had shut down after failing so many times.

I've seen students who react like the piranha. They try and try to read the sentences or complete the math problems, but they just can't get it. The students are promoted without having mastered basic skills - and without anyone having identified why the learning is muddled - the work becomes more complex, and eventually these students shut down.

Is learning over for them? No, but the right conditions must be in place for learning to occur, and it will not happen overnight. These students need a lot of encouragement and support academically, and many will need support socially and behaviorally. They have thought of themselves as failures for so long; they need help to recognize their strengths. It also helps to remind them to not give up. If the piranha had tried just one more time, it would have been successful.

Why did my horses behave as they did this morning? Do I think my horses have shut down because I had to walk to the outer pasture and lead them in? No. Like Pavlov's dogs, the horses are conditioned to a routine. I disturbed that routine by assuming they knew the gate was open.

How many times have we as teachers and parents changed our routines or "assumed" and become annoyed when our children protest? Most of the time, the children do not have the language skills or the maturity to work through the immediate change of routine. Children and animals (and husbands) like routine, and surprising them with change often leads to BIG headaches! Tomorrow morning I will not assume my horses know the gate is open. I will go back to the old routine of greeting them at the gate and enjoy our walk to the barn.

Nancy Drew and My family has grown!

Swimming, riding my bike, reading, camping, and catching lightening bugs filled the lazy, hazy days of my childhood summers. I loved those days. Once my sister and I completed our chores, we were free the rest of the day. We spent most of our time outside on our farm. Some of the time I would tag along with my grandfather as he planted tobacco. He'd give me a quarter no matter how long I "worked" - 10 minutes or two hours, then off I'd go to find another adventure.

Only during the heat of the day would I come inside. Our house was not air conditioned, so I'd plop in front of a fan with a good book to cool down. Most of the books were the old children's mystery classics - Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys - that came from my grandmother's house. I suppose they had belonged to my mom and her siblings. Those books were my treasure chest. First, until I discovered those books, I hated my name because I had a hard time learning to spell it, but there it was on the front of every cover - Carolyn. Second, I lived vicariously through Nancy - she was smart, strong, and daring. She took me places I knew I'd never go, and third, she taught me sleuthing skills. I tried to solve the mysteries alongside her, almost never getting it quite right. Even today, mysteries are my favorite genre - especially murder mysteries. I've honed my skills and now often solve the mysteries before the final pages.

Today my summer days are not so lazy, and I don't mind. Tutoring students - teaching them math, reading and writing - and managing my business fill most of my days along with the routine work at the farm - three horses, two dogs, and two cats! But the heart of my summer is the busiest - my grandsons!

I am so blessed! I have three of those little darlings - Gavin just turned two; Cain just turned one; and Channing was born July 13! For many years I have heard that being a grandmother, in my case, Mama Berry, was the best thing in the world. I always agreed, but in the back of my mind questioned it. Oh, was I wrong. Nothing compares with holding those angels, watching them grow, teaching them important lessons, and loving them. If I ever feel down, a few hugs and kisses are the perfect antidote! Tomorrow will be the first time that I will be able to hold all three of them at the same time.

I have been planning a gift for my mother to celebrate our four generations. It was an item I discovered a few months on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/493073859175501641. Now that Channing is born, I can complete the project! 

I am eager to spend time with my children and grandbabies, so I have decided to close the school this week. I had told my students' families at the beginning of the summer that I might do this, so most of the families made alternate plans. The school will reopen July 28.

In the meantime, I will be enjoying several lazy, hazy summer days getting and giving lots of hugs and kisses as well as swimming, reading, and catching lightening bugs with my babies! 

Rethinking Colorful Classroom Walls

Periwinkle, the color, is associated with the words refreshing, calming, soothing, relaxing, and comforting. A quick Internet search found the flower and its hue have inspired folks to christen their horses, farms, seaside retreats, children, commercial products and more - Periwinkle. 

One blogger describes her nail polish as "one of the most beautiful periwinkle polishes I own. It radiates calm." Allegheny Candles describes blue lace agate as "a lovely stone with varying bands of periwinkle blue" that "offers a quiet protective energy" and "has a calming effect on negative emotions and stress."

I was not surprised to read that Periwinkle was the Duo-Gard 2013 Color-of-the-Year. A company news release calls the color "vibrant" with a "glint of the exotic" - the perfect color for a work environment that needs to be "comfortable yet stimulating enough to contribute to productivity." Sleep Training Solutions says the color promotes a "soothing sleeping environment" in a child's bedroom, and Grace Lynne Fleming proclaims the color as a "fresh, clean and spring-worthy bathroom color."

Periwinkle, the flower, evokes feelings of serenity, tranquility, peacefulness, and confidence. What about periwinkle, the herb?

Herbalists say periwinkle, the herb, has a positive effect on brain activity and inspires "feelings of well-being and emotional stability." Helping Flowers says essence of periwinkle "can help in situations dominated by chaos and disarray. Nervousness and frenzy are in the air. Periwinkle can help you to calm down internally and be a calming influence on others. Breathing and blood pressure can be stabilized and you can keep your perspective with strong nerves and balance."

Daniel Burton agrees. The Ohlone Center of Herbal Studies in Berkeley, CA, published a paper he wrote that states, "Flower essences may help deal with emotional factors that may impact attention and hyperactivity." Periwinkle, in particular, "is one of the prime herbs for children with ADHD. It has a history of use for dementia caused by insufficient blood flow to the brain.  It also has sedative effects, making it a versatile herb for hyperactive-­type ADHD."

This BLOG entry, however, is not about periwinkle, the herb, or periwinkle, the flower; it is about periwinkle, the color. I included the above information to give you background information and a reference point: Periwinkle = Calm, inside and out!

If you have been to my office, or noticed the picture of the reception area on my Facebook page, you'll notice the colors are bright and vibrant - greens, yellows, white, and navy. My logo mixes in reds and purples, and the Web site adds orange and teal. I picked those colors deliberately: I want those elements of VCLA to be energizing. I want students and parents to be excited about visiting my office. I want it to feel warm and inviting. Parents have told me my colors choices are spot on.

When you transition to the two classrooms, the colors change and the mood shifts. It is serene and peaceful. The walls in my two classrooms and the walls in my office are the color of periwinkle. Except for two inspirational prints in each classroom, the walls are bare. I made a deliberate decision not to hang educational posters. I want your children to focus on the lessons I am teaching, not the decorations hanging on the walls.

My more quiet approach to the educational environment runs contrary to most classrooms in today's schools. Have you ever walked into a classroom and not known where to look first? The commercially produced posters and mobiles teachers buy from educational brick-and-mortar stores and the teacher-designed products with curly-q fonts, scalloped edges, and whimsical spirals they buy from online sites serve a purpose, but all too often they lure students away from the lesson being taught. 

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University confirmed this with a study of 24 kindergarten children who were taught six science lessons in a laboratory classroom. The researchers manipulated the visual stimuli and concluded, "Children were more distracted by the visual environment, spent more time off task, and demonstrated smaller learning gains when the walls were highly decorated than when the decorations were removed." Yes, it is a small sampling of 5-year-old children, and, yes, older children may be more inclined to ignore the decorations, but that has not been my experience. 


Jan Hoffman wrote about the study in a BLOG for the New York Times. She interviewed Patricia Tarr, an associate professor at the University of Calgary, who argued 10 years ago that too many decorations are "visually damaging for children." She stated then that decorations obscure children's work and pose special challenges to a child with attention deficits. Hoffman quotes Sara E. Rimm-Kaufman, an educational psychologist at the University of Virginia, as saying teachers feel compelled to make their rooms look attractive because parents expect the walls to be decorated.

What is a teacher to do?

Ingrid Boydston, a kindergarten teacher at Bridgeport Elementary School in Santa Clarita, CA., and the California Teacher of the Year in 1999, encourages teachers to post signs on blank walls: "Watch This Space!" Then, Hoffman writes, "The wall displays [will] grow as students produce work."

Need to pass English comp? VCLA is military friendly!

Writing comes easily to me, and I am grateful for this gift. I never worried when an elementary or high school teacher assigned a written report or a college professor expected every essay to be a minimum of 15 pages - 12-point, Times New Roman, double spaced, with one-inch margins. I edited my high school yearbook and literary magazine, earned an undergraduate degree in journalism, and, before becoming a teacher, worked as a professional writer/editor. More important than a natural gift, I had great teachers. They saw my potential and accepted nothing less than my best effort and more. 

I remember my first journalism class at Virginia Wesleyan College. Professor Joe Harkey, also my adviser, taught the Monday-Wednesday-Friday class. He handed out the syllabus to the more than 100 students packed into a classroom that seated 50 and explained the demands of the curriculum - a news article would be due each class period. He announced that if anyone felt as if he or she were not up for the amount of writing required, they could leave. More than half the students left. Of the remaining students, half returned to the next class. By the end of the drop-add period, 10 students remained. Most of the students enrolled in Journalism 101 thinking it would be a "fluff" class. Professor Harkey chuckled when he told me the phenomenon had repeated itself each semester since he had begun teaching the class. 

Those who dropped the class are not the only ones who think journalism is fluff. I had a home office when I worked as a free-lance writer/editor. My family, my friends, and my neighbors did not think I had a "real" job. After all, I was "just" a writer who sometimes wrote late at night while wearing pajamas! They thought nothing of dropping by in the middle of the day, and they could not understand why I would not take them to every medical appointment. My church family expected me to join several committees because I had a lot of free time. After all, I was home during the day. 

As a high school English teacher, I learned most students consider the revision portion of the writing process to be a death sentence. The student mentality is, "Just give me a grade!" A student would rather accept a "D" than revise and edit a paper. I was shocked to learn many teachers are terrified of teaching writing, which is why they assign projects, not papers. 

My grade school and high school teachers taught me that writing is hard work and revising and editing are essential steps of the writing process. My professors at VWC helped me learn to write clearly and concisely - to say what I needed to say with the fewest, shortest words possible; they helped me fall in love with print journalism. Except for Dr. Harkey, the three adjunct professors, Dennis Hartig, Fred Kirsch, and Dr. Bill Ruehlmann, were feature writers for the Virginian-Pilot and/or held editorial positions with the paper - I was learning from the best of the best! 

Unlike teachers who return papers marked with red ink, these professionals helped me understand my mistakes and suggested ways to improve my writing. I will never forget that kindness. I followed their lead in my classroom, and I use the same tactic when I tutor students and conduct writing workshops. It isn't enough to tell a student to revise the second paragraph, help them understand why doing so will make the copy stronger.

I attended a law school graduation party Saturday afternoon. One of the honoree's friends is a master chief in the U.S. Navy. He needs to complete one English composition class before he can earn his undergraduate degree. He said he keeps putting off the class because he is afraid of failing. He explained that many of his peers have the same fears. We chatted about why writing causes so much anguish, how it can be daunting - at least getting started. We discussed how to avoid writer's block. I mentioned I had considered holding writing workshops for adults in the business world. Research bears out the fact that poorly written e-mails and internal correspondence limit one's chances of promotion - if, in fact, a cover letter, resume and application warranted an interview!

He said I should consider working with military personnel. He said they want to know the "why" behind the edits. What is an em dash? How does it differ from an en dash? Does it REALLY matter? He also said I need to let them know I am "military friendly." That, he said, means I don't look down on people because they are not proficient writers or grammarians; he added he could tell I am not like that. I appreciate that endorsement! 

Using his definition, I am one of the most military-friendly people I know. This BLOG entry is my first step toward revamping my marketing efforts and letting the military world know I can help them pass English comp!

Although writing is a gift I cherish, I consider writing to be a craft - a craft that anyone with the desire and the tenacity to master the tools will accomplish. I blossomed as a writer under the tutelage of Dr. Harkey, Mr. Hartig, Mr. Kirsch, and Dr. Ruehlmann. I am grateful they, and all my teachers, have (or had) a passion for the written word. Thank you, too, Master Chief, for your inspiration and your confidence in me!

A tribute to the children who inspired me to become a teacher

When asked why I chose to become a teacher - specifically, a special education teacher - I think back to the children I knew growing up who had disabilities. When I was six (WAY before any state or federal legislation mandated education for students with disabilities), there was one classroom in my school that educated all grade levels of students with intellectual disabilities.

The children ate lunch during the same block as I. My class arrived at the lunchroom first; their class arrived last. I usually was finished eating by the time they began. I knew something was different about them, but to my six-year-old mind the difference was that so many teachers helped them by opening milk cartons, unwrapping sandwiches, and helping them raise spoons and forks to their mouths. I sometimes had trouble opening my milk carton, but no teacher helped me!

This coincided with the early days of space exploration when the United States was sparring against the Soviet Union to conquer outer space. Our entire student body, including the children with disabilities, assembled in the cafeteria to watch the launches and re-entries of each of NASA' s Project Mercury missions televised during the school day. This was history, and NO ONE was left behind!

A few years later, I met a friend's cousin. My friend lived adjacent to my mom's best friend from high school whom we visited often. Therefore, playing with Joy at her home was a frequent occurrence. Her cousin had cerebral palsy. He walked with a gait, but at that age he still could run and play kick ball - just not as fast or as far as we.

I also took piano lessons from Mrs. Lewis, a woman I dearly loved and admired. A concert pianist, she had studied music at a conservatory in England, yet she returned to Southern Maryland and shared her passion with everyday folk. I am so blessed to have been one of her students. I include this muse because her husband had muscular sclerosis; my father remodeled their home to accommodate Mr. Lewis' wheelchair.

In high school, I met two friends whose siblings have disabilities - one, an older brother with cerebral palsy, and the second, a younger sister with an intellectual disability. I also babysat a young neighbor boy who had Duchenne muscular dystrophy. I was the only teen in town who wasn't afraid to care for him. My work with his family led to my becoming a volunteer camp counselor at the muscular dystrophy summer camp held annually at the horse farm of broadcast-legend Arthur Godfrey in Loudoun County near Leesburg. My first charge was first-time camper Gary Welzenbacher from Pulaski, VA. He was a cute, sweet, 6-year-old little boy. He loved his week of summer camp. He swam, rode horses, took canoe rides, sang songs, and had a ton of fun. His mother sent me a lovely beaded evening bag, which I still have, as a thank you. She need not have done that. I was honored to have shared that summer with her son.

There was no doubt when I decided to become a teacher that I would earn an endorsement in special education. Students with disabilities have been a part of my life since I was six years old. I saw them as kids just like me with a few extra needs that teachers seemed to accommodate freely. As an adult, it baffles me why educating students with special needs ever became such a battleground.

Of all the children who touched my life as a child, the only one I know as an adult is Sherri. Although I have not seen Sherri in years, her older sister, also a special education teacher, and I maintain our friendship through Facebook. I see pictures of Sherri and I know she has significant health needs that require the help of a personal care assistant 24/7; she no longer participates in Special Olympics and other "special" outings, but she maintains her brilliant smile and loving personality. If I had to name one person who had the greatest impact on my decision to be a special education teacher, I would select Sherri. (Gary would be a close second.) I spent a lot of time at my friend's house during my teen years. My memories of Sherri are fond and vivid. This is a special thank you to Gary and the others for teaching me so much along the way. It also is a special thank you to Sherri for being my inspiration!

Look for VCLA's logo on a brochure in a school near you!

I distributed flyers last week to each of the schools in KG County. The flyers outline the learning that will take place this summer at VCLA. I am so excited about our new classes! Pick up a flyer at your child's school or at my office. You can view the information on the Web site, too!

www.vclatutoring.com

See you soon!
Carolyn