Re: Roadblocks in school

From: Nina Sazer O'Donnell
Email: nina.sazerodonnell@gmail.com
Date: February 15, 2006

Comments

Hi Latarsha:

Some of the roadblocks come from poverty, poor health and other risk factors that affect too many children in our country. For example, when Oklahoma conducted a survey of kindergarten teachers a couple of years ago to assess the skills entering kindergartners had, on an open ended question, a majority of teachers reported that up to 1/3 of the children were coming to school hungry.

But the other roadblocks come from misunderstandings about what learning is - thinking that it's all cognitive and parents and the public not really understanding how young children learn and how to encourage a life long passion for learning.

If young children are taught in ways that don't spark the joy of learning (e.g. sitting at desks, doing worksheets, cognitive assignments that don't involve the social and emotional aspects, etc.) they may get turned off to learning at an early age and/or might not be as successful as they could be.

Thanks for your comments and I'm glad you think the tip sheets are useful!

Nina