www.cwg4kids.com/unity
Monday, December 5, 2011
Announcing for all Global Parents... Unity Worldwide Ministries partners with Conversations With God author, Neale Donald Walsch and School of the New Spirituality for Children
The time we've anticipated is now... an inspired and inspiring spiritual curriculum for children is now available. To read more, and to tithe your support (and receive materials to use with your children), please click the link below:
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Film Recommendation! Something Borrowed
Filmed in NYC, this romantic comedy has a very important lesson: sometimes we "borrow" a relationship...we don't know anything exists that is actually more powerful/authentic, convenience, flattery, boredom, status quo/expectations, to please someone else/not hurt an other's feelings.
Darcy borrows...Dex borrows...Rachel allows everyone to borrow from her, until she gets how wrong that becomes for everyone involved. All Palladio Big Sisters have several options this upcoming week for c-viewing and debriefing re use of this film as a resource with your little Jane Eyre sisters. Consortium and Council Circles have posted reflections and responses and suggestions for your facilitation.
Please, see their websites for further information.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Calling All Global Parents for Applications
Dear Stakeholders!
Our school community is accepting applications now for membership on the R&D Council. Mail applications to sb2822@columbia.edu. Parameters for the MICROLAB follow in a letter to Friends:
Friends,
Our school community is accepting applications now for membership on the R&D Council. Mail applications to sb2822@columbia.edu. Parameters for the MICROLAB follow in a letter to Friends:
Friends,
I commend your leadership team for writing a clear and specific set of recommendations that seem well-linked to the data (I did not read the original report, nor of course seen the actual data, nor been privy to how the data was gathered). What I recommend to you is a most effective model that fosters collaborative on-going research and clinical practice by all stakeholders (faculty, administration, parents, and students):
- request a team assembled of all stakeholders (students, parents, teachers, administrators: only those intimately engaged with classroom learning and instruction)
- this team sets up a Clinic Classroom (CC) designed to model positive/cooperative practices by each population of the stakeholders
- the content of the classroom might be a course in study skills (pertinent to any content course)
- any teacher or administrator can use CC to model pedagogy (preceded by a brief written proposal/interview with team's "OK")
- any student can offer to participate in the planning, design, learning experience (preceded by a brief written proposal/interview with team's "OK")
- any parent, community adult, student, or teacher can observe CC practices (preceded by a brief written proposal/interview with team's "OK")
- CC would also provide any stakeholder an opportunity to gather students, design curriculum, and select pedagogy to experimentation/revision/instructional learning on an on-going basis.
- CC can begin small and grow organically as needed (i.e. take place during he lunch period times to allow for the greatest number of teachers and students to participate/create the CC climate and content
- CC becomes then a kind of MICROLAB for collaborative study of all stakeholders by all the stakeholders ...thus fostering unity, on-going research, and the truth about education:a collaborative process among all the stakeholders, rather than a "hierarchy" public education must acknowledge the essential interdependence among each stakeholder population, and that any human endeavor improves only overtime with concerted efforts that design-deliver-disassemble-design to deliver again!
- Education is all about learning and updating. The human climate must welcome risk-taking, respect for each, on-going dialogue and development of all stakeholders. It must be free of bureaucratic controls.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
So what is colic?
So what is colic?
The article recommends the Rule of 3 suggested in the fifties...hree are the three questions:
Is the infant crying at least three consecutive hours/day?
for at least three days each week?
for at least three weeks?
Are some parents inclined to self-diagnose "colic" for crying that is normal (but seems to be "excessive" from the parents' viewpoint)?
This article gives clear indicators for parents to review.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Children Learn What They Live, by Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D. in 1972
In 1972, Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D. published a treatise, a manifesto that is elegant: brilliance, simply and directly expressed.
For me across time, it became a touchstone for raising healthy, resourceful, intentional children at home and in my classrooms later. Across the decades, I have too often seen Dr. Nolte's treatise published anonymously... even posted on the office door of another professor at a reputable city college -as if it was his idea...
Clearly, his students could too readily believe this original expression of "Aha" thoughts belonged to their professor. Each time I passed his office door, I imagined Dorothy Nolte's name inscribed below the uncredited writing. I was tempted to leave the guy a note; maybe however he believed such magnificent wisdom expressed was truly anonymous... and never considered searching further.
For me across time, it became a touchstone for raising healthy, resourceful, intentional children at home and in my classrooms later. Across the decades, I have too often seen Dr. Nolte's treatise published anonymously... even posted on the office door of another professor at a reputable city college -as if it was his idea...
Clearly, his students could too readily believe this original expression of "Aha" thoughts belonged to their professor. Each time I passed his office door, I imagined Dorothy Nolte's name inscribed below the uncredited writing. I was tempted to leave the guy a note; maybe however he believed such magnificent wisdom expressed was truly anonymous... and never considered searching further.
From forty-five years of experience knowing the intensely devoted lives of classroom teachers, I wouldn't be surprised if Dorothy Nolte had practiced this craft before earning her Ph.D.
- She clearly speaks from depth and breadth of experience.
- Her authorship of brilliant work continues too often to go unacknowledged.
- She has quietly taken a back seat in the world since publishing this masterpiece -she has likely been much too busy walking her talk to look over her shoulder at what others are doing (or not doing) on behalf of her professional world.
And I find myself wondering if her doctorate was earned in the field of Child Development. I have changed the font in a few entries below to highlight them, to give us focus for pondering further, in later posts. I wonder which entries you find evidence for in your work today with the children in your charge.
I will research such questions for us later, but now ... enjoy the wisdom Dorothy expressed for us committed to master our craft as Global Parents!
Children Learn What They Live
If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.
P.S.
In my work with kids, I have found Nolte's conditional statements become social algorithms. They serve as simple diagnostic and team planning guides to readily address some common attitudinal/behavioral problems children present.
For instance if a child is kindness-challenged, the experiential antidote more often than not is explicit teaching and guided experiences in the development of authentic and pervasive human respect. Lack of appropriate learning in the respect department results in lopsided social dynamics.
When exploring the child's fuller social history, we are likely to find false and unbalanced kinds of respect practiced at home, or witnessed repeatedly in the neighborhood: some people are accorded high respect while others are demeaned, or overlooked, or invisible.
Instead, " If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect." Unless the real needs and strengths of all beings (each kind) in our social environments are honorably considered, fairly acknowledged, appreciated for their unique contributions/character, a lopsided sense of importance and worthiness is palpable, absorb-able.
Instead of learning the value of interdependence through the practice of kindness and consideration, a sense of hierarchy is absorbed. Hierarchy is absorbed by children (whose practices, unchecked, strengthen into adulthood) because such a lopsided model of dominance and control is in fact practiced in social environments which are less interpersonally/intrapersonally oriented. There are many primitive (and ancient) cultures that are (were) advanced in such orientation. We would do well to study these with our children, and model these in our homes, neighborhoods, schools, and marketplace.
P.S.
In my work with kids, I have found Nolte's conditional statements become social algorithms. They serve as simple diagnostic and team planning guides to readily address some common attitudinal/behavioral problems children present.
For instance if a child is kindness-challenged, the experiential antidote more often than not is explicit teaching and guided experiences in the development of authentic and pervasive human respect. Lack of appropriate learning in the respect department results in lopsided social dynamics.
When exploring the child's fuller social history, we are likely to find false and unbalanced kinds of respect practiced at home, or witnessed repeatedly in the neighborhood: some people are accorded high respect while others are demeaned, or overlooked, or invisible.
Instead, " If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect." Unless the real needs and strengths of all beings (each kind) in our social environments are honorably considered, fairly acknowledged, appreciated for their unique contributions/character, a lopsided sense of importance and worthiness is palpable, absorb-able.
Instead of learning the value of interdependence through the practice of kindness and consideration, a sense of hierarchy is absorbed. Hierarchy is absorbed by children (whose practices, unchecked, strengthen into adulthood) because such a lopsided model of dominance and control is in fact practiced in social environments which are less interpersonally/intrapersonally oriented. There are many primitive (and ancient) cultures that are (were) advanced in such orientation. We would do well to study these with our children, and model these in our homes, neighborhoods, schools, and marketplace.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Guidance Consortium Report: A Classic Awakening among Palladio High School Girls
Just one year ago, Palladio International Campus celebrated our first New Year's Eve Gala. Open invitations extended to every member -young and old- in our Global Families Network! This remarkable occasion generated several notable landmark initiatives. Here we recount just one of them:
This memorable night began it's luminous tone and intention early in the day...
.....All ages and stages of our great family strolled on the vast network of the paths spread throughout our beloved Central Park. An easy flow of delighted visitors reminded many of five years earlier when the park hosted the Saffron Artist. Our well-trained youth ambassadors, escorted by their Canine Walking Companions, stopped to answer visitor questions about the Fair in the City, about Palladio International Academies, about the Ambassador program at Palladio.
.....Research activities at our Fair in the City allowed members of the general public to release a balloon into the air over Central Park if they enjoyed their engagement at the colorful booths and banners affirming our mission and purposes. Our mission inherently networks all ages and career stages... Jeffersonian style ... on organically expanding campuses around the perimeter of Central Park.
Later this night, atop the golden sheen of two hundred year old oak floors, Nelson Riddle voiced a term none of us have heard since we were in high school reading the classics. Across the ballroom, the sudden appearance of a scantily clad high school female attracted a swarm of giggling U.S. students. Scanning the room, Dr. Riddle noticed that our international students continued in conversation and dance with their dates. Observing this dramatic discrepancy, Dr. Riddle marked the magical moment of truth, "Seems we have failed our Little Women in this relatively young country - with our focus on physical prowess, over character, over intelligence, over unity."
Stunned, we stood still -ten of us! What he had just said, rang true -and we needed to know more, that very night. Nelson led us through the text he had just reviewed as a member of his cultural research team. A spell-binding narrator as well as clinician and researcher, Dr. Riddle described the landmark scene between an enlightened mother and her four daughters. Marmee cautioned and redirected their temptation to sink into vanity with its emphasis on popularized physical beauty ...rather than rely for self-esteem on their intelligence and character practices.
"Like Marmee's Little Women, our nation's little women have much to learn about deriving their inherent value from outside themselves...from secularized and popularized standards almost unattainable without making themselves sick in mind, in heat, and for the very unfortunate segment -sick in body as well! The wise mother expresses her fear for their future..." if you feel your value lies in being purely decorative."
She further clarifies the problem need correcting: "I wont have my girls being silly over boys..."
Dr. Riddle shared research from hundreds of interviews contrasting U. S female child-rearing practices and cultural expectations with those young women from other continents:
"We need parents, teachers, the neighborhood and the marketplace to strategically determine organic ways of cultivating the natural beauty inherent in each child.
"Everyone must be on board to unveil her inherent beauty ...that mirrored in her demeanor, the way she thinks about herself, and affirm deep value in each female child -as a thinker, feeler, creator, healer, prime contributor to the health of our global society.
"We must research and revisit, generate if need be, programs that help her reflect her inner beauty in her speech, tone, word choice, choice of clothing and adornments, what she allows herself to consume, engage, participate in, accrue, think and express.
"On the whole, our international Little Women are clearly more advanced in self-respect, self-regard, and authentic self-confidence...and they have much to teach and model for our Little Women across this nation.
"So far we've conducted five hundred forty-three clinical interviews. A key element missing from interviews with females from the other continents is an early and pervasive focus on comparing physical self to other females in the media and personal encounters. Their developmental stories reveal a preponderance of the "decorative archetype."
"Girls from the US have for decades now felt social pressure to focus on their physical appearance over cognitive characteristics and character (including emotional development). These results bring to mind a series of compelling linesincorporated by author Louisa May Alcott challenging the "property value" of women during this period of time:
For the rest of this New Year evening into early morning, the ten of us crafted our primary draft that became 12PowerLittleWomen-for high school age females. Our position paper is based upon research results that Dr. Riddle shared from his consortium's data collection so far, and his clinical interviews as resident school psychologist at Palladio's Dairy.
In conclusion, we want our Little Women not to beg: "...give me the streets of Manhattan...", but to rebuild these streets, sidewalks, bridges, thinking, and creating of Manhattan and beyond. Live and learn and generate in such ways that all little women are free to walk confidently, respectfully, co-creatively, and responsibly together with their brothers, fathers, husbands, partners, co-workers, mothers, sisters, and children -living their dreams in the home, neighborhood, marketplace, global society.
This memorable night began it's luminous tone and intention early in the day...
.....All ages and stages of our great family strolled on the vast network of the paths spread throughout our beloved Central Park. An easy flow of delighted visitors reminded many of five years earlier when the park hosted the Saffron Artist. Our well-trained youth ambassadors, escorted by their Canine Walking Companions, stopped to answer visitor questions about the Fair in the City, about Palladio International Academies, about the Ambassador program at Palladio.
.....Research activities at our Fair in the City allowed members of the general public to release a balloon into the air over Central Park if they enjoyed their engagement at the colorful booths and banners affirming our mission and purposes. Our mission inherently networks all ages and career stages... Jeffersonian style ... on organically expanding campuses around the perimeter of Central Park.
Later this night, atop the golden sheen of two hundred year old oak floors, Nelson Riddle voiced a term none of us have heard since we were in high school reading the classics. Across the ballroom, the sudden appearance of a scantily clad high school female attracted a swarm of giggling U.S. students. Scanning the room, Dr. Riddle noticed that our international students continued in conversation and dance with their dates. Observing this dramatic discrepancy, Dr. Riddle marked the magical moment of truth, "Seems we have failed our Little Women in this relatively young country - with our focus on physical prowess, over character, over intelligence, over unity."
Stunned, we stood still -ten of us! What he had just said, rang true -and we needed to know more, that very night. Nelson led us through the text he had just reviewed as a member of his cultural research team. A spell-binding narrator as well as clinician and researcher, Dr. Riddle described the landmark scene between an enlightened mother and her four daughters. Marmee cautioned and redirected their temptation to sink into vanity with its emphasis on popularized physical beauty ...rather than rely for self-esteem on their intelligence and character practices.
"Like Marmee's Little Women, our nation's little women have much to learn about deriving their inherent value from outside themselves...from secularized and popularized standards almost unattainable without making themselves sick in mind, in heat, and for the very unfortunate segment -sick in body as well! The wise mother expresses her fear for their future..." if you feel your value lies in being purely decorative."
She further clarifies the problem need correcting: "I wont have my girls being silly over boys..."
Dr. Riddle shared research from hundreds of interviews contrasting U. S female child-rearing practices and cultural expectations with those young women from other continents:
"We need parents, teachers, the neighborhood and the marketplace to strategically determine organic ways of cultivating the natural beauty inherent in each child.
"Everyone must be on board to unveil her inherent beauty ...that mirrored in her demeanor, the way she thinks about herself, and affirm deep value in each female child -as a thinker, feeler, creator, healer, prime contributor to the health of our global society.
"We must research and revisit, generate if need be, programs that help her reflect her inner beauty in her speech, tone, word choice, choice of clothing and adornments, what she allows herself to consume, engage, participate in, accrue, think and express.
"On the whole, our international Little Women are clearly more advanced in self-respect, self-regard, and authentic self-confidence...and they have much to teach and model for our Little Women across this nation.
"So far we've conducted five hundred forty-three clinical interviews. A key element missing from interviews with females from the other continents is an early and pervasive focus on comparing physical self to other females in the media and personal encounters. Their developmental stories reveal a preponderance of the "decorative archetype."
"Girls from the US have for decades now felt social pressure to focus on their physical appearance over cognitive characteristics and character (including emotional development). These results bring to mind a series of compelling linesincorporated by author Louisa May Alcott challenging the "property value" of women during this period of time:
- "I should have been a great many things..." Jo to a table of colleagues in Manhattan, surprised at her capacity to think and articulate
- "Please yourself, my opinion is of no importance... there is more to you than this...if you have the courage to write it..." Philosopher and Professor Frederick to Jo, encouraging professional activation of her sense of self above and beyond popular expectations of her as a female property of her father, or husband.
For the rest of this New Year evening into early morning, the ten of us crafted our primary draft that became 12PowerLittleWomen-for high school age females. Our position paper is based upon research results that Dr. Riddle shared from his consortium's data collection so far, and his clinical interviews as resident school psychologist at Palladio's Dairy.
In conclusion, we want our Little Women not to beg: "...give me the streets of Manhattan...", but to rebuild these streets, sidewalks, bridges, thinking, and creating of Manhattan and beyond. Live and learn and generate in such ways that all little women are free to walk confidently, respectfully, co-creatively, and responsibly together with their brothers, fathers, husbands, partners, co-workers, mothers, sisters, and children -living their dreams in the home, neighborhood, marketplace, global society.
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