V.1 #5 Counseling - Learning to Cope with Academic Demands
In my column, "How Can Learning Problems Affect Children Emotionally?," I highlighted the debilitating effects of academic failure on children’s emotional adjustment. In this column, I will discuss skills that children can develop to help them deal with academic demands more effectively. These skills form the basis of what is called “self-regulation.” Self-regulated learners understand the important links underlying what they think, what they feel, and what they do (or don’t
V.1 #5 Recommended Practices - The Importance of Strengthening Low Self-Esteem
When we talk about children’s self-esteem, we’re generally talking about the degree to which they like and accept themselves as people. Because self-esteem is a feeling, it is expressed in their behavior. As paradoxical as it may appear, failure is one reason for the importance of self-esteem. High self-esteem allows children to keep failure in proper perspective. Whether or not children perceive a failure as a learning experience or as a self-punishment depends on their leve
V.1 #5 Social Development - School-Wide Positive Behavioral Supports
Historically, schools have responded to student misbehavior with reprimands, office referrals, and suspensions. Generally, these strategies have failed. In part, their ineffectiveness was due to the resentment they created, their inconsistent application, and the failure to teach students appropriate behaviors. To address this ineffectiveness and to create a more positive atmosphere, many schools are implementing school-wide systems to teach and support appropriate student be
V.1 #5 Spelling and Writing - Activities to Enhance Revising Ability
In my last column I discussed how less skilled writers approach revising. I suggested that they will likely spend little time revising and may submit a first draft as a finished piece. I also said that they may attempt very few revisions, even when prompted, and that those revisions are usually ineffective. I suggested that the ineffectiveness of these revisions may be caused by lack of a understanding of the revising process or lack of ability to correct problems (Graham, Ha
V.1 #5 Early Intervention - Carpeting the Way to Language and Literacy Development
Most likely, early childhood educators are familiar with classroom environment rating instruments—instruments that rate the quality of classroom environments, including arrangements, materials, health and safety factors. One example is The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale—Revised (ECERS-R; Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 1998). Among several other areas, the ECERS-R addresses the noise level in classrooms by asking observers to rate the extent to which classrooms incorporat
V.1 #5 Reading - Strengthening the Resilience of Struggling Readers
It’s tough, frustrating, and demoralizing to have moderate-to-severe reading difficulties. Unless people have experienced the struggle, they cannot truly understand its social and emotional ramifications. Unlike stuttering or cerebral palsy, it's invisible. Consequently, struggling readers are often called lazy, oppositional, resistant, distractible, uncooperative, unmotivated, disruptive. I can easily add 20 pejorative adjectives to the list. Often, the daily, frustrating, d
V.1 #5 Mathematics - Development and Support of Number Sense
As a construct, number sense is complex and difficult to operationalize. Its key components include counting, subitizing small quantities, discerning number patterns, estimating quantities, comparing numerical magnitudes, performing simple number transformations. Number sense should be regarded as an important instructional target, as it plays a vital role in developing lower and higher order mathematical thinking (e.g. acquisition of number combinations, fluency with operati