As I was updating teachingup.com today to announce the 2013 San Diego County Fair Oratorical Contest theme, I was glad to find the link to a blow-em-away speech given by Cameron Whitfield, a Speaking Up student in 2011.  His interpretation of one of my favorite poems by Jane Yolen, "Owl Moon" will transport you to a snowy forest, quietly looking for owls.  Take a break and enjoy his masterful speech now.  To my disappointment, Cameron did not place in the competition that year; can you believe it?  Still Cameron and his family celebrated his successful speech with full joy, as they well should.  Cameron gave his all and will keep that feeling of pride in his powerful performance always.

The SD Fair Theme this year is "Game On!", and refers to board games, video games, etc.

The speech contest theme is "It's All Fun and Games..."

Starting in April, I'll again offer classes to help children learn techniques for effective speech presentations. In addition to techniques, I assist each child in finding a text that will fit the theme and match his/her spirit. I've just posted the class dates & times on teachingup.com .  

At your request, classes can be added in locations that are convenient to children who live too far away to come to my location.

I'm also available for individual coaching.

Happy Spring to all!

June

P.S. I've noticed that fewer girls come to my classes than boys, and so fewer of them compete and/or claim their place on the podium for prizes.  While I love working with boys, I would really like to empower more girls in this arena.  I'd love to offer a class this year for girls-only, so please let me know if you have a group of 3-8 girls I could coach.

STEM vs. STEAM in education today

As a language arts specialist, I agree with Robert's assessment that we need to delineate more clearly all the elements teachers are striving for in "preparing for the students' future roles in college, career, and community after graduation."  
I believe each adult who cares for a child from toddler age and up needs to help the child learn the world in all these ways. 
Let's not let the arts be hidden again as 20% of an acronym.

STEM vs. STEAM

Time spent snuggling while reading aloud is a gift that grows within the child.

Time spent snuggling while reading aloud                                                                         is a gift that grows within the child. 

Consider less time holiday shopping                                                                                 and more time holiday nurturing.            

This linking of family love with love of learning                                            perpetuates for generations.

http://magellanmontessori.com/blog/85/little-more-art-reading-aloud

I wholeheartedly agree with this post from Magellan Montessori.  A young child who listens to fluent, heartfelt reading aloud imitates it.  That child is gaining an advantage that will serve a lifetime.  We all need others to listen to our ideas, feelings, dreams.  Yet if we deliver them without emotion or intention, they often fall on deaf ears.  Each of us who cares about children must make a personal effort to expose them to dramatic and persuasive reading, then encourage them to 'ham it up' themselves. They will have fun and build essential life skills.

ALL STAR! by Jane Yolen... great book about Honus Wagner

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6656790-all-star" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="All Star!: Honus Wagner and the Most Famous Baseball Card Ever" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275817159m/6656790.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6656790-all-star">All Star!: Honus Wagner and the Most Famous Baseball Card Ever</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5989.Jane_Yolen">Jane Yolen</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/301254783">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
In luminous artwork that plays so beautifully with shadows, illustrator Jim Burke manipulates perspective in interesting ways, such as one page that provoked my husband to look over and joke..."He's so big, what team was he on?  The Giants!"  Truly Wagner was a giant, and one of my favorite writers, Jane Yolen, gently reveals so many reasons for his status.
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<br/>If you love picture books, read it.
<br/>If you love picture book art, enjoy it.
<br/>If you love American history... sports... baseball... inspiring stories... Get it!
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5888239-june-pecchia">View all my reviews</a>

I will never outgrow picture books! Use the library to enjoy the gestalt.

Following is a post I made a year ago to a Shelfari group "Children's Book Repository" about a year ago.  I no longer use Shelfari; my friend/neighbor/pro-librarian has switched to Goodreads.com and so have I.  Try a site like Goodreads to keep track of your personal literary development!

Am I member #2? Where are all the chidlren's book lovers? I bet it's mostly adults who buy them and hoard them.

I will never outgrow picture books. As a former elementary school teacher of students with reading levels from K-12, and many second language learners, I have a good number of picture books on my shelf at home. I left full-time public school teaching when being treated for breast cancer in 2005. Tried to return a couple of times after the most drastic treatments were done, but just could not fit back into the groove. One of the things I had to leave behind was the majority of my classroom library of over a thousand books. I kept only those I was certain I'd paid for myself.

Now I really use the public library. The reason I recently posted two books by Cynthia Rylant (I could easily post every book she's written) is because when a concept hits me, I check out a wide swath of books that I can see at once. Cynthia Rylant was my most recent mass check-out. This interest was sparked when I recalled one of my all-time favorites: The Snail's Spell, written by Joanne Ryder and illustrated by Lynn Cherry. I thought of this book because of the way it asks the reader to become the snail. I am thinking of trying to write some chidlren's books of my own in a related vein. ANYWAY... illustrator Lynn Cherry has done several books for Cynthia Rylant... and off went my ADD brain. Glad I got the books all together at once... love the gestalt.

Easter Sunday... a book for children

By chance, I checked out a children's Easter book from the library recently. This morning, Easter morning, The Easter Cave, by Carol Wedeven, was stacked on the kitchen table with a  bunch of books I found on the theme of "The House That Jack Built."  That theme came to me about a month ago as a possible construct for a poem I'm creating in my mind.  I thought of Jack's theme as ‘one thing piled atop another’, as well as a ‘chicken or egg?’ question poser.  Via quick research, particularly looking for the English view – since it dates back to sixteenth century England – I found this, to my surprise: The phrase 'This is the house that Jack built' is often used as a derisory term in describing a badly constructed building! http://www.rhymes.org.uk/this_is_the_house_that_jack_built.htm

That interpretation has been rattling around in my head ever since, and lead me to check out the aforementioned bunch of books on the theme. 

So, I happened upon The Easter Cave on the kitchen table this morning.   The title surprised me… why, I tried to remember, would I check out a children’s book about Easter?  One whose author I don’t recognize?  One that has quite sentimental and prosaic art on the cover?  What possessed me?   Well, since it was Easter morning, I decided to give it a look. 

It opens with a Biblical citation about Joseph of Arimathea giving his tomb to Jesus … Matthew 27: 57-60. 

But over the next two pages, I saw the pattern of “The House That Jack Built” emerge.  Tacky, I thought, especially if this phrase evokes “a badly constructed building”.   And to take such a sacred moment and turn it all singsong?  Hmmm.

But as I read on, it grew on me.  Carol Wedeven has chosen her words and rhymes thoughtfully. And although I’m not very fond of the art, I do like the way each text box has an oval inset at the top that frames a detail image from the larger art on the opposite page.  O.K. It’s not a landmark book, to be sure, but I’d say if I had children I’d include this in the Easter books I’d share with them.  The repetition and rhyme really make the story stick in the brain.  I wouldn’t own a copy probably, but I’d get it from the library once a year, to help them learn this essential story from Christian culture.

The last page is another Biblical citation, Luke 24:6:

“He is not here; He has risen!”

This finally helped me reconcile the association with a badly constructed building… certainly that tomb was not built well enough entomb Jesus!

News | SDSU | Baby Talk

News | SDSU | Baby Talk

Our local university is performing research on which to base future education programs.