All posts tagged: education

WITCHES WEEK: Ariel Gore’s WE WERE WITCHES, exploring fabulous feminist fiction, poetry, witches, motherhood, and so much more, plus a writing prompt

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By Leslie Lindsay A sublime genre-bending tale of teen mom Ariel Gore caught betwixt the 1990s family values or home and family, along with the hopes of redeeming herself through education, WE WERE WITCHES casts a spell like no other. ~WRITERS INTERVIEWING WRITERS~ WITCHES WEEK ALWAYS WITH A BOOK Featured Spotlight: WE WERE WITCHES by Ariel Gore Ariel Gore is the founding editor & publisher of the Alternative Press Award-winning magazine Hip Mama and the author of ten books of fiction and nonfiction. I was alerted to this book after reading and attending an online class with Laraine Herring. Her book, A CONSTELLATION OF GHOSTS: A Speculative Memoir was featured earlier this month. ABOUT WE WERE WITCHES: We Were Witches is a 2017 novel by Ariel Gore. It is a first-person narrative of a fictionalized version of the author, of her life as a teen mom and budding feminist, from the birth of her daughter when she was 18 years old, to her graduation from Mills College. This book is a little different than most, and perhaps a misnomer. …

Apraxia Monday but on a Talking Tuesday: Leslie Lindsay, Author of Speaking of Apraxia, Narrates Audiobook

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By Leslie Lindsay You guys! May has been a huge month for me. I am so grateful, honored, and humbled to have had the opportunity to record the audio version of Speaking of Apraxia: A Parents’ Guide to Childhood Apraxia of Speech. A Timeline of SPEAKING OF APRAXIA: When my first-born wasn’t speaking like other children her age, I worried. When her pediatrician said, “I think she might need an assessment from a speech-language pathologist (SLP), I gulped. Really?! Not my kid. Just shy of her third birthday, she was diagnosed with moderate-severe Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS). What is CAS? Quick definition: a neurologically-based motor speech disorder in which kids know what they want to say, but have have difficulty organizing the movements needed for speech. It is not something kids outgrow, but requires frequent, intense speech language therapy, often for many years. I wanted a book. Few were available, with the exception of some graduate-level textbooks, a chapter here and there, a mention in parenting or child development book. I wanted a book …

National Book Award-winning and NYT bestselling author Jacqueline Woodson’s RED AT THE BONE, about family, history, ambition, and a teen pregnancy

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By Leslie Lindsay  Beneath the trouble, lies a very powerful and poignant tale about race and class, ambition, and more. RED AT THE BONE is destined to become a classic.  ~Wednesdays with Writers: SPOTLIGHT!~ The thing with ‘classic’ literature is that it is typically polarizing; that is, not everyone is going to love it, there will be themes that make readers squirm, that make us uncomfortable. Classic literature does that. That’s exactly what we’ll find in this bestseller from Jacqueline Woodson, RED AT THE BONE (September 17 2019). Told in a forward-and-backward momentum, Woodson tells the story of two African American families from different social classes who come together because of a teen pregnancy and the child it produces. We begin with a sixteen-year-old’s coming-of-age party in somewhat contemporary (2001) times. Melody is that baby from sixteen years ago, when her mother was an unmarried pregnant teen. Adoring relatives look on, but what we don’t know is the pain each of them has carried. “In less than 200 sparsely filled pages, this book manages to encompass issues of class, …

What if Students could choose their learning material rather than be ‘told’ how and what to learn? Educator & Mom Katie Novak Shares

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By Leslie Lindsay  BACK–TO–SCHOOL SERIES: School would be so much better if students could select their learning material from a buffet, rather than a casserole. Educator and mom, Katie Novak, describes this and more in LET THEM THRIVE.  When I was a kid, I hated math. I never understood the ‘why,’ to many of the the concepts. It wasn’t put into real-world perspective (at least for me when I was a kid). And then I read Katie Novak’s description of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in her book, LET THEM THRIVE: A Playbook for Helping Your Child Succeed in School and Life and it made perfect sense.  Learners (even adult learners) need to understand the ‘why’ of learning for it to be meaningful. That’s what the UDL calls the ‘affective’ piece of learning. Recruit their interest. The second piece is ‘the recognition network,’ that is, the ‘what’ of learning; what they need to know and the third component is the ‘strategic network,’ activating and action plan to express the new information in a meaningful manner. THRIVE is teaching kids …

Could Gold Stars and Praise really be a detriment to your child? Alfie Kohn talks about this and more in PUNISHED BY REWARDS

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By Leslie Lindsay  Back–to–School Series: Remember the 1990s? Were you raising kids then, or maybe you were one? Do you recall the incentive programs teachers dangled–“If you read 100 books you get this?” or, the BookIt! Program through Pizza Hut–a star for every title you completed and so many stars got you a personal pan pizza at your local restaurant? But that was just books and reading incentives. Countless medals were given to every kid on every sports team across the U.S.: “Most Improved,” “MVP,” “Most Likely to Sit on the Bench.” Okay, that last one is a bit of a joke, but in all seriousness, there seemed to have been an award for just about anything. And then these kids grew up. They started expecting similar accolades in college, in the workplace. Everyone started believing that they were exceptional. But maybe they weren’t.  In 1993, Alfie Kohn challenged this basic strategy we use for raising children, teaching students, and managing employees, which he summarized in six words: “Do this and you’ll get that.”  This …

BooKs On MondaY: HOW TO RAISE AN ADULT: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap & Prepare Your Kid for Success by Julie Lythcott-Haims

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By Leslie Lindsay  Run, don’t walk to your nearest bookstore and GET THIS BOOK! It’s Malcolm Gladwell meets Paul Tough meets Madeline Levine in a fresh, timely take on raising excellent adults from former Stanford freshmen admissions dean and parent Julie Lythcott-Haims. Never preachy, and oh-so-relatable Lythcott-Haims is spot-on with her approach to parenting, over-parenting, and preparing your children for the adult world. Julie gets it–she’s a mom raising her two (now) teenaged children in Silicon Valley where it’s customary for kids to have most of what they want, thanks to high-powered and successful parents with seemingly endless resources. With compassion and empathy, Lythcott-Haims takes parents through the minefield of raising kids to be independent, and how that is, in fact, the best way to honor and support your children’s individuality. Brimming with research and laid out in a manner all parents can appreciate, HOW TO RAISE AND ADULT is a deeply informed narrative, which reads as if you’re chatting with a good friend over coffee. You’ll come across cringe-worthy anecdotes of parental over-involvement gathered …

Apraxia Monday: School-Based SLP Natalie Boatwright

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By Leslie Lindsay ***SLP INTERVIEW!!!*** Thanks a bunch for taking the time to chat with us, Natalie.  We are excited to learn speech tips and tricks for the early childhood set from someone who is so well-versed (sorry, couldn’t resist), in the field.  Let’s start by getting to know you a bit. L4K: When and how did you get interested in the field of pediatric speech pathology?  Is it something that has always been in interest of yours, or did it evolve along with your academic career?  Natlie, CCC-SLP: It all started when I was a freshman in college. I was at orientation, and we were making our schedules for the first semester. I happened upon a course called “Intro to Communication Disorders.” I guess you could say it evolved with my academic career…I was hooked after the first class. L4K: As a school-based SLP, what are some of the top speech concerns you see at the grade-school level?    Natalie, CCC-SLP: The main concern I have encountered this year is with carry-over of learned skills into the …

Fiction Friday: Boy Meets with College Counselor

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By Leslie Lindsay Remember your high school college counselor?  The one who reviewed your report cards and SAT/ACT scores and advised  you on which schools to apply…the same one who pulled out those Career Outlook books for your intended profession?  You weren’t interested in what the job actually entailed or what skills you could bring to it–you were looking for the digits that would represent your (hopfully, fat) paycheck.  (image source: http://testprep.about.com/od/besttestprepresources/tp/Summer_School.htm) Well, here’s a backstory excerpt from my novel-in-progress that was cut by my writing partner.  (yeah, I am still reeling from this one a bit…I liked it!  But she’s got a good point).  Onward!!  [remember, this is not intended to represent anyone, living or dead.  It’s from the author’s imagination.  Please do not borrow or steal without first asking permission]             Going to college was never a question.  I was going.  The problem was, I didn’t know what I wanted to study.  I would go to the guidance counselor at school and ask what she thought I should do with my life.  Mrs. …

Apraxia Monday: Welcome to IEP-land

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By Leslie Lindsay (image retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/learning/iep.html 9.10.12) You may have just gotten your kids settled in school, and already you are beginning to think about the dreaded IEP.  Is it up to date?  Is is “good-enough?”  Is it helping your child tackle the things she or he really needs to tackle?  Are the teachers reading it?  Hummm…I feel your pain.  Here are some ideas to get you back into IEPland…. Remember, an IEP is a legally binding contract between the school and your family. It lays out: What your child’s qualifying disability is (in this case, a speech-language disorder called Childhood Apraxia of Speech, though there may be other diagnoses you child is also struggling with).  Your child’s present level of functioning (this is where assessment results are reported—are her receptive language skills at the level of a six-year- old, while her expressive language skills are at the level of a four-year- old?) What goals the IEP team thinks she should work on, over and above what is covered in the regular school curriculum (does …

Apraxia Monday: School Readiness

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By Leslie Lindsay     Ready, or not…school is right around the corner!  I know, I know…if you are a teacher or a school-based SLP you really don’t want to hear this, but we can’t wish it away.  If your child has CAS (childhood apraxia of speech), then you may have additional concerns–and that is normal and to be expected.  Hopefully this post will help ease your fears.  It’s primarily based on kindergarten, but you can adapt this to preschool-aged children as well.  Frankly speaking, it really is best to have your child with CAS in a preschool program where normally-develping students can serve as positive role-models for speaking and socializing.  Postivite parenting encouragement is really needed.  Is Your Child Ready for Kindergarten? As a parent, you are going to grapple with this question as your “baby” gets closer to “K-Day.” You are especially concerned because your child has CAS, and with that come some other concerns: difficulties with social skills, distractibility (sometimes associated with CAS), and decreased verbal skills. It’s an individual—and difficult—decision to make, …