_In The News May 2005 Vol. 8-5
 President’s MessageThis month I have had some wonderful conversations with parents who are seeking a different approach to learning for their students. You know, it doesn't matter where we come from, we all want the same thing for our children. We want them to be independent, good citizens and happy. A good education is key to their success and we as parents know that. Often we feel like our hands are tied, that schools don't hear us and our children are caught in the middle. And, sometimes our children take out their frustration on us. I spoke with a parent this morning who said her children don't think she knows anything. In another conversation this morning, I spoke with a student who understood that he was responsible for his own learning. We as parents and educators can place before the student a  wonderful and informative learning program, but
if the student does not step up to the plate and take responsibility
for learning, frustrations arise all around. e-Tutor was
developed to give parents a different choice from institutional
learning. A large library of lessons gives the student a choice
about topics he or she is most interested in. We believe
this approach values the wishes of the parent and respects the needs
of the student.
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Also this month, I have
had the opportunity of thrilling in the success students are achieving
through the e-Tutor One2One program. A tutor is assigned to each
student. Assignments are created with the express student in mind.
Tutor and student communicate with each other throughout the week. Students have access to a wider range of lessons,
constant monitoring by the tutor and one on one contact during the
tutor's office hours. Tutors work from Knowledge Headquarters
Center in Chicago during their office hours. This provides us
the opportunity to celebrate student success together. It has been
especially rewarding for me, as in planning and developing such
a program, one is often hesitant of its true success. What a
delight it is to see students so actively involved in their learning,
to see tutors take such an interest in each individual student and to
view some of the outstanding work that the students are doing under
the guidance of their tutor! It is certainly more than I
imagined. I am pleased for the students, for the tutors and for
the parents who have sought a different approach for their child's
learning!
This month we added one
more certificate of accreditation for the e-Tutor Program. This
accreditation is granted by the North Central Association Commission
on Accreditation and School Improvement. e-Tutor Virtual
Learning has demonstrated to the academic community that it
effectively advances the quality of the educational experiences it
provides for its students and is in compliance with the standard and
criteria of this commission. When we met with the NCA officials
last Fall they stated that we were ahead of the curve in educational
programming. We were pleased to hear that news. As many of
you know, e-Tutor was first launched in 1997. The recognition
confirms what we know, that education must change to meet the
changing needs of our students. Knowledge HQ is happy to be at
the forefront of this change.  This is one of the most beautiful times of the year. I hope your busy schedules offer you the time to stop and enjoy the wonderful world we live in.
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Are you looking for a program to keep your child involved with learning over the summer? Learn More. Does your child need a refresher course? Learn More. Would you like to try online learning for a short period of time? Learn More. |
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Hidden talent counts for nothing. |
 Learning with e-Tutor
WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?It is that time of year
again, when subscribers are telling us about how they used e-Tutor
during the school year. Although most subscribers are
individuals, there are many schools and school districts that use e-Tutor,
as well. We thought you might like to read comments from one
school district. And you may even get some ideas about extending the
learning for your child.
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There is an ancient superstition of the sea that, inevitably, one wave comes along that is greater than any that has preceded it. It is called the Ninth Wave. It is the powerful culmination of sea and wind. There is no greater force. To catch the Ninth Wave at the critical moment requires a special skill, timing your movements to mount it at its peak. Today we see such a powerful wave in our future. Our own Ninth Wave, bringing with it significant change. To catch this Wave, this change, we must prepare now. So that when it is our turn to respond, we can catch the mighty Ninth with the best that is in us and ride it all the way to the shore. We hope you will join us in riding this powerful wave of change. The Executive Speechwriter Newsletter |
Students:
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The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing it exactly right. |
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One day, Eric returned his lunch box without the note. Janice's curiosity got the better of her and she asked, "Sweetie, where's your note?" Eric looked at her, not sure if he had
done something wrong. "I gave it to Kyle," he
said. "His mother doesn't give him notes and I ...well...I
thought he could use mine." "You did?" Janice questioned. "Yeah. His Nana is really sick and he's so sad right now," Eric explained. "Maybe you can write a note for him tomorrow or maybe I can give him the one you wrote last Thursday. That was a good one." Janice shook her hear, in awe of her boy. She hadn't been sure the notes held any importance for him. And now she knew that Eric not only appreciated them, he thought they were important enough to pass on. Bits & Pieces |
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Students and sometimes parents are often not aware of the significance of the Activities and Extended Learning Activities included with each e-Tutor lesson. They provide important skill work in problem solving and critical thinking, sometimes referred to as metacognition. Researchers define metacognition as "....being aware of our thinking as we perform specific tasks and then using this awareness to control what we are doing." To think metacognitively about a learning task, three types of knowledge must be acquired by the learner: declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge and conditional knowledge. Declarative knowledge is factual information.....what the researchers refer to as "knowing that." An example of declarative knowledge is a learner's knowing that a glossary is different from a table of contents and if they come across an unfamiliar word, the glossary rather than the table of contents would be the place to find the unfamiliar word's definition. P The third category of knowledge, conditional, refers to knowing when to use a particular learning strategy (e.g., activating prior knowledge) over another and knowing why this strategy is the best way to approach a learning task. The three types of knowledge form the cognitive knowledge that learners must acquire before they become "strategic learners." Strategic Learning involves:
Research has shown that students can be
taught learning strategies, such as setting a purpose for learning,
activating prior knowledge, predicting, eval The learner's past exclusion from this important "tool of the learning trade" could cause problems when one wants to know how the learner solves a particular problem or what the learner is thinking while he or she completes a task. The payoff in learning these strategies is increased student responsibility for learning. Excerpts from Silver Burdett & Ginn |
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Initiative is to success what a lighted match is to a candle. |
 Setting goals can help you plan your
future one step at a time. Setting goals is simply defining what
you want. That's not so hard, is it? Knowing what your
goals are makes it easier to make choices that will help you reach
them. A practical goal is a concrete thing that can be
measured. If you say, "I want to be in charge of my own
life," that is a hard thing to measure. But if you say,
"I want to live in my own apartment in six months and pay my own
rent," that's something that you can look at in six months and say
you accomplished it or you didn't. Goals and dreams are not the same thing. Dreaming of living on a Caribbean island and teaching windsurfing all day is most often a dream. Although it is sometimes fun to fantasize about that life, especially when tired and it's cold outside. If living on a Caribbean island and teaching windsurfing all day really was your goal, you would be actively working toward it, trying to make it a reality. The following will help you set realistic goals: First, make sure your goal is something you really want to do, stated in a positive way. In other words, don't say, "I don't want to live with my parents." Instead, state it positively: "I want to live on my own as a responsible adult." Next, break your goal into concrete
mini-goals. If your were trying to make that Caribbean dream
come true, your mini-goals might include: learn to windsurf; research
Caribbean islands; find out how expensive it is to live in the
Caribbean; and research owning a small business in the
Caribbean. Within each mini-goal, you might break it into small steps. Learn to windsurf might get broken down into: check the Yellow Pages; call county park system; call windsurfing equipment stores to find out about lessons; save $25 a week for lessons. By breaking down a big goal into
mini-goals and then by breaking those mini-goals down into steps, you
keep from being overwhelmed. Make sure those mini-goals and
steps are concrete and measurable. Then you will have a real
sense of accomplishment when meeting those goals. It is also helpful to set deadlines. A long-term goals of, say owning a car, might have a deadline two years away. A shorter-term deadline, like improving your social life, might be only two months away. If you know when you would like to accomplish your overall goal, it helps to set deadlines for your mini-goals, too. Just work backward. If you want to buy a car in two years, then maybe you have mini-goals of taking a driver's ed course to lower your insurance, research the best cars in your price range, create a budget and get a job right now. Don't let anybody tell you that you can't accomplish things just because you are a teenager. Instead, think about what you want most for your life and then set goals so that you can accomplish it! Adapted from The Next Step Magazine |
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While it is too late to improve grades already recorded, there are ways parents can help children succeed in the next marking term. First, put the "F" in perspective. A child who flunks math will not necessarily be barred from a good college. College admissions officers consider many factors when reviewing potential freshmen, such as SATs, class rank, extracurricular activities and grades in all subjects. Bringing up the "F" also should be viewed favorably. But there are ways parents can help children ensure that problems in grasping basic concepts do not evolve into difficulty with more advanced courses in later years.
The Community Link |
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If an adult believes it is necessary to help a child cope with stress, several approaches are available and may be used alone or in any combination.
It is not an adult's responsibility to eliminate all stress from children's lives. This is not possible or desirable. However, helping children learn to deal with stress will enable them to deal with the inevitable stress that is in all of our lives. Adapted from National Education Association |
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When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. |
Bill of Rights Institute: This
site offers a large selection of free lesson plans PBS Kids Cyberchase: A fun math related game is available every day at
Cyberchase. Games reinforce important math concepts. Pump up your math skills and
have a little fun at the same time. Take the poll (and have students apply their knowledge of graphs) or have a peek at the next day's
show.
From the Knowledge HQ Staff Copyright © 2005 Knowledge Headquarters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. www.knowledgehq.com
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Every day Janice
jotted down a joke or
a few words of encouragement on a napkin that she placed in her son
Eric's lunch box. And every afternoon, Eric returned his lunch
box to her with the spent napkin inside. Janice often wondered
if he even read the notes.
rocedural knowledge is
"knowing how"; knowing how to combine word clues with prior
knowledge and experience to make an inference is an example of
procedural knowledge. 
uating, summarizing,
comprehension monitoring and making inferences. This is why the
Activities and Extended Learning sections are included with each e-Tutor
lesson. Parents should participate in discussing the completed
responses with the student.
Uncover the "real" problem. Rule out any underlying
reasons for your child's failing grade, such as the need for glasses,
hearing problems, a learning disability or problems with
friends. Look for signs of substance use, particularly if you
see a drastic change in performance. Then have a heart-to-heart talk
with your child to pinpoint difficulties. Getting to the bottom
of the problem is the first step in correcting it. 
ou're angry at Jimmy because he wouldn't share his
toys." This labels the emotion and links it to the
event that caused it.
Have a Great Month!