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People are affected differently by various lighting situations, which can then affect focus and concentration when learning or working.

Is the lighting bright or low, natural or artificial? If artificial, is it incandescent, fluorescent, or full-spectrum?

Fluorescent lighting has been shown to negatively affect children and adults. It can cause headaches, difficulty reading, eyestrain, irritability, and hyperactive behavior. Plants will not survive under fluorescent lighting but we expect people to!

Full-spectrum lighting, commonly used to grow indoor plants, more closely resembles the full spectrum of light present in nature. Positive effects have been documented in classrooms that have switched to this lighting.

If you have fluorescent lighting at home, try switching to full-spectrum. It could make a big difference in attitude and productivity for the whole family.

What if a student does better with natural lighting? Try moving that student near a window in the classroom, or at home when doing homework.

copyright 2020 by Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis
contact Mariaemma: m@learningsuccesscoach.com
powertraitsforlife.com, reflectiveed.com, aselfportraitonline.com

 

 

While some students need to sit up at a table or desk to do their best work or thinking, just as many do better in other positions.

Reclining or sitting on a bed, couch, bean bag chair, or the floor are alternatives.

Still others need to be standing up, perhaps working at an easel, a board on the wall, or a tall drafting table.

Being able to get up frequently and walk around might be desirable. Some people do their best thinking when they are moving!

At home, you and your child can experiment with different arrangements. Options for body position include:

• Sitting: desk, table, floor, bean bag chair, bouncy ball
• Reclining: bed, couch, floor
• Standing: easel, board, drafting table, counter

If you have an exercise ball around the house, try offering it to a child that needs to “move”—these are being used in many classrooms now with great results!

copyright 2020 by Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis
contact Mariaemma: m@learningsuccesscoach.com
powertraitsforlife.com, reflectiveed.com, aselfportraitonline.com

People are affected differently by various sounds or noise levels when working or studying. This goes for adults as well as young people. The sounds in their environments can greatly affect focus and concentration.

Some people need complete quiet when they need to concentrate. Others actually cannot concentrate when it is too quiet—they need some noise in the background. The type of noise varies with the individual, for example, music, people talking, street noise, etc.

When students are studying or doing any kind of school work at home, it helps to know what works best for them in terms of sound.

What if you have one child that needs total quiet and another that needs music? What if both need quiet but there are other things going on around them.

It might be time for a family meeting to discuss what can be done to meet as many needs as possible for each individual.

How about headphones for the person who does better with music? Ear plugs for those who need quiet?

Perhaps those who need to hear talking in the background can work in the family room and those who need quiet would be in a separate room or quiet nook.

Having this discussion and making a few adjustments can go a long way to facilitating more effective learning!

copyright 2020 by Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis
contact Mariaemma: m@learningsuccesscoach.com
powertraitsforlife.com, reflectiveed.com, aselfportraitonline.com

 

Did you know that the majority of the population are Hands-On or Picture Learners?

Yet most teaching is geared for Listening and Print learners who are also schedule-oriented, linear learners. These people make up about 1% of the population! These are the 3-5 students in any classroom who get all the A’s.

 Hands-on and Picture Learners are often considered “special needs” learners because they do not learn in the “normal” way. But how is “normal” being defined?  Is it normal just because it’s been done this way for years in traditional classrooms? Or, will we use the scientific definition of “normal” which translates to “the majority’?

Hands-On Learners make up 50-60% of the population, 80% when combined with Picture Learners. These are potentially the most brilliant people: mechanics, engineers, builders, architects, artists, musicians, scientists, inventors, and entrepreneurs.

What would happen if the classroom became a place that truly provided for these “normal, average” learners? The result would be that the Hands-On and Picture Learners would become the “A” students.

Instead, these are the learners who are labeled with disability labels: ADD, ADHD, Dyslexic, slow, below average, etc. These are the kids who experience failure almost daily in school. These are the students who don’t realize how smart they are and that they have unlimited possibilities. They don’t realize they could go to college, start their own businesses, go to graduate school, seek a specialized career – in other words, choose exactly what they want to do!

What if we looked at these students from a learning strengths perspective? Here are some examples:

• If a student needs to “say it out loud” in order to learn something, we would recognize the Verbal Learner, instead of thinking that student is disruptive.
• If a student focuses better when doodling, we would recognize the Sketching Learner, instead of labeling the student ADD.
• If a student does not learn spelling words by writing them over and over, we would recognize that this student is a non-print learner and find the modalities that do work, rather than saying this student is dyslexic.

When students are looked at through the lens of learning strengths, very few are labeled as disabled.

The students I see have often been labeled with a learning disability by their school. The first thing I do is give them a learning strengths assessment. This is such a no-brainer to me! Would you build a house without a blueprint? How can you know what will work for a student’s learning if you don’t have his learning needs blueprint?

Once I know the student’s Dispositions, Modalities, Interests, Talents, and Best Work Environment, we can move forward customizing a learning plan.

This is what Individualized Learning Plan (IEP) really means – customizing for a student’s strengths, and every single student should have one!

 Then the magic happens:

• a “dyslexic” student begins to listen to audio books and a couple of years later becomes a voracious reader
• an “ADD” student is given the space to create, tinker, invent – and suddenly focus is no longer an issue
• a student who supposedly has “low comprehension” begins to thrive when encouraged to draw her assignments

The possibilities are endless. When educators choose to focus on the learner’s strength, everything changes and truly no child is left behind.

copyright 2020 by Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis
contact Mariaemma: m@learningsuccesscoach.com
reflectiveed.com, aselfportraitonline.com, powertraitsforlife.com

Parents often ask what they can do when their children become upset over mistakes they’ve made on school work. For example, a mom reported that her son became very upset when he took a quiz and missed one question. He did not focus on the 9 out of 10 that were correct, but on the one that he missed. He didn’t think he should be making any mistakes at all!

This can be a tricky issue. We need to examine our own actions, behaviors, and statements to see if we are contributing to the child reacting in this way. Many parents say that it’s not coming from them—they are always positive and talk in terms of how many questions or problems a student gets right. That may be, but are we giving them messages in other ways during daily life that suggest that “mistakes” are “bad”? After all, we all grew up with the idea that the best score is 100% and the best grade is A+. If your children are in a traditional school program, this is probably the message they are getting there and this could also be the message in a homeschool program.

We also need to realize that the word “test” in itself gives the idea that the student will be “measured”—and that the score determines how “good” or “smart” you are. This is a major reason why tests fail to teach or to be positive motivators in most students’ lives. They are usually associated with feelings of stress or fear, and often lead to disappointment, sadness, and beliefs of inadequacy.

In contrast, let’s look at people who perceive “mistakes” in a very different way. For example, it is said that Thomas Edison did over 1000 experiments trying to invent the light bulb. He was asked how he could keep going after making so many mistakes. His response: What mistakes? Each time I’m just learning what doesn’t work, bringing me closer to what does work. Similarly, the most successful salespeople look forward to being turned down by potential clients. Their reasoning: the more no’s I get the closer I am to a big “YES.”

These people are not seeing mistakes—they are seeing learning opportunities! Many of our best inventions—styrofoam, post-it notes, etc.— started out as “mistakes.” The person involved was trying to do something else and something went wrong—lucky for us, someone saw beyond the mistake and a new invention was born. All of our famous inventors, scientists, and creative people made lots of mistakes—this is the only way they could get to the discovery they were looking for, by being willing to get it “wrong” so many times.

It’s important to get this concept across to kids. And we need to make it “safe” for them to make mistakes. The number one requirement for learning is safety. If our students do not feel emotionally safe to explore, try, and take risks in their learning, their potentials will not be realized.

For example, there are many students who stop asking questions in the classroom or who don’t raise their hands to participate because they are afraid of saying the wrong thing or saying something “stupid.”

In order to be successful at anything, including learning, you have to be willing to make mistakes. It’s the “fail your way to the top” attitude:  if I keep trying, discovering, experimenting, I’ll get there. This is what separates the people who achieve their goals from those who don’t. In her book, “Work Less Make More,” Jennifer White says, “Fail often so you can succeed sooner.”

The more we can see “mistakes” as opportunities and incorporate this concept into our everyday family life, the better it will be for our kids. One way to get help with this is to read stories together of people who turned mistakes into opportunities. There are several books on this subject. If you go to Amazon.com and put “mistakes” in the search box, you will get a whole list. Here are a few to get you started:

Mistakes That Worked, by Charlotte Foltz Jones (reading level 9-12 yr)

Accidents May Happen: 50 Inventions Discovered by Mistake, Foltz (9-12 yr)

Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins: The Paradox of Innovation, Farson

Failing Forward—How to Make the Most of Your Mistakes, Maxwell

If parents and teachers continually point out what students are doing “right” and if “mistakes” are treated as learning opportunities rather than “problems,” students will get the idea.

Wouldn’t it be great if our kids could grow up seeing opportunities all around them?!

copyright 2020 by Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis

contact Mariaemma: m@learningsuccesscoach.com

reflectiveed.com, aselfportraitonline.com, powertraitsforlife.com

You might think this is an obvious statement, and yet there are many adults who don’t understand what this means. Students who continuously experience failure, day after day, do not know what success “feels” like. And they do not know what to do to turn things around to become successful, if they haven’t experienced success!

Sounds like we are going around in circles here! The thing is, in order for a student to begin to experience success, someone must coach that student toward success.

How do you coach someone toward success? Well, it’s not by saying things like:

• you’d better shape up or you won’t get anywhere
• forget about riding lessons until you’re getting good grades in math
• you have to care about your work and try harder

Try harder…those dreaded words. What exactly does it mean to try harder? One student put it this way: “I spend hours on my homework and work late into the night, I’m trying as hard as I can, and I’m failing. What else am I supposed to do? My teachers just say I’m not trying – they don’t know anything about how hard I’m trying!”

The key is to begin where the student is in a particular skill or subject. If a student does not know how to write a paragraph according to the teacher’s definition, then no matter “how hard he tries” he won’t be able to do it. And if that same student is expected to write reports in all classes and is graded on his writing, then you can see that he can never be successful in any class.

But if that same student is allowed to make a video, or a poster, or do a verbal presentation to show what he knows in history or science, now he has a chance to be successful in something, and that experience will inspire and motivate him to succeed at other things, instead of giving up.

This is just one example. Students who have trouble reading can learn subjects through movies and audiotapes, while they are working on increasing reading skills. Students

who are working on skills such as reading, writing, spelling, or math, need to have the lessons customized to work for them, so they can experience small successes that will later lead to big successes.

The more we work with kids’ learning needs and developmental levels, the more successful they will be.

copyright 2020 by Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis, Reflective Educational Perspectives, LLC / LearningSuccess™ Institute

contact Mariaemma: m@learningsuccesscoach.com

reflectiveed.com, aselfportraitonline.com, powertraitsforlife.com

I love this story. It goes like this…

“A bricklayer has a brother who is a gifted and famous violinist. One day the head of the construction company he works for says to him: ‘It must be fine to have such a renowned man for a brother.’ Then, afraid he might offend the worker’s pride he adds, ‘Of course we must accept the fact that talent isn’t evenly distributed – even in the same family.’

The bricklayer responds: ‘That’s the truth. Why, my brother doesn’t know the first thing about bricklaying. It’s a good thing he can afford to pay others to build his house for him.'” (excerpted from The Best of Three Minutes a Day – A Christopher Book)

Yes!!! Cheers for the bricklayer!

Every single person has an amazing talent or gift that is valuable and needs to shared with the world.

It is our job as Parents, Teachers, and Leaders across the globe to coach each child to discover his or her amazing gift – and to encourage children to follow their interests and passions. It is our responsibility to ensure that all kids grow up believing that they are smart and capable, and confident about the value of their contributions.

copyright 2020 by Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis, Reflective Educational Perspectives, LLC / LearningSuccess™ Institute

contact Mariaemma: m@learningsuccesscoach.com

reflectiveed.com, aselfportraitonline.com, powertraitsforlife.com

A few years ago I read an article titled: Learning at Pace of Leisure – New kindergarten law to allow children more time to pick up skills.

So far, fine. But here’s what spoiled the story: “This is much better for making sure the kids who enter kindergarten are ready for the rigor of kindergarten,” said a director of instruction for a school district in Ventura County, adding that kindergarteners are expected to master more advanced skills than in years past.

The rigor of kindergarten??? Really?

This reminds me of a clip from the comedian Sinbad talking about the ridiculousness of having to pass tests to get into kindergarten. It went something like this: If the kid can eat a cookie and take a nap, he passes!

What happened to “Learning at pace of leisure?” When are we going to stop trying to force education before students are ready, and allow kids to be who they are supposed to be developmentally? When are we going to stop causing stress and anxiety to young children and their families, for no good reason?

Four and five-year-olds are supposed to play, nap, laugh, explore their surroundings, tinker, finger paint, and experiment with musical instruments like drums and cymbals. And, yes, they can start to learn numbers and alphabet sounds.

Statements like “the rigor of kindergarten” are precisely the reason we wrote, Midlife Crisis Begins in Kindergarten. The title is funny, but what is happening is tragic.

More and more, “kids are expected to master more advanced skills than in years past.” And who made that rule?

When I started kindergarten I didn’t speak a word of English (only Italian!). I remember playing games, singing, finger painting, having fun and loving my teacher. Pretty soon I was speaking, reading, and writing in English and ready to go on to first grade. That was in 1955.

Thank you, Mrs. Crenshaw, for making my kindergarten experience so enjoyable and successful that I wanted to go back to school.

Whether your children are in traditional school or home schooled, I wish for them that same enjoyable and successful experience—in kindergarten and throughout their school lives.

copyright 2019 by Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis, Reflective Educational Perspectives, LLC / LearningSuccess™ Institute

contact Mariaemma: m@learningsuccesscoach.com

reflectiveed.com, aselfportraitonline.com, solimaracademy.com

 

 

People are affected differently by various lighting situations, which can then affect focus and concentration when learning or working.

Is the lighting bright or low, natural or artificial? If artificial, is it incandescent, fluorescent, or full-spectrum?

Fluorescent lighting has been shown to negatively affect children and adults. It can cause headaches, difficulty reading, eyestrain, irritability, and hyperactive behavior. Plants will not survive under fluorescent lighting but we expect people to!

What if a student does better with natural lighting? Try moving that student near a window in the classroom, or at home when doing homework.

Full-spectrum lighting, commonly used to grow indoor plants, more closely resembles the full spectrum of light present in nature. Positive effects have been documented in classrooms that have switched to this lighting.

If you have fluorescent lighting at home, try switching to full-spectrum. It could make a big difference in attitude and productivity for the whole family.

copyright 2019 by Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis, Reflective Educational Perspectives, LLC / LearningSuccess™ Institute

contact Mariaemma: m@learningsuccesscoach.com

reflectiveed.com, aselfportraitonline.com, solimaracademy.com