Here is a great article on girls and what it means when we say a girl is bossy.
I congratulate the authors on writing this piece and giving a voice to us "bossy" girls.
By my sons, I am called "fierce". By my husband, I am called "The chairman of the Board".
But how many times have I apologized for speaking my mind and for being intense?
How do we treat our female students? How can we empower them to lead?
As the article states:
And "bossy" is just the beginning. As girls mature, the words may change, but their meaning and impact remain the same. Women who behave assertively are labeled "aggressive," "angry," "shrill" and "overly ambitious." Powerful and successful men are often well liked, but when women become powerful and successful, all of us—both men and women—tend to like them less.
Educationally, we must promote our bossy girls and give them room to be whom they need to be. They are going places and need to be encouraged for being strong and knowing what they want. I love this article...please read!
What should I be doing for my child?
Often, I get asked this question by involved and dedicated parents. My response has changed over the years! 15 years ago, I would have told parents to get out the math books and do enrichment math, or get ahead, or challenge kids with writing activities, reading the classics, and taking on classes or workshops. The more, the better!
Now, I ask: what is your child doing outside of school?
Because, usually the child is involved in a plethora of outside sports, enrichment classes, language classes, music classes, or art lessons. Which, can be a great thing for the child.
But..now I wonder....and respond: "does your child have 'down time'? " - a phrase used quite often in our family. Down time is our children's time to tinker, hang out, maybe play video games, or read, or even watch TV! We have down time because the rest of the time the boys are doing homework, or skiing, or involved in some hyper intense activity.
I also ask parents: Does your child read? Does your child get outside and exercise? Does your child turn off the technology, and have time away from screens? This is because I think it is vastly important to not only have "down time" but also time to get away from technology and to interact with real people and real situations in the world.
Above all, parents need to be connected with their kids, provide time for the family to be together, and finally, provide "space" so that children can relax and be kids.
I am noticing that more and more parents and children are anxious. Anxiety is running rampant throughout our highly industrialized and complex society. This constant worry about "getting ahead" and "providing everything" for our children is not helpful to this young generation. You and your children have everything you need, and the best gift you can give your child is the ability to relax, enjoy life, and take pleasure in the small things!
Hello from the Challenge Centre. I have been away for a while because of skiing: both sons are involved in ski racing and since January, I really have not had any time on the weekends to do anything but get the boys out the door with all their race gear, ski, and get them home to a good dinner. 5:30 wake up times are difficult!
The Challenge Centre has gone through many changes this year...and feedback that has come my way has shown that sending out the invitations for programs in November has had it's challenges. I know that there is a great deal of delay in finding out your child has a program spot, and the program not beginning for months and months. So, we are working on this glitch, by reminding school contacts about the programs coming up. Right now I am contacting schools about Parent Permission forms I have not yet received.
Besides that, the programs are running at full speed: I just finished Marvellous Math Grades 4/5 and I am in the middle of teaching Creative and Poetic Pursuits Grades 4/5. This will take us to Spring Break, which begins at the end of this week.
The above picture is a snapshot of a wonderful workshop I was part of two weeks ago: The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme Training. A goal and dream of mine has been to teach the IB program someday, so I now have the training, and I am waiting for the right opportunity to present itself! I love the philosophy of IB, and it fits well with the work I have done in the challenge centre. Most notably, I try to incorporate the Learner Profile that IB schools use into our programming. So students may see and hear me talking about the kind of learner that we focus on being: reflective, inquisitive, balanced, knowledgeable, and caring learners (to name a few!)
Happy Spring Break, and I am looking forward to working with students in term three! I will soon be showing the work done with students in the last few programs!
