The next thing I want to talk about is positioning.

Now we got our perspective after we applied positive pressure.

What are we trying to do with that?

We’re trying to position our students / our children to be in the best situation they can be.

That requires parents to listen, not just to listen to what they say, because they can say, “Hey, I want to be a doctor”. But, then all they want to do is go ride up and down the street on their bicycle. Well, are you trying to be a sports doctor? If so, you might need to come in and, you know, get some of this science homework done. Because you can’t fail science again, if you’re trying to be a doctor. Of course, there are some outliers to all of these anecdotes, but the point that I’m making is that Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book, and he talks about the 10,000 hours that a child’s spends in their adolescence doing something. They are spending time doing some task. Whether it is video games, or sleeping or eating snacks or cooking snacks… and if they’re spending 10,000 hours doing something, they’re going to be really good at that thing. But if the student is saying something different from the chosen activity, then we have to pay attention to that as well. What are they doing? What are they saying? That’s really important for positioning? 

Parents must be interested in how we position students in the best way possible, so that they can use the benefit of that 10,000 hours and use all the time they spend in that activity. Moreover, We have to make sure that we are positioning our students in reading and writing and in mathematics, as well as leadership skills and all those extracurricular activities, because those are the benchmarks for academic success. Now, in order to get to a prestigious or rigorous high school, or college and stay there and do well, our students have to read “at” or “above” grade level. 

The Nation’s Report Card- 37%

The National Association of Educational says in 2019 34% of the students who took this test, were below basic reading 31% were basic. 26% of our students were proficient, and only 9% of them were advanced. Now, those are some pretty harrowing statistics and I’m telling you, I see it. I have seen it throughout my entire career in the classroom. But just so that we’ll know how your child is positioned, let’s look at some benchmarks in reading, in writing and in mathematics, so that you know whether or not your child is “at”, “above”, or “below” the students with whom they will be compete. 

Reading

If your child in K – three, if they were not able to read 134 words per minute at a Lexile score range by third grade of 150 to 820, they are below grade level. If they aren’t able to read a novel like Charlotte’s Web, which is a popular book, they are behind. Moving on. If your child is in sixth grade, between fourth and sixth grade and they cannot access to 200 words per minute and read a book like The Phantom Tollbooth, which is one of my favorite books, they’re not at grade level – they’re behind. Now, 200 words per minute is pretty average. But how do you push that? You have to increase difficulty. One of my favorite books 1984 by George Orwell does that beautifully. If you hadn’t read this book by now, please read it because we live in the setting of 1984 at this present moment. The text complexity of a novel like 1984 challenges your student to read past what they are comfortable reading, but they will begin to read a text that will push them towards a larger vocabulary, a better understanding of sentence structure, and critically making sense of the world. Because when they read classic novels, they’ll say, “Wait a minute” – and take a critical look at world they live in right now. That’s the mark of a great reader because that same statistical battery revealed that – as a result of the low reading scores –  only 37% of our children are prepared for college. 

Writing

Now, on to writing. Has your child perfected manuscript? A lot of kids cannot for letters properly. Are they spelling well; recognising and pronouncing diphthongs and blends? Can they write short form pieces – short story, short letters by third grade? Are they even holding the pencil correctly? Because by fourth grade, they’re going to have to master cursive. If they’re not, please have your child learn how to write in cursive. Also their sentence structure needs to develop. They need to be able to write longer form letters and stories and informational texts because by seventh grade when they enter that middle school, where it’s time to apply for these schools, they need to have the skills of typing, cursive and handwriting down pat. The level of academic essays will go through the roof and these on these campuses where you’re desiring to send your child. Personal letters, emails, business letters too…their vocabulary needs to continue to grow. And all that comes with a very specific focus on sentence structure. They can’t just write sentences with lowercase letters at the beginning and no periods at the end. You would not believe what it looks like out here in the teacher world. A lot of students just write stuff just be putting it on paper to finish it, but that’s not good enough. In high school, students will have to write academic essays in MLA style. They will have to write a research paper, technical essays, personal letters, so on and so forth. And there are tests that will assess whether or not you can keep up in college, so if you have not been meeting those benchmarks along the way, you’re destined to struggle. And again, ironically, in writing 37% of those students are not on grade level.

Arithmetic

Now math is a big thing, y’all. By third grade, students need to have number sense; they need to have basic arithmetic and geometric facts down pat because multiplication facts need to be able to be spit out of their mouths, automatically. Division fractions, decimals, percents all are based on those foundational rules – those foundational skills, and if they don’t have those by fourth grade through sixth grade, then seventh through ninth grade math, and when they get into pre algebra, algebra, geometry, they will be lost. And of course, trigonometry and algebra, calculus, statistics, they can forget about it. 

One of my favorite colleagues, Dr. Valerie Camille Jones, has an awesome program where she teaches math esteem. The premise is that parents and teachers have to change the dialogue and mindset around math. She talks about a growth mindset, instead of a fixed mindset. People say, “Oh, I can’t do math”, or “It’s hard for me”. We have to change that language around math – even in our homes – because that 37% percent keeps looming over my head like a dark cloud. We got to make sure that our students are ready to take these tests that will help them gain entry into the schools you desire your child to attend. You are looking for schools that will give them access to the options that are out there. 

The bottom line is that your child must have the requisite skills. Period.