Parenting - The Everyday Hero!

The Everyday Heros

What is means to be a parent

We each have our own perspective, experience, triumphs and challenges when it comes to being a parent. I am in my 22nd year as a parent with two children whom I have guided as best I can, and still do.  My parenting experience has been with my partner and love, who happens to be my wife, Marie Sierra.

We’re not perfect parents… no such thing. What makes me the happiest as a parent today is that both our 18 and 22 year old talk with us openly about everything, and I mean absolutely everything, no matter how shocking it might be.  This open communication has led to some tense moments, but in the end, it has resulted in the four of us having an authentic, meaningful and relevant relationship.

So what does it mean to be a parent?  For me it has do with how I help my children think and perceive.  For me, it doesn’t have anything to do with telling them what to do.  I tried that as a young parent and the result was conflict, and depending on their personality, they might do whatever they want anyway.  Even if a child has a laid back personality and tends to follow directions, eventually, they will breakout and decide on their own actions. Better to help them self-regulate and be outstanding critical and creative thinkers.

Take a moment now and ask yourself the question, 

“What does it mean to be a hero?”

Doesn’t a hero empower others?  Help others? Look for the good in others?  Is a role model for others?

Hold on… that sounds a lot like a parent!  

And I believe a parent is a hero.  The only real question is 

“What kind of hero/parent are you choosing to be?”

Here are some simple (not always easy) strategies which have helped Marie and me in our journey through parenthood.  

1. Ask your children questions as often as you can instead of making statements.  When you do, make sure to be patient enough to listen.

2. Read the book “The Five Love Languages” by Gary Chapman and know your children’s love language preferences.  This will improve how you connect with them.  Ask your child the question, “How do you know I love you?”  Their answer will give you a clue as to how you can improve with how you show your love for them.

3. Read to your child everyday starting when they are in the womb.  When you do, and they interrupt you, give them time to say whatever it is they are saying.  Listen carefully and find a way to connect what they are saying, to the book or if that isn’t possible, connect their comments to their interests.

One of all-time favorites, "Jazzy in the Jungle" by Lucy Cousins!

Bilingual books that help young learners learn two languages!  They also introduce concepts like embracing multiple perspectives, seeing diversity as strength and looking for opportunity in adversity.  Co-written with my daughter Sam Sierra-Feldman 

www.SamTheAnt.com

The second book in the series.... it's one big story and each book has a perspective twist!

4. Make puppets with your children from old socks and markers.  Let your child make their own puppet, without your help or perhaps with a little help if needed.  Use the puppet to model different kinds of behaviors.  Encourage your child to be the puppets teacher.  Use the puppets to breathe deeply (see #7).

The famed puppet "Eddie the Elephant" who is known for helping children and adults learn how to breathe!  You can accomplish that and much more with a handmade puppet from a sock.

5. Play Early Classical music for your children like Mozart, Bach, and Vivaldi.

Great early classical compilation CD I produced in 2004 and is still heavily requested.  Found online at the above link.

6. Practice basic yoga with your children.  There are plenty of free videos on line.  Look for something that is at the beginner level and child-friendly.  This will set their body and mind up for success early on.

7. Breathe deeply with your children when they wake up, before meals and before going to bed.

Know that if you are a parent, you are a hero and if you see yourself as a hero, you’d make one heck of a parent!

Cheers!

Enrique

Co-Author, Sam the Ant Children’s Book Series

Music Producer of Music for Relaxed Environments

Music Producer of Children’s Music

Public Speaker

FOSTERING CREATIVE & CRITICAL THINKERS - Transference of Knowledge!

BUCKLE UP!

The process of learning is amazing to behold.  Especially when you have the opportunity to collaborate for years with creative and progressive programs. One such organization is Child-Parent Centers, Inc., an exemplary Head Start program in Tucson.  

This blog is dedicated to their children, teachers and parents.

Enrique C. Feldman, Founder
Global Learning Foundation, Artist,
and Children's Book Author

I had taken a break for a from my blogging with so many wonderful projects which have taken my complete focus.  Those projects are surfacing now and so am I!  To preface all the beautiful images you're going to see, which are examples of children's work with materials, I want to make something very clear.  This blog and the children's work it highlights are much more than cute & cool.

The work you're seeing is the byproduct of weeks and in some cases months of:

• Teachers asking children great questions
• Children and Teachers having authentic conversations
• Exploring with materials before deciding on which ones to use

With that in mind... up, up and away!

The role of materials is essential to creating invitations for any aged learner to explore, consider, strive and eventually THRIVE!  Take a good look at the first image below.  Which do you think the child started with?  Which one took longer?  Why?  Notice that I love to use questions, even with you, the reader... why do I choose to do that?  (I encourage you to use the comment section below)

WHAT & WHY

As adult learners we quite often ask questions starting with "What?"  Nothing wrong with that and certainly, sometimes it is a great word to use.  What about why?  lol... couldn't help myself! 

What would the world look like if we asked "Why?" more often?  For example, with the next image, I could ask a infinite number of questions.  How about this one...

Why do you think this child chose to create this structure/image?  Is there a central focus, and if so, was this done on purpose?  Hmmmmm.....  I can hear you thinking and I love that sound... silence... the sound of thinking!  Let's remember to embrace the silence once we ask a question.  Many of us adults ask a question, followed by the sound of our own voice, again speaking.... I know I do sometimes.... embrace the sound of thinking, that glorious silence, especially when working with young children.

SYMMETRY and ASYMMETRY

Now hold on....these are pretty big words for preschool children, right?  Not really.  There was a time when I would have thought so.  In my many years of working with children, my experience has shown me that:

• When you embody the thing you are learning, you can learn anything, including advanced vocabulary.
• When you offer any aged learner the chance to learn with different approaches, you elevate their level of engagement.
• When you offer different ways of experiencing the same concept, you by default introduce the idea of "transference of knowledge" (understanding how concepts make sense in different areas of study).

3D and 2D

#Whynot? The ever popular fortress image!  I know I loved forts when I was little... but wait, is this a fort?  What else could it be?  How many different things could this represent?  And, do we take the time to have these kinds of conversations with our youngest learners.... how about our older learners?

The ability to see images in our own head in both 2D and 3D is very closely related to our ability to visualize.... so, is this just an image of a fort?  I think we should all think about how empowering this kind of work can be for learner and teacher/parent!

MATERIALS and COLOR

So what is a young child thinking when they choose a color?  Did they know that the blue and the red would provide fantastic contrast?  Did they first explore other colors?  Does that thing in the center turn or twist?  If so, why?

Are the questions we ask more important than the "answers"?  I have my opinion and I encourage you to consider your response.

BALANCE and FUNCTION

I wonder what this child knows about balance?  I wonder if the word "Fulcrum" was introduced?  I wonder if they first saw something like this in real life.

Should we keep wondering?  Should we model wondering?

hmmmmm...

Depending on your personality type, you might be wondering, "but what are the exact steps to take when having children work with blocks and creating visual art?"  May I suggest a different question? Perhaps...

• What kind of materials do your children enjoy the most?
• Have you asked them why?

• What kinds of real life objects excite your children the most?
• Have you asked them why?

• Can you find materials and objects that interest your children?
• Can you connect these materials and objects to words, math, and science?

I wonder and I hope you do to!

I'm looking forward to my July 10 blog, which will be a very special one indeed, titled "The Art of Living".... and now that I think about it, my August 10 blog will be just as special, titled "Sam the Ant - the hero in us all!"

Ciao!

Enrique C. Feldman
Founder, Global Learning Foundation
Performing Artist and Composer
Author, Living Like a Child
Creator, iBG, Intellectual Brainwave Games (coming soon)
Co-Creator, The Inner Journey Theatrical Show
Co-Author of Sam the Ant, a new kind of children's book series (coming soon)
Producer, Kaleidoscope (Children's Album in consideration for a Grammy 2017)

IMPROVISATION GAMES for IMPROVED LITERACY

IMPROVISATION CAN CONNECT TO LEARNING 

Welcome back to my blog and Happy New Year!  If you're new to me, I'm Enrique and I work with children, teachers and parents all over the world through my F.A.M.E. Foundation and through Context Method/MyTown Music.  Using artistic approaches to elevate how anyone learns is what we do.

I have used improvisation games for many years.  At first I used them to simply let the young learners have a break in their day that was fun.  Then I realized how much learning was taking place naturally, especially related to language, both spoken and embodied.  One of my favorite improv games is called TAXI.

I had played this game with K - 5 students, where the students become a passenger and/or driver in a taxi cab.  Each student becomes an emotion and embodies that emotion with what they say and do.

I hadn't yet tried the game with middle and high school students, but once I did, I found it was huge hit with that age group!

Then, I thought I should try it with adults in our professional development sessions, and WOW, did they love it.  They were as engaged as actors were.  I found that many adults had an actor/actress inside them wanting to come out and play!

Then about 3 months ago, I tried this game with preschool children and the result was…. the children wanted to play the game over and over again.  Below is an image from Gregory Sidor's blog "Everybody's a Comedian: An Easy Improv Party Game.  I encourage you to check it out.  It's a great resource.  Below are the essential steps I take when I engage preschool children in this game that elevates learning in many ways.

STEP 1: With children sitting in a circle demonstrate emotions with your own face and body and have the children guess which emotion you are.  Encourage children to volunteer to be the one demonstrating the emotion.  This step can go on for days, if not weeks.  Let it happen.  You're building skill level for the actual Taxi Improv game.

STEP 2: Place 4 chairs in the middle of the rug with children sitting around them.  Demonstrate with your fellow teachers or some visiting parents.  The first person, the driver of the taxi cab, chooses an emotion but doesn't tell anyone what it is.  This individual becomes this emotion with what they say and how they use their body language as they enter the taxi and begin to drive.

STEP 3: The 2nd person chooses their own emotion without telling anyone and enters the taxi embodying that emotion.  THE TAXI CAB DRIVER, the first person, does their best to become the emotion of the 2nd person.  

STEP 4: The 3rd and 4th individuals do the same as the 2nd person.  In the end, 4 emotions will have been experienced.

NOTE: It is a very good idea to write down a list of emotions the children know on a board of some type to help them have a visual of what the word looks like and to help them have a selection to choose from.  Grow this list of words over time.

With young children, you'll most likely be starting with words like "Happy", "Sad", "Mad", and "Funny."  Remember to not underestimate the children's abilities.  Start with those kinds of words and take the risk to extend on those words.  For example, once they know "Happy", you can introduce "Excited", which they probably know, and go on to words like "Exuberant."

Have fun and remember that fun IS NOT fluff!  Fun is where it's at.  Fun is an INVITATION to the learner to create and discover! To read more about improvisation, check out my book/e-book Living Like a Child!
Enrique
Founder, F.A.M.E. Foundation
Co-Founder, Context Method
Film Composer

VISUAL LITERACY: Creating Artistic Learning Experiences

A VISUAL ARTS STRATEGY
From a collection of Arts Integration Solutions Strategies

Hello and welcome back to my blog!  For those who are first time visitors, my name is Enrique and I'm the Founder and Director of Education for the national for-purpose F.A.M.E. Foundation.  I'm also a senior facilitator for the national Arts Integration Solutions.  Our objective are the same... empower teachers and elevate learning experiences for children (and older students too).

*(Free Music Give Away at the end of the blog)

CONSTRUCTING A STORY SEQUENCE

I'd like to thank my colleague Dr. Darden Bradshaw.  She is the individual I first saw deliver this Arts Integration Strategy.  Keep in mind you can use any book in order to be development appropriate.   The  big idea here is:

• Improve Critical Thinking within the scope of Language and Literacy

The bridge to learning here are picture books!

BOOK: FLOTSOM

The book I've used the most is by David Wiesner titled Flotsam.  It is an amazing book.  Here is what you do:

• With educational license take multiple color copies of a book your children DON'T know.
• Put the images out of order
• Have your children/students (in small groups) put the images in what they believe to be the most logical order.
• When they start, have them do so without talking (how long would depend on what is appropriate age wise).
• After a while, let them know they can talk as they work as a team.
• As they are going through this process, ask them why they are making certain decisions... what clues are they seeing?

Now it's time for you to experience it!  Below are 19 images from the book.  It's not all of them, but it's enough for you play along.  I've numbered each one.  I'd love to hear from you as to what you think the order is and WHY?  Ready, set... GO!

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

WHY DID THE LEARNER CHOOSE THE SEQUENCE THEY CHOSE?

There are many visual "Elements" that are crucial.  They are:

• Line: the space between two points
• Shape: a two-dimensional area
• Form: any three-dimensional geometric figure
• Space: any continuous area that is free or unoccupied
• Color: it's exactly what you think it is
• Value: the relationship between dark and light on a surface
• Texture: how a surface feels to the touch or the illusion of how it looks like or would feel like

Perhaps some of those were some of the clues you found.

CLUES/EVIDENCE FOUND?

Other clues might be related to the principles of Visual Art.  They are:

• Unity: the organization of all the elements in ways that make sense or seem to not make sense
• Emphasis: where your eye is drawn and/or the focal point
• Rhythm: this is created when one or more elements are used repeatedly to create a feeling of organized movement
• Movement: the path your eye takes when viewing the art
• Pattern: the effect of repeating an object, symbol, element or any of these combined
• Proportion: the size, location or amount of any one element in comparison to another
• Balance: the distributed weight of the elements in any piece of art
• Variety: the differences among and between elements in a piece of art

Remember, use a book that is age appropriate and you are off to the races.  With that said, I have used Flotsam with ALL ages of children/students.

Many areas of literacy can be addressed, including story sequence.  You can also ask children, what would one of the character be saying if there were words.  

FOR MORE INFORMATION 

If you're interested in Arts Integration, visit the website of my partnering organization, Arts Integration Solutions.  It is truly a pleasure to be collaborating with them.  Scroll down for some exciting news!

Cheers!
Enrique


FREE MUSIC AND STRATEGY GIVE AWAY!
Along with some very talented colleagues of mine, we have been working on creating meaningful resources for all of you wonderful teachers and guides of young children.  My online store with music and artistic strategies is open (brain game videos are still being produced) and I'm giving away a free piece of music called "Breath Break Music: Up the Stairs".  It comes with a PDF that describes how to use the music.  Please enjoy this new product which is original film music I've composed for teachers and parents to use with their children to help calm themselves when things get a little bumpy.

WHAT ELSE? Engaging Critical Thinking Skills. An INTERACTIVE BLOG!

REKINDLING DISCOVERY & WONDER!

"PLAY IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF RESEARCH."  Albert Einstein said that!  Really, he did. 

"FUN IS NOT FLUFF."  I said that... and I'm proud to say it every time I have the opportunity to work with teachers and parents across our country.  The words "What Else?" which come from my dear colleague, friend, and mentor, Mimi Chenfeld, speak to playing, discovering, wondering and doing so as we look for more depth in learning.

THE GOAL OF TODAY'S BLOG:
It's so wonderful to have you back and I'm so happy to be able to share with you some fantastic images which I hope will give you ideas on how to re-direct children's abundant energy in ways which elevates their critical thinking skills and so, so,  SO many other ways of learning.

There is something called the:

NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS.  They are so cool. They talk about things like big concepts that we want all young learners to start recognizing.  One of them is one we all know in the PreK and K world... Patterns!!!  Another I'd like you to think about with our first image is:

CAUSE AND EFFECT

Take a moment and really look at this next image.  Soak it in and then comment as to what kinds of things children would learn by placing objects inside the tubes.  I'm not going to give the answer away in the blog, but rather in my reply to your comments.  If you like, you can also email me directly at enriquehankfeldman@gmail.com.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

FOOD!!!  

I'm such a foodie.  I love to cook and I am the chef in my home.  I've even found ways to be much healthier and in doing so, I've lost 53 lbs over the past 4 years.  Below is an image related to food.  What can we learn from asking children about what their favorite food is?  Take a glance at this next image and read the comments from children when asked that question.  Feel free to comment and I'll be happy to reply.

A CHILD'S NAME

We all know a child's name is a powerful gateway to learning in multiple areas.  We usually think about it related to literacy and that's great!  What about math?  What about patterns?  Enjoy this next image and if you'd like to engage me with a comment, I'll be pleased to read your comment and reply back to you. 

SHAPES AND OUR WORLD

Children are so connected to life.  They are a great reminder to us adults that there is so much wonder and richness all around us.... all the time!  So, back to the concepts of the Next Generation Science Standards...this time think about "Stability and Change."  What is that?  Is it one or the other?  Do they co-exist?  Can we guide young children in playful ways so that they begin to understand this kind of a concept?  I used to think the answer was no, but over the last two years I've been asked to design play-based approaches that combine Arts Integration for PreK and K which connect to things like STEM, the Common Core, and these Next Generation Science Standards.... and yes, in playful, developmentally appropriate ways.  At first, about 20% of my brain said....ughhhhh, but the other 80% which is still like a child, said, "That could be fun!"  Guess what I noticed?  I was making decisions on what I thought would be good for children based on my own prejudging.  I'm no scientist, but I do know how to search for things on google.... I challenged myself and oh what fun!

Look at this next image and ask yourself:

• What is this child creating?
• How did they create it?
• What are they learning?
• Is it related to something this child has seen?
• What is stable about it?
• What could change about it?

ACTIVATING WHAT CHILDREN ALREADY KNOW

In my part of the country, you see lots of nature.  We can use things from nature to create different kinds of Art.  We can use these objects found in nature to classify, identify and compare!  Look at the image below.  

• What do you see?
• Can you make any comparisons?
• What could you and your children make from these things?

THE GREAT OUTDOORS!

When you think of a garden, what do you think of?  Some say food, some say plants, some say nature, other say the sun, others trees, some think of cycles and many other wonderful observations are in fact possible.  Have you ever taken your children through a project of sorts based on an outdoor space?

Related to this next image:

• What visual cues are obvious?
• What visual cues are not so obvious?
• What auditory cues might be obvious?
• What auditory cues might not be so obvious?
• What kinds of kinesthetic cues are obvious?
• What kinds of kinesthetic cues might not be so obvious?

LETTERS AND COLORS

This final image is so simple, but it's so powerful.  GIANT LETTERS hanging from the ceiling.  Think about the process that went into making these letters.

• What would children learn by co-creating these shapes?
• When would children see these letters?
• What might move these letters?
• How could you use this concept in other areas of learning?

I hope you're enjoyed today's journey.  It has been a pleasure being your guide.  If you like what you saw today and what you experienced, check out my newest book, "Living Like a Child" and check out my Foundation's newest partners, Arts Integration Solution!  Check out their "Ai Minutes!"

Cheers,
Enrique C. Feldman, Founder and Director of Education
Fostering Arts-Mind Education Foundation
Film Composer and Producer